Boiled Eggs

Today at the Made in America Facebook page it’s ETHAN STOWELL day! If you haven’t already visited Facebook/MadeinAmericaCookBook and liked our page please do – we need to know you like us in that Sally Fields way.

Ethan Stowell is a busy boy, he has four successful restaurants to mange in Seattle and each one offers something different, often changing daily, depending on what’s in season, but all with an Italian underpinning. At Staple and Fancy Mercantile Stowell is in the kitchen – he’s the chef. We discuss recipe options and Stowell wants time to think up something that showcases his style of cooking, Italian, and also the notion of foraging for food, in particular nettles and porcini. He comes back to me a couple of days later with a long list of delicious options:

Nettle pappardelle with braised rabbit and morel mushrooms,
Sautéed duck egg with morel mushrooms, nettle pesto and parmigiano reggiano,
Ricotta and nettle gnocchi with morel mushrooms and sage,
Geoduck crudo with nettle salsa verde, wild watercress and shaved radishes
Nettle and ricotta agnolotti with sage and butter,
Soft boiled duck egg with nettle peasto, shaved porcini mushrooms and parmigiano reggiano,
Mediterranean mussel and chickpea soup with guanciale and nettle pesto

I chose the duck eggs with nettle pesto and porcini – this decision was made based balancing the other recipes I already had for the book from the other great chefs around the country. I’m curious to explore the other combinations he suggested though – especially the nettle and ricotta agnolotti – but that will have to wait – back to boiled eggs.

I love boiled eggs – chickens eggs that is – and was thrilled to have this opportunity to explore soft boiling duck eggs. I bought beautiful duck eggs and nettles at the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market. Despite getting a nasty sting I’d do Stowell’s recipe again in a second – it’s such a tasty simple recipe and the kids gobbled it all up – pesto, porcini, duck eggs and all.

Stowell recommends boiling the water and the vinegar first and then carefully adding the eggs. When I boil I like to place the eggs in the room temperature water and then bring it to a boil. I find they are less prone to cracking. I then time exactly 5 minutes from a rolling boil to get the perfect soft boiled chicken’s egg, immediately remove from the water with a slated spoon and place in the egg cups. It’s important to stop them cooking – a quick swipe to the top with a large knife to reveal the deep yellow yolks and they are ready. I serve them in these cool egg cups which we bought in Paris last year with a side of hot buttered toast cut into ‘soldiers’ for that all important dipping.

Boiled eggs, chicken or duck (or if you are feeling really adventurous how about tiny quail’s eggs?) are the perfect breakfast that can be served at anytime of the night or day.