- Serves 2 - (allowing 2 eggs per person) – Ready in 10 minutes –
Gather together…
4 medium free-range eggs (AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, not straight from the fridge).
1 kettle of boiling water.
Serve with…
4 slices of bread (ideally fresh-from-the-breadmaker white Sourdough bread, or use shop-bought white Tiger bread as it is delicious and it de-frosts well, so you can keep it ready for when needed).
2 tsp butter, for spreading on the bread before cutting it into strips.
Get cooking…
1. Boil a full kettle of water.
2. Bring a lidded saucepan, ¾ full of the kettle-hot water, to the boil on the hob.
3. Use a SIEVE to add ALL the eggs at EXACTLY the same time, gently into the boiling water.
4. Immediately start a timer and let the eggs boil for EXACTLY 1 minute on the hob, WITHOUT the lid.
5. After this 1 minute, remove the pan from the heat.
6. PUT THE LID ON NOW and leave the eggs sitting in the hot (slowly cooling) water for 7 ½ (seven and a half) minutes.
7. Meanwhile butter the 4 slices of bread and cut into strips using scissors, as I find a knife just squashes them.
8. Once the 7 ½ minutes have passed EXACTLY, scoop the eggs out of the pan, ALL at the SAME TIME using the sieve again.
9. Put the eggs into an egg cup each, and serve - make sure the tops are removed within the next two minutes so that the enclosed heat inside doesn't make them continue to cook and firm up too much!
10. Serve with the buttered bread ‘soldiers’ (or ‘firemen’ as they are called in our house) and enjoy a flashback to childhood.
Adapted from the Delia Smith recipe, in ‘How to Cook Book One.’