Poached eggs

Good nutrition affects your life better. Starting the day with a healthy breakfast that includes eggs gives you and your family a nutritious start to the day. This is because nearly all the essential nutrients your body needs can be found in an egg. Eggs are packed with 14 essential nutrients that you and your family need to stay healthy and active. Plus, one large egg contains just 5 grams of fat and only 70 calories. Eggs taste delicious! They can be prepared in many different ways, so there is sure to be an egg dish to suit everyone’s taste.

It takes just minutes to fry, scramble or microwave an egg. (And there are many more fast ways to cook eggs!) Cooking an egg quickly doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor either. You can create delicious, nutritious, meals in just minutes, leaving you more time to do whatever matters.

Poached eggs are delicious with all kinds of ingredients - try them served with asparagus, cured meats, smoked salmon, pastas, soft cheeses, salad leaves, tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, field mushrooms, avocados and mayonnaises

Ingredients:

• 4 fresh eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• Thickly sliced bread, toasted and buttered, and chopped chives, to serve

Step 1:

Get everything ready before you start cooking poached eggs. Timing is everything when it comes to good poached eggs.

Select a suitable pan for poaching. The pan must be shallow and wide, as the trick to poaching well without an egg poacher is to gently slip the egg into a wide, shallow pan filled with simmering water. The pan should be able to take about 1.5 liters (2 3/4 pints) of water, or 10cm (4") depth of water.

Step 2:
Add the water. Fill the pan about two-thirds or a bit more with water and bring to a gentle boil. Add vinegar and 1 tsp salt. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low-medium - water should be just simmering, with small bubbles rising from the base of pan and small ripples across the top of the water. If vinegar is used, the eggs will have a vinegary taste. Chef Michael Romano advises that in commercial restaurants, poached eggs are usually plunged into another pan of hot water which is salted but vinegar free and that this both seasons them and removes the vinegary taste.

Step 3:

Crack an egg into a ramekin, small bowl or soup ladle. Do this gently so as not to harm the appearance of the egg. Alternatively, crack the egg onto a small, flat plate as this makes sliding the egg into the pan of water easier. Don't break the yolk when cracking the egg.

 Using a wooden spoon or whisk, stir simmering water in one direction to create a whirlpool

Step 4:

Slide egg from saucer into centre of whirlpool, as close to water as possible. Cook for 2-3 minutes for a semi-soft yolk or 3-4 minutes for a firm-set yolk, without stirring

Using a slotted spoon, transfer egg to the bowl of cold water (this stops the cooking process). Remove and drain on a plate lined with paper towels. During and between cooking eggs, use slotted spoon to skim any foam from water surface. Repeat with remaining eggs. To reheat eggs, bring a clean pan of water to the boil then remove from heat. Add eggs. Stand, covered, for 1 minute. Remove and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

Step 5: Serve eggs on toast, sprinkled with chives and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper, or use in one of the recipes on the following pages.