Several years ago when I was still whining about my plight as a Single Not By Choice Mom (no, I am NOT still whining, I don't care what it sounds like), a friend who'd already survived a similar experience -- and was, by the time I knew her, fully ensconced in Nannyville with a Housekeeper and summer timeshare on Fire Island -- told me one of her survival secrets: eggs.
Eggs. All kindsa ways.
"Sure," she typed in a sympathetic email to yet another of my sniveling I Can't Believe I'm In This Boat monologues to online friends (who are all Saints now, I'm sure, given the dues they paid by listening to me), "it gets old, but the great thing about eggs is that you can doctor them up well enough to trick the kid. Plus they have a ton of good nutrients in them."
Oh, lord, I didn't want to hear it. I like eggs about fair-to-middlin' but I tend to gag (literally) once I've had two too many.
She was right, of course. Eggs are always cheaper than meat and they really are a great source of protein. If you have cholesterol issues, you can do the whole leave-out-the-yolks thing but you'll be missing a lot of that nutrition. In fact, if you're keeping up with the Great Egg Debate, you know that the formerly proposed equation of Eggs = Cholesterol = Bad is now considered a little hasty.
Besides -- what are you more worried about when you're trying to decide between eating and keeping the lights on: surviving the next couple of days enough to stay alert at work or whether you'll have a heart attack in 20 years?
One of my favorite ways to eat eggs is tres simple. Two boiled, peeled and diced (or you can just mash them with a fork in a bowl), with cheese melted on top. I prefer some form of cheddar with monterrey jack or mozarella. Smother in black pepper. Eat with bread or crackers. Hopefully you have some milk around for a glassful.
And of course, you need to know how to make The Perfect Boiled Egg. Really easy.
Fill a small saucepan half up with water. Small is best -- you don't want to let those eggies have too much dancing room.
Put one to four eggs in the water, which should be covering them all. Cover the saucepan and turn to high.
Stick around!
This is the The Most Important Part, as several of my previous (now smelted) saucepans can testify. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, smells like exploded eggs on the stove. It's not a thing you'll enjoy.
So as soon as the eggs come to a rolling boil, turn off the heat and leave the saucepan where it is -- do NOT take the lid of. (Now, some people don't even put the lid on until this point, but I think that's just wasteful of all that good heat you're building up beforehand in the pan.)
Leave the saucepan put for 10 minutes. Yes, this point is also debated. Some people say more or less. Ten is easy to remember.
At 10 minutes, take off the lid, carry the saucepan to the nearest faucet where you turn on the cold water. Pour the hot water out of the pan while letting the cold water run into it, and jostle the pan lightly.
Your goal -- with the combined extreme water temps and egg-bumping -- is to crack the eggs slightly so that the cool water gets 'under their skin' and makes them really easy to peel. You only have to play Bump the Eggs for a minute or two, until you see at least one crack in each egg. Resistant ones (there's almost always one in the bunch, eh?) can be picked up and tapped on the inside of the pot. Take THAT, you tough little egg.
Put your eggs in a bowl to cool off. If you want to eat them now, start peeling as soon as you can handle them without hollering. You can also put them in the icebox for later.
Peel them starting at the crack (duh) and you should find that it comes away in big sheets. Take care to pry a little under the inside membrane (looks like plastic wrap) if necessary.
You should wind up with a beautifully boiled whole egg that's smooth and white on the outside, pale lemon yellow on the inside.
Good for all kindsa things.
Eggs. All kindsa ways.
"Sure," she typed in a sympathetic email to yet another of my sniveling I Can't Believe I'm In This Boat monologues to online friends (who are all Saints now, I'm sure, given the dues they paid by listening to me), "it gets old, but the great thing about eggs is that you can doctor them up well enough to trick the kid. Plus they have a ton of good nutrients in them."
Oh, lord, I didn't want to hear it. I like eggs about fair-to-middlin' but I tend to gag (literally) once I've had two too many.
She was right, of course. Eggs are always cheaper than meat and they really are a great source of protein. If you have cholesterol issues, you can do the whole leave-out-the-yolks thing but you'll be missing a lot of that nutrition. In fact, if you're keeping up with the Great Egg Debate, you know that the formerly proposed equation of Eggs = Cholesterol = Bad is now considered a little hasty.
Besides -- what are you more worried about when you're trying to decide between eating and keeping the lights on: surviving the next couple of days enough to stay alert at work or whether you'll have a heart attack in 20 years?
And of course, you need to know how to make The Perfect Boiled Egg. Really easy.
Fill a small saucepan half up with water. Small is best -- you don't want to let those eggies have too much dancing room.
Put one to four eggs in the water, which should be covering them all. Cover the saucepan and turn to high.
Stick around!
This is the The Most Important Part, as several of my previous (now smelted) saucepans can testify. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, smells like exploded eggs on the stove. It's not a thing you'll enjoy.
So as soon as the eggs come to a rolling boil, turn off the heat and leave the saucepan where it is -- do NOT take the lid of. (Now, some people don't even put the lid on until this point, but I think that's just wasteful of all that good heat you're building up beforehand in the pan.)
Rolling boil: more than a simmer. Imagine rolling ocean waves.
Even if you've never seen an ocean.
Leave the saucepan put for 10 minutes. Yes, this point is also debated. Some people say more or less. Ten is easy to remember.
At 10 minutes, take off the lid, carry the saucepan to the nearest faucet where you turn on the cold water. Pour the hot water out of the pan while letting the cold water run into it, and jostle the pan lightly.
Jostle: sort of like a nudge, only in this case, the pan will be hot, so don't elbow it or anything. Hold it by the handle and move it gently to and fro, just enough to let the eggs bump into each other. Imagine Egg Bumper Cars.
Your goal -- with the combined extreme water temps and egg-bumping -- is to crack the eggs slightly so that the cool water gets 'under their skin' and makes them really easy to peel. You only have to play Bump the Eggs for a minute or two, until you see at least one crack in each egg. Resistant ones (there's almost always one in the bunch, eh?) can be picked up and tapped on the inside of the pot. Take THAT, you tough little egg.
Put your eggs in a bowl to cool off. If you want to eat them now, start peeling as soon as you can handle them without hollering. You can also put them in the icebox for later.
Peel them starting at the crack (duh) and you should find that it comes away in big sheets. Take care to pry a little under the inside membrane (looks like plastic wrap) if necessary.
You should wind up with a beautifully boiled whole egg that's smooth and white on the outside, pale lemon yellow on the inside.
Good for all kindsa things.
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