Eggs
James Bond’s Scrambled Eggs
Oeufs en Cocotte à la Crème
Fromage des Oeufs
Mayonnaise
Hollandaise Sauce
Quiche Lorraine
Penne alla Carbonara
During the war, one of the luxuries of living in a small fishing village with inland farms and meadows was the inevitable trade in black-market food. In Mousehole it was possible, amongst other things, to get a supply of fresh, black-market eggs. Ben remembers visiting Will Harvey at Raginnis Farm. They might come back with a chicken wrapped up in old newspapers, but eggs, lovely big brown speckled eggs, are what he particularly remembers. Betty would make eggs Florentine or, best of all, bake the eggs with cream in buttered ramekins for supper.
Several nearby farms sell fresh eggs from the farm door but good local free-range, organic eggs are sold by the village shop. The yolks are creamy and dark yellow and the eggs taste, well, eggy. Proper job, as Lionel might say. So much tastier than the eggs from the various supermarkets.
JAMES BOND’S SCRAMBLED EGGS
Serves 4
Ian Fleming wrote the Bond books in food-rationed, post-war Britain and it occurred to me, after trawling several books for food references, that James was an egg man, so much so that he specified the type of egg – speckled brown – and the sort of hen – French Maran – for his boiled egg when breakfasting in London. The eggs had to be boiled for precisely 3 minutes. Bond – or was it Fleming? – liked his scrambled egg made with plenty of butter, and his secret was to add extra butter just before the eggs were finished. A few finely snipped chives or fines herbes – parsley, tarragon, chervil and chives – is another preference, and they make a terrific difference. Perfect with smoked salmon.
12 fresh eggs
salt and pepper
75g butter
½ tbsp finely snipped chives or parsley
hot buttered toast for serving
Break the eggs into a bowl. Beat thoroughly with a fork and season well with salt and pepper. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt 50g of the butter. When melted, pour in the eggs and cook over a very low heat, whisking continuously with a small whisk or beating with a wooden spoon. When the eggs are slightly more moist than you would wish for eating, remove the pan from the heat and add 25g butter. Continue whisking or beating for about 30 seconds, adding the chopped chives.
OEUFS EN COCOTTE À LA CRÈME
Serves 6
A lovely way to enjoy a new-laid egg. Betty would serve these for supper with bread and butter, but they are a treat for breakfast or high tea.
150ml thick cream
6 fresh eggs
salt and pepper
25g butter
Pre-heat the oven to 375°F/190°C/gas mark 5. Bring a kettle full of water to the boil. Place six cocotte dishes, ramekins or tea cups in a roasting tin and pour in sufficient boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the dishes. Put a spoonful of cream in each dish and break in an egg. Season with salt and pepper and divide the butter in small pieces over the top. Position a baking sheet (or tinfoil) to cover and ‘poach’ in the oven for 6–8 minutes until the white is set and the yolk creamy. Lift the dishes on to plates and serve with a spoon.
FROMAGE DES OEUFS
Serves 6–8
I discovered this alternative way of making eggs mayonnaise in Poor Cook by Caroline Conran. The eggs set like a round of Brie and can be cut like one. The top is covered with a lattice of anchovies and the mayonnaise is served separately. Perfect for a party.
12 fresh eggs
salt
2 x 50g cans anchovies in olive oil
cayenne pepper
mayonnaise (see recipe, below)
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Bring a kettle full of water to the boil. Butter a round, flat dish lavishly so the eggs won’t stick and carefully break the eggs into the dish. Sprinkle a little salt over the eggs, place the dish in a small oven dish and pour on sufficient boiling water to reach halfway up the side of the dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 20 minutes or until the eggs are just set. Allow to cool in the dish, then turn out on to a plate and decorate the top with a criss-cross of split anchovy fillets. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Serve the ‘Brie’ with the mayonnaise separately. Eat with thinly sliced brown bread and butter.
MAYONNAISE
Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature.
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp smooth Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
300ml light olive oil, or half olive oil and half groundnut oil
juice of ½ lemon
Place the egg yolks, mustard and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Beat with a whisk or wooden spoon until thick. Add the oil in a thin stream, beating continuously, adding a little lemon juice and then more oil until all is used up and the mayonnaise is thick and glossy.
HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
Serves 4
A creamy, buttery, slightly tart sauce to serve with poached turbot, halibut or sea bass.
3 egg yolks
juice of 1 lemon
salt and white pepper
First clarify the butter. Melt the butter in a small pan and leave to settle. Remove the frothy scum with a spoon, then pour the clear butter in a bowl, leaving behind the milky residue. Choose a small stainless-steel pan and place it over the lowest possible heat. Add the egg yolks and a splash of water and whisk until the eggs are thick and creamy – you do not want them to scramble. Add the clarified butter in a thin stream, whisking all the time until the sauce has the consistency of mayonnaise. Season with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve warm.
QUICHE LORRAINE
Serves 4–6
A lot of rude things have been said about quiche, but when you eat a good one, made properly with rich cream, fresh eggs, smoky bacon or ham and a thin, crisp pastry base, it is a slice of heaven.
150g plain flour plus a little extra
90g butter
salt
100g rindless, smoked, streaky bacon or 3 thick slices decent ham
½ tbsp vegetable oil
8 fresh, large eggs
400ml thick cream
3 tbsp finely snipped chives
salt and pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl or food processor. Cut 80g of the butter into chunks directly into the flour. Blend together the flour, chunks of butter and a pinch of salt in the processor or by hand until it resembles damp breadcrumbs. Tip into a mixing bowl and add 2–3 tablespoons of cold water, just sufficient to make a cohesive, pliable dough. Chill for 30 minutes before rolling thinly to fit a non-stick or greased and floured 20cm × 4cm deep flan tin (preferably one with a removable base). Cover loosely with tinfoil or greaseproof paper, fill with pie weights or rice and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the bacon across the rashers into strips and fry in vegetable oil until very crisp. Scoop on to kitchen paper to drain. Alternatively, tear the ham into small pieces. Whisk together 4 egg yolks and 3 whole eggs, stir in the cream, add the chives, and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Plug any cracks in the pastry case with spare pastry and paint with spare egg white to seal. Strew the bacon over the base of the pastry case, pour on the custard and cook for 30–40 minutes until the custard has just set. Serve hot, warm or cold.
PENNE ALLA CARBONARA
Serves 4
This is the favourite store-cupboard supper at the Fish Store, probably because it tastes so good when made with fresh eggs and rich clotted cream. The idea is to cook the pasta al dente and then, at the last minute, to toss it with beaten raw egg mixed with cream, tiny specks of garlic and very crisp scraps of bacon. The egg is warmed rather than cooked and holds the garlic and bacon in a delicious cream which clings to the pasta. If the eggs end up solid like scrambled eggs, the whole point of the dish is lost. This is good with quick garlic bread (see page 319).
400g dried penne
4 eggs
4 tbsp thick cream
salt and pepper
6 rashers smoked streaky bacon
1 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
4 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions in plenty of salted boiling water. Meanwhile, using a wooden spoon, beat the eggs with the cream and season with a pinch of salt and several grinds of pepper. Discard the rind and chop the bacon into thick matchsticks. Ten minutes before the pasta is ready, heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the bacon gently so that it releases most of its fat, then turn up the heat until both bacon and fat are very crisp. Peel the garlic and chop very finely. Add the garlic to the bacon right at the end of cooking, stirring quickly for a few seconds until aromatic. Don’t let the garlic brown. When the pasta is ready, drain it thoroughly and tip it back into the saucepan. Combine immediately with the hot bacon, its oil and the garlic, then pour in the egg mixture. Stir to coat the pasta evenly so that the heat of the pasta cooks the egg slightly. Finally, add the Parmesan and parsley.