The Fresh Egg Cookbook

CHICKS WHO RIP

Breakfast

“ Truly, thou art dammed like an ill roasted egg, all on one side.”

— William Shakespeare, As You Like It

The name of this chapter comes from a bumper sticker that my 14-year-old niece, Abby, sent me from Kauai. Chicks Who Rip was the name of a Hawaiian surf shop started by a fellow who wanted to create a line of clothing for women and girls who are active and love to surf (rip means to play hard and well). Chickens are similarly feisty, and the bumper sticker stuck, on the door to the coop.

As soon as our chickens were big enough to take the chilly New England evenings, at about 10 weeks, we introduced them to their coop. When they were around 25 weeks, they started laying their first eggs (called pullet eggs), which are small and sometimes unevenly colored or shaped. Prized by gourmands, pullets sell for about $10 a dozen in fancy places like Dean & Deluca and the Union Square Greenmarket, but who would want to sell them? The first egg is a pleasure to behold.

When our first hen laid her first egg, I think she was as startled as I when she just dropped it unceremoniously in the yard. I saw it in the dirt in a little hollowed-out area under the ramp to the coop. I shouted out loud and startled her; we’d been looking for one for days. It reminded me of when I was a kid and my father decided to grow tomato plants from seed. He tended them assiduously and watched them grow, and by early summer every day after work he’d hurry out to the backyard before he even changed out of his tie, looking for signs of a tomato. One day he came home and found big beefsteak tomatoes on the vine — he shouted to us to come see! Then he noticed our neighbor leaning over the fence chuckling, and we looked down and saw they were tied onto his plants with twist ties. We all thought it was hilarious.

We put some Easter eggs into the coop to encourage the system, and they caught on. We soon had many eggs, and when we started dreaming up new ways to cook them, we realized their extraordinary versatility and their deliciousness in many forms, from a sunny little egg served simply for breakfast before my kids get on the bus to an exquisite poached queen that rides into a dinner party on a bed of wild mushroom ragout, laced with truffle oil. Long the staple of farms that are too often short of cash, eggs can signify luxury or austerity: The favorite dish of England’s King Charles II was eggs with ambergris (produced in the digestive system of a sperm whale), whereas my mother grew up one of six kids in the Depression on a diet of eggs and could never eat quiche again.

And their disguises? My Norwegian friends Hanne and Geir, upon arriving in the United States as university students, could barely get through breakfast in any diner, so bewildering were the language and the seemingly unending array of egg choices on the menu: scrambled, sunny-side up, over easy, over light, poached, hard-boiled, fried, baked, shirred, or Benedict (what? wasn’t that a guy? what a betrayal). And that’s just breakfast. With their exquisite response to subtle heat changes, eggs lend themselves to more personality than Cher’s wardrobe, being puffed into lemony soufflés, shaken into omelets, poured into frittatas, baked inside tomatoes, dropped into soups, whipped into meringues, or served up raw in steak tartare.

But it all starts with breakfast.

INGREDIENT

1 egg, at room temperature

Serves 1

SOFT-BOILED EGG

You wouldn’t think it’s easy to go wrong with eggs. As The Picayune Creole Cook Book of 1928 noted tartly, “A chapter on eggs would be superfluous in any cook book, were it not for the fact that there are women who cannot tell to a real certainty how to boil an egg soft or hard, when the omelet is cooked to a nicety, and how to send to the table in all the perfection of good cooking that most delicate and palatable dish, scrambled eggs.” The authors went on to note that Creoles “wisely eschew” all innovations in eggs that call for them to be cooked for more than 8 minutes, for good reason, concluding that eggs “cannot be too highly recommended to delicate persons, to hard brain workers, and to families generally.” Though I don’t suggest following their advice for root beer, which they made with filtered swamp water, they knew a thing or two about eggs. This recipe is for a soft-cooked egg, with a firm egg white and a runny yolk.

HOW TO MAKE

Put the egg in a small saucepan and add water to barely cover. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat and simmer for 4 minutes for a medium egg or 6 minutes for a large egg. Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and run cold water over it to cool it slightly. Crack and serve.

“ There is something about cold weather that leads to reflective searchings back through memory and time, to dishes sprung from the farthest reaches of childhood, to nursery foods, odd, peculiar little dishes in which one crumbled crackers in warm milk or probed bread fingers into a soft-boiled egg.”

— Judith Olney

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs

Chopped fresh chives

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Serves 2

SOFT-BOILED EGG, TAKE TWO

My friend Jody Fijal learned this technique from a cooking class she took at a German restaurant in the Berkshires, where they served these eggs in martini glasses with mother-of-pearl spoons (to eliminate any metallic taste in the eggs).

HOW TO MAKE

Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, then submerge the eggs, immediately reduce to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Remove and place in a bowl or sink full of water with lots of ice for 30 seconds. Believe it or not, you can then crack the tip and peel a soft-boiled egg carefully. Serve two in a martini glass with chopped chives and a bit of salt and pepper.

INGREDIENT

1 egg, at room temperature

Serves 1

MEDIUM-BOILED EGG

When we started getting eggs from our hens, I gravitated toward simple recipes. I didn’t want them disguised inside a cake; I wanted to see them, in all their glory. I was so proud of our hens. This recipe makes an egg with a firm white and an egg yolk that’s on the verge of solidifying.

HOW TO MAKE

Put the egg in a small saucepan and add water to barely cover. Bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat and simmer for 6 minutes for a medium egg or 8 minutes for a large egg. Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and run cold water over it to cool. Crack and serve.

INGREDIENTS

12 eggs, at room temperature

Salt (optional)

Makes 12 eggs

HARD-BOILED EGG

Fresh eggs have many advantages, but easy peeling is not one of them; my first attempt to serve hard-boiled eggs resulted in pockmarked eggs that were missing half their whites. In this case, older is better. As an egg ages, it loses moisture through its thousands of pores, causing the egg to shrink and the egg white to stick less to the membrane. If you’re hard-boiling eggs, stick a dozen fresh eggs in the back of your refrigerator for a week or two before cooking them. Another tip is to boil your eggs quickly and plunge them into an ice bath after cooking. Hard-boiled eggs will keep in the shell refrigerated for up to 1 week.

HOW TO MAKE

In a pan large enough to hold the eggs generously, boil enough water to cover the eggs. Add salt to the boiling water, if desired. Gently slide in the eggs. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the consistency you prefer and the size of your eggs. (The shorter amount of time gives you a solidified egg white but leaves the egg yolk a bit soft. The longer cooking time guarantees a traditional hard-boiled egg.) Drain the water from the eggs, then plunge them into a bowl or sink full of ice water until the eggs have cooled completely.

“ Being kissed by a man who didn’t wax his moustache was like eating an egg without salt.”

— Rudyard Kipling, The Story of the Gadsbys

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons minced mixed fresh herbs (such as flat-leaf parsley, thyme, basil, or chives)

1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper

½ teaspoon butter, melted

2 teaspoons heavy cream

2 eggs

Serves 1

SHIRRED EGGS

These are dressed-up soft-boiled eggs that are cooked in a buttered dish under the broiler. In France, this method of baking eggs is called oeufs en cocotte, which means “eggs baked in ramekins.” Do try them — they’re delicious, elegant, and easy.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Set an oven rack 8 inches from the broiler and preheat.

2 Combine the herbs, Parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.

3 Brush the butter over the bottom of a small ovenproof ramekin large enough to hold the eggs side by side, and then pour a little ribbon of cream around the edge. Break the eggs on top of the butter, one beside the other. Sprinkle the eggs with the herb mixture.

4 Broil about 6 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny. Serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 egg

Serves 1

PERFECT POACHED EGG

In ancient Rome, most meals began with an egg, the shell of which was crushed into the dish to prevent evil spirits from lurking. When I was a kid, my father would serve poached eggs in a teacup with a dab of butter, a shake of pepper, and bacon crumbled on top. Or, for a Sunday-night-supper treat, my mother would cook one on corned beef hash right from the can that she had crisped to perfection in her skillet. Poached eggs can save you on a busy night when you need a meal fast: you can add a poached egg to a bowl of soup, a plate of steamed vegetables, or a salad. It’s a marvel to consider, in shape, texture, and taste.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Fill a saucepan or skillet with enough water to cover your egg, then bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and the vinegar (which will help keep the egg whole) and reduce to a simmer.

2 Crack the egg into a saucer or small bowl, then gently slide the egg into the water (holding the saucer at the water’s edge). Use a spoon to nudge the white closer to the yolk.

3 Turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 3 minutes. Remove the egg from the saucepan with a slotted spoon, trim any ragged edges, and serve.

“Whipped cream isn’t whipped cream at all if it hasn’t been whipped with whips, just like poached eggs isn’t poached eggs unless it’s been stolen in the dead of the night.”

— Roald Dahl

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs

4–6 tablespoons milk or cream

1–2 teaspoons butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives, scallions, thyme, or flat-leaf parsley

Grated cheese, such as cheddar or Parmesan (optional)

Serves 2

Hint: If you’ve ever found yourself scrambling to make toast and cook eggs at the same time, try this: When the eggs look wet but are no longer liquid, turn off the heat and gently pile the eggs into the center of the skillet, leaving the skillet on the burner. Go make your toast, then serve the perfectly cooked eggs.

SCRAMBLED EGGS

How can you mess up scrambled eggs? It’s not so hard; they can easily become dry. The secret is a low fire and plenty of stirring. Adding a bit of milk or cream or even water yields a fluffier, creamier dish. Because my husband is a museum director, we do our fair share of entertaining. Sometimes, instead of inviting artists or visiting collectors to dinner, we’ll have them over for Sunday breakfast, introducing them first to the hens, then dishing up fresh scrambled eggs and toast with our kids at our big kitchen table that Joe made. Truth be told, it’s sometimes more relaxing to entertain at breakfast than at dinner, when the expectations (the food, the wine, the kids’ behavior!) are higher.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Crack the eggs into a medium bowl. Add the milk and whisk vigorously.

2 Heat a pat of butter in a skillet over medium heat. When the butter begins to sizzle, pour in the egg mixture and reduce the heat to low. Once the liquid has started to set, add salt and pepper to taste, chives, cheese (if using), and anything else you’d like, folding them in gently with a wooden spoon. Stir constantly, gently scraping the eggs from the edge of the skillet to the center, until your eggs have the consistency you desire. Serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS

2 ounces linguiça or chorizo, finely chopped (about ½ cup)

½ cup diced green bell pepper

4 scallions, thinly sliced

10 eggs

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (4 ounces)

Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Serves 5

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH LINGUIÇA & CHEDDAR CHEESE

Growing up near the fishing port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, where a lot of people of Portuguese descent live, we’d often find linguiça on diner menus, in the grocery store, and at street fairs. I’ve always loved its piquant, slightly greasy flavor. When I first got out of college and spent a winter living near New Bedford writing feature stories for the New Bedford Standard Times, I’d grill it with green bell peppers and onions on my little hibachi, toss it into a Portuguese bun with a little mustard, and wash it down with beer.

This dish is adapted from a recipe from my cookbook-writing friend Jeanne Besser, who uses the meat to put a spin on traditional Western omelet flavors. If you have leftover cooked potatoes, dice them up and sauté them with the bell peppers. Serve with Portuguese bread, tortillas, English muffins, or whole-wheat toast.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Sauté the linguiça in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until it renders some of its fat, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper and scallions and sauté until just softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

2 Beat the eggs in a medium bowl, then add them to the skillet and cook, stirring until the eggs are scrambled and just beginning to set. Add the cheese and stir to combine. Cook until the eggs are still soft but no longer runny. Be careful not to overcook. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately, topped with the cilantro.

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

½ yellow onion, chopped (about ¼ cup)

1 small tomato, chopped

1 green chile, seeded and slivered (or substitute 1 teaspoon chili powder)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

¼ teaspoon minced garlic

¼ teaspoon minced fresh ginger

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon toasted cumin seed

Pinch of ground turmeric

Serves 2

SCRAMBLED EGGS, INDIAN-STYLE

When I was in my early twenties, I lived on 6th Street in New York’s East Village, where within one block there were six Indian restaurants. My parents would come down and take a gang of us out to dinner, my father always amazed that the bill came to less than $50. Walking home many evenings from work, I’d swing along 6th Street between First and Second Avenues, loving the aroma of garlic, ginger, and other fragrances wafting from the basement restaurants. You might serve these eggs with toast, paratha, or roti, or turn the dish into a light supper with rice. If you have leftover roasted chicken, you could also shred a bit and add it to the dish. These scrambled eggs also make a good sandwich filling.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Beat the eggs and set aside.

2 Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, 2 or 3 minutes. Add the tomato, chile, cilantro, garlic, and ginger and cook until the tomato is soft (so you can mash it). Season with salt and pepper, the cumin seed, and the turmeric.

3 Pour in the eggs and scramble until they reach the desired consistency. Serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups cooked black beans (see Note), seasoned with 1 minced jalapeño chile, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, and salt

1 ripe Hass avocado, pitted, peeled, and diced

5 scallions, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons El Yucateco or other green hot sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, or more as needed

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

8 eggs

2 cups shredded Monterey jack or cheddar cheese

1½ cups Tomato salsa (recipe follows)

Serves 4

HUEVOS RANCHEROS WITH TWO SALSAS

A classic Mexican breakfast, huevos rancheros (“ranchers’ eggs”) are fried eggs served on corn tortillas and smothered in salsa. I first tried them in an all-night diner after a late night of music in Austin and found them divine. El Yucateco is a habanero-based sauce that can be found in grocery stores; if you can’t find it, substitute another simple hot sauce that uses the fiery habanero chile.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Preheat the broiler.

2 Heat the beans and set aside. Combine the avocado, scallions, cilantro, and hot sauce to make a green salsa; set aside.

3 Heat the oil (just enough to coat the pan — it may be more than 1 tablespoon) in a large skillet. Heat each tortilla briefly on both sides in the hot oil, just long enough to soften and heat through. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

4 Fry the eggs any way you like them. While they are cooking, arrange two tortillas, side by side, on each ovenproof serving plate. Dollop some beans on each tortilla, then some cheese on top of the beans, and place the plates under the broiler to melt the cheese. Top each tortilla with an egg, plus a dollop of green salsa on one tortilla and a dollop of Tomato Salsa on the other. Serve immediately.

Note: You can cook your own beans or doctor up canned beans. To cook your own, wash and pick over 1 cup of dried beans, soak for 4 to 12 hours, then rinse. Put in a pot with 1 quart of cold water and bring to a boil, then simmer until tender, 1 to 2 hours, depending on the age of the beans and the altitude.

INGREDIENTS

1 large ripe tomato, diced

½ small red onion, diced

½ jalapeño chile, seeded and minced

2–3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 garlic clove, minced

Juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons red hot sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Makes 1½ cups

TOMATO SALSA

The secret of great salsa resides in the ingredients, and particularly in using perfect tomatoes. If you like more heat, use an entire jalapeño, or even a habanero, or leave in the seeds (most of the heat of a chile is contained in the membrane that holds the seeds, as well as in the seeds). The beauty of the heat is that you can experiment. Add a little, taste, and add a little more if it’s not zingy enough for your taste buds. This is a versatile recipe: if you substitute mango or papaya for the tomato, you’ll have a jazzy fruit salsa that’s a flavorful accent to grilled grouper or shrimp.

HOW TO MAKE

Combine the tomato, onion, jalapeño, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, hot sauce, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Store in the refrigerator and use within a few days.

“ Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid.”

— Mark Twain

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons butter

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 pound frozen hash browns (about 4 cups)

8 ounces thick-cut deli corned beef, cut into ¼-inch chunks (2 cups)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 eggs

Serves 4

CORNED BEEF HASH & EGGS

My father was the weekend breakfast maker in our house, serving up pancakes or leftover steak and eggs and even designing menus for his concoctions. My mother got to sleep in while he and I watched The Three Stooges, then cooked breakfast. Corned beef hash and eggs — my father called them cackleberries — was a staple in the wintertime and is still a favorite of mine, served with ketchup.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion and bell pepper until soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in the hash browns and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes begin to brown, about 20 minutes. Add the corned beef and cook until the potatoes are fully browned, for 20 minutes longer. Add the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

2 Using the back of a spoon, make four shallow wells in the hash. One at a time, break the eggs into a shallow bowl and slip them into the wells. Increase the heat to medium, cover the skillet, and cook until the eggs are set, about 6 minutes (check frequently, as it happens fast). Serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS

4 slices ham (¼ inch thick)

¼ cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons red hot sauce

8 large eggs

⅓ cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 scallions, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon green hot sauce

2 tablespoons butter

Serves 4

GREEN EGGS & HAM

People are amazed when they see the green eggs that our Araucana hen lays. In a nod to Dr. Seuss, here’s a recipe that does turn out green eggs. An interesting aside: Dr. Seuss wrote the book on a bet with Bennett Cerf, his Random House editor, that he couldn’t write a book using only 50 words. Seuss did it, and 49 of the words were one syllable.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Preheat the broiler.

2 Place the ham in a broiler pan. Stir the maple syrup and red hot sauce together and pour over the ham.

3 Whisk the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Add the scallions, parsley, and green hot sauce and blend.

4 Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the eggs. While you are scrambling the eggs, broil the ham, turning once so it colors on both sides. To serve, spoon some of the ham liquid on each plate and top with the ham and eggs.

“ Nothing helps scenery like ham and eggs.”

— Mark Twain

“ A hen and a pig were sauntering down the main street of an Indiana town when they passed a restaurant that advertised ‘Delicious ham and eggs: 75 cents.’

“ ‘Sounds like a bargain,’ approved the hen. ‘That owner obviously knows how to run his business.’

“ ‘It’s all very well for you to be so pleased about the dish in question,’ observed the pig with some resentment. ‘For you it is all in the day’s work. Let me point out, however, that on my part it represents a genuine sacrifice.’ ”

— Bennett Cerf

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon butter

1½ cups Rustic Tomatillo Salsa (recipe follows)

1 tomato, diced

2 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into strips

Chopped green chiles (optional)

4 eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup crumbled queso fresco, goat cheese, or feta cheese

Serves 2

MIGAS

I first sampled migas (“crumbs” in Spanish) in Texas, where my brother-in-law Dave lives and knows the best roadhouses and restaurants. The dish is basically a Tex-Mex tangle of eggs, tortillas, and cheese. Serve it with warm flour tortillas, salsa, and sour cream. You can buy bottled tomatillo salsa but it’s better fresh, and worth the little bit of effort.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Heat the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add ½ cup of the salsa and the tomato and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tortilla strips and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Add the chiles, if using.

2 Pour in the eggs and as they start to set, pull them into the center of the pan, forming large curds. Continue pulling, lifting, and folding gently until thickened and no longer liquid. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the cheese, stirring well to combine. Serve with the remaining 1 cup of salsa on the side.

INGREDIENTS

14 tomatillos, husked, washed, and coarsely chopped

1–2 serrano, jalapeño, or other chiles, chopped

1 small white onion, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime

½ bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

½ teaspoon salt

Makes 2 cups

RUSTIC TOMATILLO SALSA

We belong to Caretaker Farm, a beautiful CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm in the Berkshires, and Isabel and I have our favorite times when we like to pick the vegetables. One is the beginning of September, when we run along the lane, past the chickens, across the brook, to the raspberry patch, where the berries are ripe and warm to the touch. (More make it into our mouths than into the pint crate.) Another is when the tomatillos are ready for picking. I love their secretive papery husk, which you peel off, and the slightly tart flavor they impart to a salsa.

HOW TO MAKE

Combine the tomatillos, chiles, onion, lime juice, cilantro, and salt in a medium bowl (if you prefer a puréed salsa, blend in a food processor or blender). The salsa will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

“ She looks as new as a peeled egg.”

— Dorothy Parker

INGREDIENTS

½ cup fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels

¼ cup yellow or white cornmeal

¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg

⅓ cup milk

1 tablespoon butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 tablespoon finely sliced fresh chives

4 poached eggs (see page 41), kept warm

Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ cup salsa

¼ cup sour cream

½ Hass avocado, pitted, peeled, and sliced into 4 wedges

Serves 4

CORN CAKES WITH POACHED EGGS & SALSA

When our friends Jeanne and Richard Bessers visit, the chickens fascinate their son, Jack, who is willing to open up the coop and feed them even when it’s snowing, which delights my kids to no end, sparing them that chore. Jeanne, a food writer for the Atlanta Constitution, and I enjoy cooking together. For those who have trouble deciding between eggs and pancakes for breakfast, this recipe of hers spares you from having to choose. A classic poached egg is perched on a chive-studded corn-cake base, then topped with salsa and sour cream.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Chop the corn coarsely. Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg in another bowl. Add the milk and butter to the egg and stir to combine. Stir the egg mixture gently into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Gently stir in the corn and chives.

2 Heat a large nonstick or lightly greased griddle or skillet over high heat until a drop of water sizzles on the surface. Reduce the heat to medium. Divide the batter into four pancakes and cook the cakes until the bottoms are lightly golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the cakes and cook the other side, 1 to 2 minutes.

3 Transfer each cake to a plate and top with a poached egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon on some salsa and a dollop of sour cream, then add an avocado slice. Serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup milk, half-and-half, or eggnog

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Freshly grated nutmeg

Butter

1 loaf challah bread, sliced ¾–1 inch thick

Confectioners’ sugar

Maple syrup

Fresh assorted berries (optional)

Serves 6–8

Note: If cooking these in batches, keep the cooked French toast warm in a 200°F oven.

CHALLAH FRENCH TOAST

Once upon a time, in the early 1980s, I lived on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It was a heady time: Blondie, Trash & Vaudeville, the Mud Club. By day I wrote my first book, about nuclear power, and by night I waitressed at the Kiev, a Ukrainian deli that was a fixture in the East Village.

At the Kiev when we weren’t busy, I could use my high school Russian to chat with the dishwashers, who’d been college professors and teachers in the Ukraine, and it was there that I was turned on to challah bread, which is thick and eggy and makes perfect French toast. When I worked the midnight to 7 A.M. shift, I’d see all the characters who came in after a night of clubbing, craving coffee and a huge breakfast. I’ll never forget the night I waited on a rocker who was as high as a kite. Moments after I served him French toast, he just conked out, like you see in the movies, falling facedown into the syrupy plate, the thick bread cushioning the blow. It didn’t deter my love for this dish, though.

With this recipe, any bread will do, although stale, thick bread is best.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla, and nutmeg in a shallow bowl. Grease a large cast-iron skillet or griddle with the butter and set over medium heat.

2 Dip the bread in the egg mixture, swishing to coat on both sides, then let the excess drain off. Place the bread in the skillet, adding as many slices as will fit flat. Cook until deep golden brown on one side, 2 to 3 minutes, then flip and cook the other side until golden. Arrange on a platter, dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve with maple syrup and the fresh berries, if desired.

INGREDIENTS

6 eggs, separated

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup sifted unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 cup milk, warmed

½ teaspoon baking powder

Butter

Jelly

Confectioners’ sugar

Makes 60 small cakes

FRENCH GRIDDLE CAKES

Various forms of griddle cakes are found worldwide. This mini crêpe is served for breakfast or dessert. In late summer, when berries are abundant, you could substitute wild berries for the jelly.

HOW TO MAKE

1 Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a large bowl until light. Add the flour and melted butter, blend, and then add the warm milk. Beat until light.

2 Beat the egg whites into stiff peaks. Add the baking powder to the yolk mixture, then add the beaten egg whites. Beat until smooth.

3 Drop tablespoons of the batter onto a hot greased griddle set over medium heat, then turn quickly and cook the other side, 2 minutes total. Put on a plate, brush with butter and jelly, and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Serve immediately.