How to Showcase Super Fresh Eggs

[pansophia]

A few months ago my hubby and I decided to be the wacky neighbors with chickens in our suburban backyard. Thankfully, only one side of neighbors thinks we're wacky, the other quite adore the chickens!

Last Sunday the older of our two hens started laying and though the first egg was barely more than bite sized, the second one got soft boiled (rather soft was attempted but it was so small we went straight to mostly hard), then last night's egg was a jumbo! (pics on my blog)

The first few went in the fridge as we adjusted to the magic of having a fresh egg just waiting for us every day. Now I want to start taking advantage of this amazing resource in the backyard. I love hard-boiled eggs but it seems like slightly older eggs are better suited to that task.

What would you do with eggs laid just a few feet from the kitchen they'll be cooked in?

Thanks!

Kate

Edited July 29, 2007 by pansophia (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Fried on top of pasta.

Scrambled in a lot of butter and placed on good toast.

Zabaglione.

See, also, the eG Cook-Off, Eggs, Beaten, with Stuff in Them.

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

So lucky Kate! I've been wanting to keep chickens (in our city yard, no less), but we have too many stray cats to eat them. I may yet do so, if I purchase or make something called a "chicken tractor" that you move around your yard everyday (basically a coop with a giant caged yard).

But we have friends that keep chickens and do get super fresh eggs from time to time (plus I buy them at the farmer's market).

All of Chris's suggestions are excellent.

Some other thoughts:

Steak tartare

Carbonara and other similar pasta sauces that use a raw egg or two mixed in at the end

Egg drop soup (try a very delicate broth to showcase the egg--either the Asian or Italian versions)

Anything with poached eggs

(And yes, you will have a very hard time peeling hard-boiled fresh eggs.)

Enjoy!

[markemorse]

Maple syrup and salt.

[petite tête de chou]

Mayonnaise!

[Truc]

Like Ann a says i believe the best way to serve fresh eggs is to paoch them. They are easier to poach when fresh and stay in form better. Cant go wrong with eggs benny.

[nonblonde007]

There is nothing as beautiful and delicious as fresh egg yolk running down over anything! Check out the breakfast thread, loads of ideas for enjoying those amazing yolks.

[zoe b]

aren't your own eggs the best! My MIL's chickens got wiped out by a raccoon in June and until the new hens started laying I was like a junky waiting for my fix.

deviled eggs

huevos rancheros

eggs benedict--2 for 1 on this one!

in any baked good

flan

sabayon

not quite hard boiled eggs in a salad with potatoes and bacon

the list is endless--Zoe

Edited July 30, 2007 by zoe b (log)

[snowangel]

Crack one on a pizza right before you stick it in the oven, or, if you're worried that it will overcook, let the pizza cook a bit, then top it with the egg.

[ACarosone]

I would make huevos rancheros if I had my own backyard chickens. I'm dreadfully jealous of you, but my neighborhood says no barnyard animals allowed.

Here's a few more

A bacon and fried egg sandwich on sourdough bread

Corn beef hash with a poached egg

Edited July 30, 2007 by ACarosone (log)

[tsquare]

Salad of frisee with poached egg

Roasted asparagus topped with fried egg and reggiano

eggs poached in a nice chicken stock

[johnnyd]

I am paying five bucks or more for a dozen local farm-fresh eggs. They are just so worth it.

A lot of spanish cooking includes a simple fried egg on top of dishes like potato and chourizo, or saltcod and potato. I recently embellished some leftover jamaican rice n' peas with a handful of sauteed carrot, onion and celery and linguica, then topped with a fried egg. Both these dishes can be a breakfast, lunch or dinner - but that's just me.

Also, try Greek Lemon Soup. Chicken stock with leftover rice, oregano, lots of lemon juice and a couple egg yolks slowly stirred in. Then whip up the eggwhites for chili rellenos or other light-battered foods.

I make portuguese Caldo Verde in the autumn and winter. Occasionally I'll poach an egg and put it right in the middle of the Caldo, then have fun breaking it and swirling the yolk around the soup.

Eggs - they're not just for breakfast anymore.

[rmillman]

62 degress C for two hours and then complemented with a little salt and chopped fried pancetta.

also plenty of inspiration in this book

http://www.amazon.com/Egg-Patrick-Mikanows...85804900&sr=8-1

[pansophia]

Wow!! I knew I'd get some great responses and y'all blew my mind!!

You know, I don't think I've ever eaten a poached egg, much less cooked one. Growing up I would only eat scrambled and hard boiled. Oh, and those "toad in the hole" toast & egg things.

I think carbonara definitely has to go on the meal list this week, I have a linguini/angel hair pasta cutter that needs trying out as well. I'll have to look up recipes for some of the other ideas and get better at my egg cooking - but I sure am hungry now!

We are so lucky that our suburb still allows two chickens without getting a permit or anything. I think it cost us $25 for two chickens and a 50-lb bag of feed that we still haven't run out of. Hubby built the coop out of spare materials and voila, now we have organic eggs just waiting for us every day.

[dockhl]

pansophia~

Would you post a picture of your chickens?

Thanks!

[jackal10]

Ahem

Here is one I prepared earlier...The Big Egg List

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=513578

[sparrowgrass]

Oh, johnnyd, I wish you lived closer to me--I have $50 worth of eggs in my fridge right now just waiting for you. (When I sell mine, I get $1 a dozen. Usually just give them to friends.)

I vote for fried rice or egg drop soup. Or a couple of nice over-easies, with homemade toasted bread.

[Lindacakes]

Sunny side up on top of a nice old hamsteak.

[chezcherie]

i also have chickens in suburbia, and there is just nothing like the taste of a fresh egg! my favorite new way to prepare them is one i saw in "the 150 best american recipes". it's from judy rogers of zuni cafe, and how i missed it in that great cookbook, i don't know, but man, it's tasty. start with a couple tablespoons of fresh breadcrumbs. stir in enough olive oil to give the texture of damp sand. Toast them in a saute pan until crisp and dry, then crack in an egg. Scramble or sunny-side up it, on top of the crumbs, until desired doneness, and tip out onto a plate. swirl about a teaspoon of vinegar (i like raspberry) into the pan (picks up any stray crumbs, and any bits of oil) briefly and drizzle that over the egg. crispy, eggy, slightly tart goodness!

[pansophia]

I suddenly realized that my photos of the girls were from when they first came home so I took some more. Sadly, I have the crappy camera and my photography trained husband is at work.

Eddy is the friendlier of the two, always comes over and says hi!

Patsy is a bit older, she's the one laying the lovely eggs.

Enjoying a bit of "free ranging" (if my mangy backyard counts as a range!)

[christine007]

I love, love! To saute a bunch of finely sliced mushrooms in oil and butter until they are nice and brown and crisp. Then I add fresh eggs, mixed with salt, pepper and a little milk, mixed up really well.

turn down the heat and scramble, and at the last minute, add some finely grated swiss.

Serve on toasted bread.

[DanConnor]

Well, if you have a number of chickens (or ducks in my case) you do everything with them, and of course eat them- as many ways as possible.

Lately we like them sauteed with yesterdays kasha varnishkas.

[Shalmanese]

Fried and topping salads.

Or "French Scrambled". Mix your eggs with a few tablespoons of butter and put in a cold pan over low heat. Heat, stirring constantly for 15 or so minutes until the eggs just set up. Add in salt, pepper and more butter which stops the cooking process, then serve over some excellent toast. The primary goal here is to drive out as much moisture as possible before cooking the eggs. What you end up with is a rich, creamy, decadent dish that's positively bursting with egg flavour. It's hugely time intensive but my favourite way to enjoy good eggs.

They also make a great amuse if you fill a spoon with them and top with just a dollop of truffle/caviar/mushroom/pancetta etc.

[Vicious Wadd]

You know, I don't think I've ever eaten a poached egg, much less cooked one.  Growing up I would only eat scrambled and hard boiled.  Oh, and those "toad in the hole" toast & egg things.

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Once you get hooked on poached eggs, there's no going back. The breakfast dishes and interpretations on eggs benedict you can do around them are endless.

[Frog1879]

A French colleague recently suggested I try "Oeufs en Meurette" when I'm in Burgundy next month. From a quick Google it seems to be reminiscent of Coq au Vin with a poached egg instead of the chicken. Sounded time intensive and a little complex but complete heaven to my mind.