Egg it up:Sweet or savoury, eggs never go out of fashion
I was given the most wonderful present last week - an egg. This was no ordinary egg, however, but one plucked from the hen who had laid it before my eyes. Some friends had taken the bold step of getting two hens for their garden, and here was my egg.
An egg is as suited to breakfast, along with bacon of course, as it is topping a salad of warm olive oil-dressed beans, black olives and capers. Whisk a few up to make a soufflé, savoury or sweet, to start or finish a meal. And what about an old-fashioned omelette, aux fine herbes, or with cheese, or smoked haddock and Parmesan (the latter also known as omelette Arnold Bennett). An egg is nothing if not versatile.
For me, a real egg should be organic, with a viscous white, clinging to a yellow yolk. Nothing too pale - the yellow needs to be intense and golden. This is the kind of egg that inspires me to make pasta, encourages me to whisk up an intense and fruity mayonnaise, or indulge in hollandaise or bearnaise sauce.
Of all birds, the hen scores most highly on productivity. Duck eggs may be less common but deliver more on flavour, and are perfect for a rustic salad, although not perhaps so good in a chocolate souffle. Some say duck eggs make the best sponge cakes. For a dramatic start to dinner, serve quail eggs with drinks, the eggs hard-boiled and served with a selection of dipping spices: ground ginger, celery salt, paprika, ground cumin and black pepper, each neatly piled on the edge of a large plate. Far better than crisps.