I thought, poached egg must be very difficult to make. I was wrong. And believe me or not, this is my first time. Serve it with some creamy pasta, let the runny egg yolk do its magic!
Video: How to Poach an Egg Perfectly
I did think it’s very difficult to make poached egg. All because I had a pretty fancy poached egg in Tokyo. (First time ever, probably that would be my last time too.)
A Luxurious Eggs Benedicts’ Myth
2012, while I was living in Tokyo, a well-known ‘Queen of New York’s Breakfast’ restaurant, Sarabeth’s, opened its first international branch in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It got a lot of media coverage, everybody(mostly ladies) was talking about it. The rating was also quite good. I remember my friend and I queued there before 10am in hoping to get a place to try the famous eggs Benedicts.
Perhaps that was my first time to have poached egg.
It was tasty, yes, no doubt. But I remember I felt it was over-priced. 10 years back, it cost around 1400 yen. Today, 1700 yen.
I mean, it was just 2 poached eggs, sitting on bacons and English muffins, with some hollandaise sauce and little chives for garnish. Oh yes, on the side there were some salad leaves as well.
Then, somehow, ‘poached egg = difficult to make’ hooked up in my memory. And I never try to make poached egg by myself.
Today, finally the time has come.
Video: How to Poach an Egg Perfectly
I found one blog post where it has all the poached egg info that you need. And video is also available, making everything so easy to follow.
No Salt or Vinegar, but You Need a Sieve
I followed her advice, bring a pot of water to a small boil without adding any salt and vinegar. Crack the egg into a fine mesh sieve, remove the runny part of egg white, then transfer it to a ramekin, and at last to the hot water for 3 mins. I guess using a fine mesh sieve is a really good trick!
Like what she explained in the video, the runny egg white is what makes your poached egg lose its oval shape, because once the egg white hits the hot water, it will go crazy and spread out. So remove those parts in advance, only keep the firm egg white, gently slip it into the hot water and wait for 3 mins. Viola! It’s done!
Ingredients
Serves 2
For the Poached Eggs
- 2 fresh eggs
- salt and pepper
For the Creamy Pasta
- 160 g spaghetti
- ½ medium onion, sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ courgette, sliced
- 3 mushrooms, sliced
- 3 tbsp crème fraîche
- ¼ tsp salted chicken bouillon powder
- salt and pepper
- fresh parsley leaves, chopped
- roasted walnuts, chopped
How to Make a Poached Egg on Creamy Pasta
- Make the poached egg first. Prepare a deep pot of water and bring it to a small boil (little bubbles at the bottom), then remove from the heat.
- Crack an egg on into fine mesh sieve, drain out the runny egg-white. Then place the egg in a ramekin, and slip the egg into the water, poach for 3 mins. Use a slotted spoon to take out the egg and set aside. Cook the other egg in the same way.
- Retain the same pot of water and add 1% salt to it. Bring it to the boil again, and cook the pasta as per the packet’s instructions.
- Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in another pan, fry the onion and garlic over low heat, until the onion turns translucent.
- Add in the courgette and mushroom, and season with a pinch of salt, pepper and ¼ tsp of salted chicken bouillon powder. Then pour into a ladle of pasta water, let them cook until the veggies are softened.
- Finally, add in the crème fraîche, pasta and stir well (add more pasta water if needed). Place the poached egg on top, and sprinkle over the walnuts and parsley.
