Is it possible to microwave a poached egg?

Photo c/o www.joyfulabode.com

Currently, the answer to that is "yes, so long as you want a hard yolk to your egg!".

I conducted an interesting experiment this morning.  I hadn't been out of bed for long - in fact, I was only just out of bed in that I was sitting on the edge drinking some tea and wishing I was back in the warms again - and was pondering on what to do with the extra vegetables we seem to have accumulated in the fridge.


We've got a large pack of asparagus, some broccoli, half an aubergine, a vine ripened tomato and a number of Jersey Royal potatoes - and that's just for starters.  Looking at that list now, I can see a lovely griddled vegetable salad appearing before my eyes.  However, then, I wasn't thinking quite so clearly and couldn't get past the large pack of asparagus.

In my head were images of asparagus soldiers dipped into soft boiled eggs, asparagus in Hollandaise sauce, griddled asparagus dripping in butter - so you can probably understand why I was having trouble getting past it.

Hubby suggested steamed asparagus with Hollandaise and a poached egg - which has lots of merit as an idea.  Right up until you realise that it's virtually impossible to poach anything other than an egg that you caught on the way to the ground, having just left its chicken.  They need to be that fresh.  The poor sorry little eggs that we get from the supermarket just can't cut the mustard in poaching water.  At three to four days old (at best) they will be drifting around the pan in strings of white mucus that are not only unappetising, but that are also very difficult and unrewarding to eat.

It was then that the light dawned about how come egg poaching pans were invented.  To be able to poach week-old eggs, of course.  It's not that the populace - to a man (or woman) - suddenly forgot how to poach, it's that egg production became centralised to "egg producing farms" instead of having backyard hens or local farms producing eggs for sale at local shops.  As such, the distance in time between the egg being laid and appearing in the shop, was longer and the quality of the egg deteriorated to a stage where it became unable to be poached successfully.


This is why so many people believe they "aren't able to poach an egg".  Not because their technique is lacking, it's because the eggs just aren't up to it.

Lozzie-eggs

Whenever I am the happy recipient of some of my friend-Laura's eggs from her backyard hens, the first thing I do is have one poached for breakfast.  The poaching works beautifully, every time.

So, getting back to the poaching pan, hubby's suggestion was to make use of same.  (He was doing the man-thing of "wifey wants it - make it happen").  I wasn't keen on that idea, not because using a poaching pan was admitting defeat on the egg poaching front (well, there is no "admit defeat", if your eggs just aren't up to it).  No, it was because of the washing up involved.  Now, we don't have a dishwasher - at which point, hubby will laugh hollowly and exclaim "yes we do, me!".  Which is entirely the reason why I'm not keen in making a lot of washing up over something as simple as breakfast.  Lord knows, he has enough washing up to do where lunch and dinner are concerned, without starting on breakfast too.  Using the poaching pan involves washing up four component parts - and then only if you've cooked the one egg!


It was then that I had my blinding idea.  The poaching cups are plastic, right?  Most plastics, these days, microwave.  I wonder if, if you microwaved an egg in a plastic poaching cup, whether it would work?

Photo c/o DailyMuscle.com

So, having hurriedly thrown on some clothes (well, it's best to have breakfast looking like you've arrived on the planet, rather than been dumped here from some alien environment, I find), I took one of the poaching cups from our egg poaching pan and - plus an egg and a smear of olive oil - microwaved it.

It didn't half hop around the microwave - but the end result, after 35 seconds, was an egg which had a hard yolk but - in places - a partly uncooked white.

So not exactly a success. I'm wondering whether reducing the power on the microwave and cooking it for a bit longer might improve the result.

I reckon I'll try that tomorrow!


The asparagus?  Oh that's forgotten - I think I might make a tart with it some time next week.  *chuckle*


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The black pudding experience continues!

Bacon, black pudding, mushrooms, poached egg and
sausages all served with hubby's perfect bread.
Now that's what I call lunch!

We found ourselves on the Ashley Road in Poole today and, while I went to the Library (bringing home Silvana Rowe's "Feasts" and Adam Byatt's "How to eat in"), Hubby managed to pick up some mushrooms, sausages and more black pudding - this time from the butcher's.

With the bacon that was surplus to requirements and in the fridge already, this all equated to a superlative lunch!

Oh, and I am filled with poached egg success, having produced two perfectly poached little beauties. 

It was Son's first go at Black Pudding (coming to the stuff rather more quickly than either his father or myself) and he declared it - after quiet consideration whilst chewing thoughtfully - as "nice!".  He said it was rather like the sausage from a bought sausage roll, except without the pepper - which I think describes it rather well.

Of course, he'd be rather better able to converse, if he wouldn't put quite so much in his mouth at one time - and maybe wearing a t-shirt to the table would be a good idea?  *sigh*  Kids, eh ....

Today has been a "taste revelation"

Today, started out being a fairly ordinary Friday.  Being Friday, it meant we would be doing the shopping for the weekend - which involves getting all the fresh vegetables and such items as we forgot on Tuesday, or such items which might have gone off by the weekend - such as cream.

We try to maximise our route, in order to minimise the petrol expended - not because of any green intentions (although they would be there, if our first priority were different) - but because of cost.  It's unfortunate that we have a lovely car, but can't afford to take it anywhere except those places that are absolutely necessary.

Ordinarily, we would have done the shopping list last night and having dropped son at school would have fought our way through the rush hour traffic to the supermarket.  However, as we lay our heads down last night it dawned on us that we were shopping list-less, which is a calamity of momentous proportions.  We just cannnot shop without a shopping list, because a) we'd never remember everything and b) we'd wind up with loads of superfluous shopping that'd cost a fortune.  As neither of us could bear the idea of putting the light back on and getting the notebook out, we had to return home following dropping son off at school.

There is a bright side to doing that, as it means we get to eat breakfast before shopping - which is a very good thing both from the aforesaid superfluous shopping point of view and the point of view that hubby is a diabetic.  Ordinarily he wolfs a banana on the way to the Supermarket, but I can't help thinking that's not the best way!

Not my photograph, I was too keen to eat it!

We had planned to go to the butchers' first, then the doctors' (to drop off a repeat prescription for me) and onwards to Asda in Bournemouth.  All these places were en route, so it was fine in that we'd done our best to maximise the extra petrol.  However, just as we were getting into the car, it dawned on me as to how we were going to pay for the Black Pudding we were planning to get from the butcher.  Hubby had the princely sum of 60p cash on him and I had the debit card.  It didn't seem right to ask the butcher to take payment from a debit card for less than £1-worth of Black Pudding, so we abandoned thoughts of the butcher and continued on.  You see, taking £10 out of the hole-in-the-wall just meant we'd spend the remaining £9 on fripperies such as sweets, which we can't afford to do either in calories or in cash, so we were stuck.

Neither of us had ever sampled Black Pudding and I was particularly keen to have a go at it.  You see, it annoyed the heck out of me when (for instance) I'd see it used on programmes like MasterChef and I'd be unable to place the flavour in my mind.  The scallop, yes, pea puree, yep, black pudding - ~shrug~ - no idea.  So annoying!  Hubby was rather less keen, as indeed I was up until around six months ago, as he was still put off by it's ingredients.  However, he was quite prepared to have a taste of mine - so that was why we were on the trail of it today.

We're regular customers in Asda these days and because I have to stop and pick up an electric buggy for the disabled, we've got to know the security staff, the Greeters and some of the checkout ladies so it's always quite nice and friendly there.

Part-way round, we're in the sausage aisle when suddenly hubby comes over all thoughtful and says "hang on a minute" and disappears, leaving me (sat in an electric buggy) with the trolley, in one of the busiest aisles of the shop - taking up all the space.  Cue the next couple of minutes (which felt like about a week) while people took it in turns to swerve around me and - thank goodness - nobody wanted to get to the sausages I was blocking access to.  He came back, looking pleased with himself and clutching a piece of Black Pudding which he'd found on the Deli counter.  LOL  Bless!

So when we got home, as it was lunchtime, it seemed only right to sample the hard-won wares.

Not my photograph - but it looked like these, honest!

I made some toast, cooked the black pudding and a vine tomato.  I then had a brainwave and decided to add an egg to the dish.  After some consideration as to what type of method of cooking for the egg, I decided to go all out and try poaching the egg in water (as opposed to in a poaching pan).  Now this I had never tried before, either.  However we'd just bought some white wine vinegar, so never had the time been more ripe!

Honest guv, that egg came out perfectly.  Hubby reckons it's all the years of stored up knowledge from watching it being done so often on the t.v., meant I had no difficulty with it.  For me, I reckoned that if Monica (Michel Roux's right hand woman) can do it, so can I.  *chuckle*

As for the Black Pudding, well, it was truly delicious.  My only stumbling block with it was the texture, as it was softer than I'd thought it would be.  However, perhaps I didn't try the best example of the type - and I'm still quite keen to try some from our local butcher.  When and if I've got a £1 coin.  *grin*