Healthy Egg Recipes

It is a very common concept, hard boiling an egg then mashing it up with a whole host of other ingredients to form a type of egg salad. What we have to be careful of in this respect, however, is what those other ingredients are and how healthy they may be to our overall diet. Full fat mayonnaise, for example, is not something we should be consuming in vast quantities on a regular basis but as with the vast majority of ingredients, there are always alternatives. This egg salad recipe is therefore quick, healthy and delicious and one which I hope you will find compares favourably with any of the more familiar varieties.

Ingredients (per portion)

1 large egg
1 tsp finely chopped white onion
1 tsp chopped coriander (cilantro in USA)
1 tsp low fat soured cream
Salt to season
1 slice of golden toast

Method

Put the egg in a pan of cold water and put it on a high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce the heat until a gently "rolling" boil is achieved and leave for eight or nine minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, place it in the sink and run cold water in to it for about a minute. Take out the egg, crack it gently on a hard surface and peel off the shell by hand.

Roughly chop the egg and put it in a bowl with the soured cream, onion and coriander/cilantro. Mix well and season with a little salt.

Make your toast and then with a large mug or glass, cut as large a circle in it as possible. Put this circle of toast on a plate and spoon on the egg mixture.

Note that this egg mixture can be used equally well as a delicious sandwich filling.

This is a recipe which I adapted from one my Gran used to make for my Mum when she was a child. I therefore cannot claim the full credit - but the alterations to the recipe are at least quite significant. Also, the oven-proof dish I use (pictured right) was actually my Gran's!

Ingredients

2 large free range eggs
2 large florets of broccoli
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
1 medium sized basil leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 150 degrees celsius/300 degrees fahrenheit. Partially cook the broccolli by boiling it in salted water for about four minutes, then drain it well and break the large florets in to smaller ones.

Beat the eggs in a bowl, season and add the garlic and basil. Lightly grease a small oven-proof dish and arrnage the broccoli inside before pouring in the egg mixture.

Bake for twenty-five to thirty minutes, ensuring you test that the egg is completely cooked by inserting a fork in the centre.

Scrambled egg is of course an extremely basic dish to make but have you ever noticed that when we sometimes try to add something to it - especially something with such a high liquid content as tomato - the structure of our fluffy eggs can break down and become almost granular? This is due quite simply to the water in the tomatoes, so how do we go about eliminating this factor from the equation?

Ingredients (per person)

2 large eggs
1 small tomato
A knob of butter
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1 slice of bread for toasting

Method

Before we even think about the eggs, take the tomato(es) and cut them in half. Scoop out as much of the seeds and water as you can from the centre with a teaspoon and discard. Chop the tomato roughly, wrap it loosely in paper kitchen towel and set aside. This will get rid of as much of the undesired liquid as possible.

Break the eggs in to a bowl, season and whisk. Melt the butter gently in a small non-stick saucepan before adding the egg mixture and turning the heat up to medium. Put your bread on to toast at this point. Stir the eggs carefully and constantly when they start to bind with a wooden spoon. Just before the last of the liquid disappears, remove the pan from the heat, add the tomato and fold it in to the eggs. The residual heat in the pan should be sufficient to complete the cooking process.

Place your toast on a plate, spoon on the egg and tomato and serve.

There is often much debate about poaching eggs on issues such as whether we should use a deep pan of water or a shallow pan and whether we should add salt to the water or not. The method which follows is the one which works for me and I hope you will at least give it a try.

Ingredients

1 large egg
Splash of white wine vinegar
1 slice of bread
1 tsp of chopped coriander/cilantro

Method

Bring a large, deep pan of water to the boil and add the white wine vinegar. Stir the water rapidly but carefully to form a whirlpool and gently pour the egg in to the vortex (centre.) Reduce the heat slightly until the water is only just more than simmering and fcook for four minutes.

Toast the bread and put on a plate then when the egg is ready, remove it from the water with a slotted spoon and allow it to drain well. Sit it on the toast and scatter the chopped coriander on top.

It is quite often the case that candidates for a chef's position are tested by how they prepare an omelette. Although it is not on the face of it a difficult dish to make, there are quite a few things which can go wrong in omelette preparation. These include everything from selecting the wrong type of pan to how we move the liquid egg around in it, as well as quite a lot in between.

Like with most recipes, there is no right or wrong way to prepare an omelette, only effective and ineffective ways. I hope that my method proves the former for you.

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 small tomato (de-seeded and chopped)
1 tbsp grated cheddar cheese
1 basil leaf (torn)
Salt and pepper

Method

Crack the eggs in to a bowl and whisk them thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring a little sunflower oil up to a medium heat in a small, non-stick omelette pan and pour in the egg mixture. As the egg begins to set, work your way around the pan with a plastic spatula, drawing the edge of the mixture in to the centre. Cease this when the omelette is perhaps half set.

When you can see that the omelette is just set and no more, add the tomato, basil and cheese in that order to one half of it then carefully fold the other half over on top. Plate up and serve immediately.

A pizza omelette is basically the name I gave to my creation pictured left. In terms of ingredients, it closely resembles an omelette, but in terms of texture, it can easily be cut in to slices and eaten like a pizza.

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