The other day I actually caught a bit of Nigella Lawson’s new show on the Food Network. She is a reason alone to watch that channel. I just love her. She has such a casual way of cooking, yet she presents it in such a classy manner. The other day she made a simple egg dish, and I realized that I had never had it. Please don’t laugh, but I’ve never eaten a soft-boiled egg. And as I watched her slice off the top of the egg and dunk the toast into this gloriously gooey egg yolk, I knew I had to have it. There was no discussing it and going back and forth, I had to have that egg.
So I followed her directions. Nigella suggested using room temperature eggs, and dropping them into boiling water for 4 minutes. She also said that if your eggs are chilled, you can drop them in the water before it comes to a boil, and that will work as well. So I put a pot of water on to boil and got out an egg. I waited until it was almost boiling before dropping it in and setting a timer. While the egg cooked, I popped a slice of bread into the toaster for dunking in the egg. It seemed like that 4 minutes took forever! When the timer went off I realized I had a problem. I don’t have an egg cup. I’ve never seen a need for an egg cup, to be honest. So I quickly grabbed an espresso cup and put a little foil in the bottom to make a makeshift cup for my egg. It worked okay.
I sliced the top off the egg, which revealed a wonderfully golden center- slightly more cooked than I had hoped for, but still slightly runny, so that was okay. I gave it a sprinkle of good Fleur de Sel and eagerly dunked a toast point. Heaven. Pure heaven. I don’t know why it took me so long to try this absolutely simple breakfast. It was fantastic. I think I need to work on my timing just a tad, because I want my egg yolk to be gooey, but overall, I was simply amazed. I had a nice cup of Irish Breakfast tea to accompany, and I had breakfast fit for the queen. If you haven’t tried a soft boiled egg, you’re really missing out. And now I am on the prowl for some egg cups. 
My mom used to do this ALL the time, except she didn’t use an egg cup. We went for the rustic way and cut the soft boiled egg directly over the toast. This makes for a wonderful combination of soft and crisp. I may have to do this sometimes soo, too!
I’ve never had a soft-boiled egg either, but I love runny fried eggs…is the white cooked through or is it runny, too?
Wierd… I left a commeng on this last night…
Crystal- the white was perfectly set. Not as tough and rubbery as a hard boiled egg though.
Claire- I’m simply going to have to try that very soon- that sounds perfect!