It’s an obsession.

I have become obsessed with eggs. Seriously obsessed! Especially my new fondness for the soft-boiled egg. I wonder if some of that comes from my sincere love for Eggs Benedict,and the fact that A) I cannot poach eggs and B) I’ve never attempted a hollandaise. And that soft boiled egg with it’s decadently creamy interior is just heaven!! Today I needed to experiment a bit. I wanted to figure out the perfect timing for an egg- so the white was fully cooked, and the yolk warmed through, but still runny and golden.

First egg up I brought the water nearly to a boil, dropped in an egg fresh out of the fridge, and brought the whole thing up to a boil. Once it started boiling rapidly, I set the timer for 3 minutes. When it was done, I eagerly hacked into this egg, only to discover runny egg whites. That one went in the disposal. Attempt two was much more successful. My water was already at a hard boil, so I just dropped in another cold egg. I gave this one 4 1/2 minutes. When it was done, I took it out and set it in a bowl to continue internally cooking for a minute. This egg was perfect. The white cooked through, and the yolk… just the way I like it. I was very careful with this egg though, I had planned a special treatment for it. So I very delicately peeled this egg which was not an easy feat, considering the egg was soft and squishy, and I didn’t want it to break open in the least.

I started with a portobello mushroom cap (stem removed). I placed this under the broiler with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. After about 3 minutes I pulled the mushroom out. I carefully slid my peeled soft-boiled whole egg onto the mushroom cap. Onto this I sprinkled a tiny bit of cheddar cheese, green onions, and some leftover cooked bacon pieces. The whole assembly carefully slid under the broiler until the cheese was bubbly- maybe a minute or so. And finally, I placed my mushroom/egg stack on top of a slice of buttered toast. The second I cut into that egg with my fork, I knew I had a winner. The egg yolk slowly oozed out and smothered the mushroom cap, pulling along a few crumbs of bacon with it. Every single bit of this egg tower was delightful, and I am contemplating repeating tomorrow- only an English Muffin as the base would be the ultimate breakfast indulgence.