I absolutely adore Saturday mornings for a few reasons. The first being that it is (usually) the only day of the week that I am allowed to sleep in past 7am – the rest of the week I am up early for work and the market; the second being that I have a Saturday morning ritual that I actually look forward to all week.
I’m not entirely sure when it started but I know for sure that I don’t ever want it to end. It’s a simple one – I wake up (hopefully after 9am, but usually at around 7am), get out of bed, feed Plum, make a cup of coffee, watch a few cartoons (yes, cartoons) and then make breakfast. But not just any old breakfast. Boiled egg and soldiers. THE breakfast of champions.
Now if you know me, you will know that I love breakfast. I could eat eggs and bacon all day, every day. Breakfast during the week is usually fruit or a bowl of yoghurt at my desk, and breakfast on a Sunday is non-existent because we spend our day feeding other people. So Saturday morning breakfast is a special thing.
Surprisingly a lot of people don’t even know what ‘soldiers’ are. These people are missing out on the best thing ever. Shame. The point of this post is to educate those people and to let everyone know how to boil the perfect egg. Funnily enough a lot of people have asked me how to boil an egg and I now have it down pat. So here goes…
Firstly, boil the kettle. You absolutely MUST have a strong cup of tea with your boiled egg and soldiers. I like my tea super strong with literally a teaspoon of milk in it, so it needs to be made in advance in order for me to be able to drink it while smashing soft eggs in my face.
Then put an egg or two into a small pot and cover with cold water. Add a little salt (this apparently stops the shell from cracking) and put onto a high heat. When the water starts to boil, time the eggs for three minutes for a soft boiled yolk and about four minutes for a medium yolk. As the water starts to boil, start toasting the bread – good toast takes around three minutes, depending on your toaster and the type of bread used. Once the three minutes is up, run the eggs under cold water for a few seconds. Butter your toast and cut into soldiers and then cut the top of the egg off. Add a touch of salt and start dipping. Heaven.
It may sound like an easy breakfast to make but it takes practise to get it perfect. Once the eggs are done, smash them down into the egg cup with the back of a teaspoon. Or not. This is another silly Pascoe ritual that had us in stitches when we were young.
Megs
Love.Eat.Live
