One thing we tend to take for granted is the egg. Almost everyone loves eggs. You can have them fried, boiled (hard or soft), scrambled and poached. You can make omelets, frittatas, savory egg custard, and stratas. And these are just a few ways to use eggs in breakfast. We haven’t even touched the surface on desserts. But today we’re talking about breakfast and a technique for poaching eggs.

While I dearly love fried eggs over easy with some good ol’ bacon, sausage or ham, hash browns and toast, I really do like variety in my meals. I love Eggs Benedict with soft poached eggs, Eggs Houssarde, omelets, etc. although these dishes can be a little more complex or more food than I want for an easy Saturday morning breakfast. This recipe is a simple, pretty egg dish that I make periodically on a lazy Saturday morning. You might want to give it a try, too.

Ingredients

• 1 extra large egg
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 tsp scallions
• 1 tsp melted butter, oil, etc (This recipe uses the oil left over from the mojo de ajo the other night)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instruction

Fill a small 1 qt saucepan with 1-1/2 inch water an bring to a  boil.

While the water was heating, get a small ramekin (1/2 cup or so)

Add oil and coat inside of ramekin, well. In this instance, I used the wonderful oil from the mojo de ajo. Notice the beautiful color from chipotles in adobo. It is infused with the luscious garlic, the smokiness of the chipotle with just a touch of heat.

Next get the fresh herbs and mince. In this instance, I used thyme and scallion. Use whatever you have available, i.e. sage, rosemary, oregano, basil, cilantro. Add the chopped herbs to the ramekin.

The water should be at a boil by now. So,add one egg to the ramekin.

Place the ramekin in the saucepan with the boiling water.

Cover saucepan and cook for 2 minutes.

In the meantime, toast a piece of white bread and cut it with a biscuit cutter the size of your ramekin.

After 2-1/2 to 3 minutes check your egg poaching in the saucepan. 2-1/2 minutes will produce you a runny yolk. If you want a firmer yolk, cook longer. 4 minutes should get you a hard center, 3 minutes a medium center, whichever way you want. Remove from saucepan when you have reached your desired doneness.

Take a knife and run around the rim of the ramekin to free the egg from the ramekin. Put the toast round on top of the ramekin. Invert the ramekin, place on serving plate and tap on the bottom. The egg will fall neatly onto the toast round. Serve & Enjoy.