Prue Leith’s scrambled egg technique might surprise a lot of people.
“I once had an argument about how to scramble eggs with the famous French chef Albert Roux,” says Leith. “He claimed anything other than eggs gently and lovingly stirred in a double saucepan over simmering water for 20 minutes or so, until you have a mixture as smooth as Hollandaise sauce, was sacrilege. So, I apologise to any like-minded perfectionists – my eggs are scrambled in seconds.”
“The trick is to yank them off the heat and tip them on to the toast while some of the mixture is still just liquid. And the toast is important. I like it well toasted, so there is a bit of crunch round the edge. Sourdough bread makes the best toast because it’s tough enough not to disintegrate under the wet scramble.
Marmite and rocket aren’t traditional, but “after hundreds of Sunday-night scrambles in front of the telly, I think this version is probably my favourite”, she says.
Perfect scrambled eggs
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
4 thick slices of bread with about 60g butter
Marmite (optional)
8 large eggs
100ml whole milk
A few good handfuls of rocket leaves (optional)
Salt and black pepper
Method:
1. Toast the bread. Use about half the butter to butter the slices and spread them lightly with Marmite, if using. Put them on heated dinner plates. Keep warm.
2. Blitz the eggs and milk briefly together in a blender, or whisk them in a bowl until there are no streaks of egg white. Season with salt and pepper.
3. On a medium heat, melt the remaining butter in a large non-stick frying pan and pour in the eggs.
4. Using a spatula or fish slice, keep the mixture moving. Don’t stir wildly – just scrape the mixture from edge to middle as the eggs solidify. When they are almost all cooked, with only 20 per cent or so still runny, spoon the mixture on to the toast – by the time you are done, all the egg will be cooked, but still moist and shiny.
5. Drop a handful of rocket on to each plate, if you like, and serve at once, perhaps with a little extra black pepper over the top.
‘Life’s Too Short To Stuff A Mushroom’ by Prue Leith (Carnival, £25).
