Cooking eggs – whether fried, poached, or, as in this week’s theme, scrambled – seems to cause a lot of debate around the breakfast table. It doesn’t matter if you choose to cook in a frying pan or a saucepan, stir with a wooden spoon or a fork, or serve runny or firm what I’ve taken from sifting through our readers’ multiple submissions is that if you don’t have your own personal technique down, then any bonus additions to your plate are wasted.
A common practice I was previously unaware of is spreading a touch of Marmite on the toast before the egg is piled on top; Redd and Mark Meade’s version with lightly mixed eggs to bring out the textures of white and yolk, is topped with a little avocado for extra creaminess. Binny Shah’s chilli cheese toast topped with scrambled egg abundant with spices was brunch indulgence at its best, while Marmaduke Scarlet’s submission of classic Scotch woodco*ck – scrambled eggs with anchovies and cream – is going in the bank of enormously satisfying winter dinners for one.
If, like me, you see weekend breakfasts as the perfect excuse for extravagance, then Howard Davis’s scrambled eggs with an extra yolk and some clotted cream will be just the ticket. Highly recommended with a little smoked salmon on the side.
Moving away from breakfast, though, was Fadime’s qeyxane: scrambled eggs topped with tahini and sweet grape molasses. Unusual on the first bite, but as addictive as maple syrup with bacon, it’s great early in the day with bread, but would be good as an after-work snack, too.
My favourite recipe ended up being one of the most straightforward ideas, but utterly brilliant. I would never have thought to melt cheese and scramble a couple of eggs in the mix once molten, but now I’ve discovered it, I can’t imagine better fast comfort food. It’s made me remember just how good Wensleydale cheese is, and how in this time of wildly varied brunch options, something simple, cooked well, is still very hard to beat.
The winning recipe: Wensleydale scrambled eggs
Passed on to me by my friend Alison in Leeds 30 years ago. This is the opposite of beaten, fluffy eggs with milk – a thick, creamy, dreamy delight.
Bklvr, via GuardianWitness
Serves 2
120g wensleydale cheese, roughly chopped
Ground black pepper
4 eggs, whisked
4 slices of toast, buttered
1 Melt the cheese in a saucepan, gently so it doesn’t harden, and add lots of pepper.
2 Have a toast conveyor belt on the go and ideally a friend to butter the slices while you stir the eggs. Still with the pan over a low heat, break the eggs into the melted cheese and stir vigorously until they’re cooked to a creamy consistency. Don’t overcook. Heap on to hot toast. You can add smoked salmon or bacon bits sweated to get out the fat, for an extra treat.
Scrambled eggs with prawns and spinach
Scrambled eggs are hugely popular in Spain; they flavour them with all sorts, but my favourite is this recipe, revuelto de espinacas y gambas.
Diane Kitchen, Ilkley
Serves 4
1kg spinach
50g butter
300g raw prawns, peeled
8 eggs
1 Remove the stalks, wash the leaves in cold water and put them in a large pan with no extra water. Cook, stirring occasionally, then drain. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can, then chop finely.
2 Heat the butter in a frying pan, then add the prawns and cook for 2 minutes, until they turn pink. Add the spinach and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
3 Meanwhile, lightly whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt, then pour the eggs into the frying pan and stir with a wooden spoon until they turn soft and creamy and start to set a little. Take off the heat and serve on to warm plates.
Simple soft scrambled eggs with Marmite and avocado
This is a really simple and delicious recipe my dad and I have perfected over the weekends we’ve spent together; we’ve found the combination works really well.
Redd and Mark Meade, Wickford
Serves 2
Extra virgin olive oil
5 eggs
4 slices of wholemeal bread, toasted
1 avocado, sliced
½-1 tsp Marmite
1 Put a little oil in a pan over a medium heat, then crack the eggs in. Mix around, but not too much, so the yokes break but don’t fully mix with the whites.
2 Drizzle the toast with oil and Marmite.
3 Once the eggs are softly cooked, with parts dish on toast, top with the avocado slices and season to taste.
Scotch woodco*ck
This was a very popular Victorian and Edwardian “savoury”; it also seems to be one of their peculiar ideas of a joke, a bit like Welsh rarebit. Who can tell these days why a dish of scrambled eggs on toast with anchovies is named after a small Scottish gamebird? While I may not be in on the joke, this dish was one of my late father’s favourites and about the only thing, excepting curry, he could cook really well. It is very moreish.
MarmadukeScarlet, London
Serves 4
50g tinned anchovies, drained
180g butter, at room temperature
4 crustless slices of quality white bread
4 eggs
300ml milk or double cream
½ tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and ground black pepper
A pinch of ground ginger
A pinch of ground mace
A pinch of ground nutmeg
Chives, snipped, to serve
1 Roughly chop, then mash the anchovies with a fork. Combine with 150g of the butter.
2 Lightly toast the bread, then spread with the anchovy butter and keep warm while you prepare the eggs.
3 Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Beat the eggs together with the cream and all the spices. Pour the eggs into the pan and turn up the heat to medium. Stir constantly until the mixture has thickened and curds have formed. Remove from the heat before the eggs dry out. Spread over the toast and scatter with a few chopped chives.
Scrambled egg with tahini and grape molasses
Qeyxane (pronounced “keygana”) is one of the most common snacks in Kurdistan. Eggs were quite precious in the past, and having scrambled egg or omelette made with herbs, vegetables and sweet things was always a winner. This version was even more special as it contained sweet grape molasses and sometimes tahini.
Fadime, via GuardianWitness
Serves 1
1 tbsp salted butter
2 large eggs
A pinch of salt and black pepper
1 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp grape molasses or maple syrup
1 Melt the butter in a nonstick pan, then when it starts to foam take it off the heat and let it cool a bit.
2 Meanwhile, gently whisk the eggs with some salt and pepper. Pour into the pan and stir it as it cooks, let it set, then stir it again when it is almost set but still little runny. At this point, take the eggs off the heat, as they will continue to cook.
3 Mix the tahini and the molasses or maple syrup and drizzle over the eggs, then serve with some bread.
Chilli and cheese toast with spiced scrambled eggs
The perfect indulgent treat for a lazy brunch. I love the combo of chilli, cheese and egg.
Binny Shah, via GuardianWitness
Serves 2
For the chilli and cheese toast
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp ginger, grated
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp smoked sea salt
1 tsp crushed black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
4 slices bread, toasted
A large handful of gouda cheese, grated
For the eggs
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 red onion, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 beef tomato, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
4 eggs, beaten
A handful of coriander, chopped, to serve
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. In a bowl, mix the melted butter, ginger, chillies, salt, pepper and cumin. Spread this mixture over each piece of toast generously.
2 Scatter the grated cheese over the toast, put on a baking tray lined with foil and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese has melted.
3 Meanwhile, make the eggs. In a frying pan, heat the oil on a medium heat, then add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 2 minutes. Add the onion and chilli and cook for 3 minutes before adding the garlic and ginger.
4 Add the tomato and all the spices and mix well. After 3 minutes, pour in the beaten egg and keep stirring for 5 minutes until scrambled. Garnish with the chopped coriander and serve hot with the chilli cheese toast.
- Eve O’Sullivan’s last column next week is a music-inspired theme in keeping with her book Bake in Black (Omnibus Press). Her latest book, The Kitchen Shelf (Phaidon), is due to be published in May.
