Due to the hustle and bustle of my family’s past morning routine, eggs were only reserved for weekend breakfasts. Now, eggs are my go-to ingredients to make a quick lunch or supper on hectic days when I don’t have a meal plan. My dilemma of finding new egg recipes for those days was solved when I received the Posh Eggs: Over 70 Recipes for Wonderful Eggy Things cookbook by Lucy O’Reilly.
Contents
The beginning of the cookbook introduces us to the properties of different types of eggs (hen, duck, quail, goose and ostrich), as well as the various methods of cooking them for:
- Breakfast Eggs
- Lunch Eggs
- Snack Eggs
- Supper Eggs
- Desserts and Drinks Eggs
The Recipes
The over 70 recipes are well formatted, easy to follow and include headnotes and cooking times, and are accompanied by stunning colour photos. Depending on where you live, some spices and ingredients like groundnut oil, Arbroath smokies (from Scotland), and quail eggs listed in some recipes might be challenging to find. Try looking in a speciality food store. These are just some of the delicious recipes included in the cookbook:
- Scrambled Eggs with Finnan Haddie and Mexican Rostada in Breakfast Eggs
- Mini Potato & Chorizo Tortilla and Monte Cristo (variation of Croque Monsieur) in Lunch Eggs
- Japanese Omelette Sushi and Sausage and Egg Rolls in Snack Eggs
- Spaghetti Carbonara and Beef Ramen in Supper Eggs
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Soufflés and Classic Zabaglione in Desserts and Drinks
Tested Recipes
Spaghetti Carbonara (Page 118)
I’ve made this dish plenty of times but never thought of it as an egg dish. Perhaps it’s because I focused more on the pancetta and spaghetti ingredients. Nevertheless, this recipe is easy and quick to make, and it’s creamy and delicious. Although listed in the Supper Eggs chapter, I served it for lunch with a mixed salad and crusty bread.
Mini Potato & Chorizo Tortilla (Page 48)
I’ve made a potato tortilla before and it needed a boost in flavour. The addition of chorizo here adds just the right amount of spice. This recipe serves two and cooks in two five-inch frying plans for easy flipping, but I cooked it in one 10-inch frying pan. Well, let’s say when I flipped it over, I had two Mini Potato and Chorizo Tortillas.
Turkish Menemen (Page 30)
In 30 minutes, you’ll have made this colourful Turkish Menemen dish. A spicy, flavourful aroma fills the kitchen while it’s cooking. The eggs are added 15 minutes before serving. Since I have an aversion to cilantro, I substituted parsley. We served ourselves directly from the pan using the warm pita bread. I did find the taste a little spicy, but the flavour of the runny egg yolks into the pepper mixture was delicious.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 1 large green chilli pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 2 red and 2 yellow (or green) bell peppers, deseeded and finely sliced
- 400g/14oz tin chopped tomatoes
- 4 eggs
- pinch of cayenne
- handful coriander (cilantro) and mint leaves, chopped
- flatbreads, warmed, to serve
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large garlic clove, crushed
- squeeze of lemon juice
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 140g/5oz Greek yoghurt
- Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook slowly over low heat for 8 minutes, until soft and golden.
- Stir through the fennel and cumin seeds, and chilli, and cook for a further minute. Add the
- peppers, cook for 2–3 more minutes, then pour over the chopped tomatoes and a splash of water.
- Season well and allow the sauce to bubble for 5 minutes, until aromatic and slightly thickened.
- Make shallow depressions in the sauce and crack in your eggs. Cook over low heat for around 15 minutes until the whites have set but yolks are still runny.
- Meanwhile, combine the garlic, lemon and extra virgin olive oil with the yoghurt in a bowl and season to taste.
- Sprinkle the eggs with the cayenne, seasoning and the chopped herbs. Serve directly out of the pan at the table with the cooling garlicky yoghurt and warm flatbreads.
Bookshelf Worthy?
There are only so many ways to make frittatas, and now I have three new egg recipes to add to my quick recipes for lunch and dinner menu rotation. I’m certain I’ll be referring to this cookbook often to add more recipes.
Posh Eggs includes recipes for everyone’s taste that the whole family will enjoy. If you’re willing to explore different flavours, this cookbook is for you.
Posh Eggs: Over 70 Recipes for Wonderful Eggy Things
Author: Lucy O’Reilly
Photography: Louise Hagger
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Quadrille Publishing Limited
ISBN: 978-1-84949-788-6
Acknowledgement
Excerpted from Posh Eggs: Over 70 Recipes for Wonderful Eggy Things. Recipes Copyright © 2016 Lucy O'Reilly; photography Copyright © 2016 Louise Hagger. Excerpted by permission of Quadrille. All rights reserved.
The Posh Eggs cookbook review was written by Liliana Tommasini, author of the aptly named blog My Cookbook Addiction. Her passion for baking and cooking began at an early age. Liliana grew up in an Italian household where each meal was made from scratch with fresh ingredients and Sunday family lunches were always a celebration. She has a passion for collecting cookbooks and believes that every recipe tells a story that must be shared to nourish your soul and feed your belly. You can connect with Liliana on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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