Egg spread

This makes a lovely filling for sandwiches and as long as they’re in a plastic box, works well for picnics, because it doesn’t make the bread soggy. It can also be used as a dip (although then you do need to chop the eggs very finely, pass them through a sieve or put them in a blender) or spread on crackers. However, serve these immediately or the crackers will go soft.

 

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 for sandwich filling

 

2 hard-boiled eggs

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp dried, minced garlic

a few drops of hot sauce

1/2 tsp tarragon

  Annie's Seasoned Salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Cook the eggs and once they are cool, peel and dice them and put them in a bowl.
• Mix in the mayonnaise, garlic, hot sauce and seasoning to make a firm spread.

Variations:

• Use yoghurt instead of the mayonnaise. 
• Leave out the tarragon and – possibly – the hot sauce and add 1 tsp curry paste to the mix. 
• Use fresh herbs if you have any available. 
• Add diced green or red pepper, avocado, cooked mushrooms, cooked asparagus, diced onion or chopped spring onion. 
• Add diced cucumber – this will, however, make the mixture much wetter.   
• Substitute crushed green peppercorns for the normal pepper. 
• Add 1/4 tsp celery salt instead of the seasoned salt.

Egg mayonnaise

This always-popular starter is simplicity itself. For a special occasion, use home-made mayonnaise. (See Recipe)

Serves 2

 

2 eggs

4 tbsp mayonnaise

paprika or cracked black pepper

Method:

• Prick the wide end of each egg with the tine of a fork. Put them into a pan of cold water and bring to the boil.
• Turn down the heat and boil gently for 6 minutes.
• Drop the eggs in a basin of cold (sea)water to cool them and stop them cooking further. This also reduces the chance of the whites going grey.
• When they’re cool enough to handle, peel the eggs and cut them in half, lengthways.
• Arrange each egg, cut side down on a plate. Spoon mayonnaise over. Sprinkle with a little paprika or cracked black pepper, if you like, to garnish.

If you have any lettuce, or spinach, the eggs look attractive arranged on some roughly-shredded leaves.

Stuffed eggs

These make a delicious lunch, with some bread and a salad.  However, when arranged attractively on a plate, they also make an excellent snack with drinks, or a starter.

Serves 2

2 hard-boiled eggs

1 tsp curry paste

1 tsp mayonnaise

Method:

• When the eggs are cold, peel them and slice them in half, lengthwise.
• Using a teaspoon, carefully remove the yolk and put it into a bowl.
• Add the curry paste and mayonnaise to the yolks and combine them to make the stuffing.
• Pile the stuffing back into the egg whites.

Variations:

• Use yoghurt instead of mayonnaise.
• Leave out the curry paste and use tomato purée instead. Season with salt and pepper.
• Leave out the curry paste and chop fresh herbs and mix these in with the mayonnaise, egg yolks and salt and pepper.
• Instead of curry paste, use hot sauce and a little extra mayonnaise or yoghurt.

Tortilla (Spanish Omelette)

In Spain, they sell slices of tortilla to take away and eat as a snack or for a quick lunch. It also makes a lovely and unusual starter, especially before a lighter main course. I should like to offer a vegan version of this, but so far am still struggling to find a decent recipe, and I don't want to use a processed product such as "Just Eggs", even assuming I could find it.  I am very unconvinced that a gram flour 'white sauce' is a substitute for beaten eggs.

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 for a light lunch

 

2 potatoes

2 onions

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

4 eggs

Method:

• Slice the potatoes and onions and chop the garlic.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the vegetables. Cover and cook over a medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring every few minutes to ensure that everything gets cooked. When the potatoes are completely cooked, arrange all the vegetables in an even layer in the pan.
• Season generously with salt and pepper.
• Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them gently – just enough to amalgamate the yolks and the whites. Then pour the eggs over the potatoes and onions and tilt the pan to ensure that they’re evenly distributed.
• Cover, lower the heat and cook for a further 10 minutes or until the eggs are set.

Tortilla is generally eaten lukewarm, but is delicious hot, for lunch.

Boiled eggs

 

I don’t wish to seem condescending, but actually, not everyone does know how to boil an egg and one or two points may be pertinent for sailors.

1 or 2 eggs per person

1½ cups water

• Bring the water to the boil. Seawater works just fine and seems to make no difference to the timing. It also has the advantage that if the egg is cracked, it will instantly set the white so that it doesn’t escape all over the place. With the tine of a fork or a sail needle, pierce a hole in the wide end of the egg. This will help prevent it from cracking, particularly in cold conditions.

• Carefully lower in the egg and cook for 4 minutes if you like a soft white, 6 minutes if you like the white firm and the yolk still slightly runny. These times assume a large egg. If you like your egg hard boiled, put it in the pan with the cold water.

• Remove from the pan as soon as the time is up and serve immediately, with bread, crackers or toast.

NOTES

If you are using fresh water and in spite of your making a hole in the end of the egg, it still cracks, immediately add a tsp salt, or a couple of tsp vinegar or lemon juice to the water. This should stop the white from leaking out into the water. In very rough conditions, it’s worth doing this as a precaution, anyway.

Scrambled eggs

Experienced cooks will not need to learn how to cook these, but may find the prefatory remarks of interest. Scrambled eggs, as we all know, stick better than epoxy and most galleys simply do not have the room for a small, non-stick saucepan dedicated solely to the scrambling of eggs. A good alternative is to use your wok, if you have such a thing. I have a small enamelled pan that I regularly use for popcorn and that works like a charm, too. The new-style, hard-anodised, cast aluminium pans are perfect, so consider one of these if (a) you need another pan and/or (b) you love scrambled eggs. Cleaning a scrambled egg pan is probably one of the best arguments for trying a vegan alternative!

For the voyager new to cooking, I include this recipe because scramblers are so lovely when well made and so liable to turn out disappointingly. To ensure success, don’t let yourself be distracted while cooking them; have the hot plates, toast, etc ready in advance and everyone sitting down in anticipation; use a little milk or water to help them stay moist; don’t use too high a heat.

The best tool for scrambling eggs is a flat, wooden spatula, if you have such a thing.

Serves 2

a large knob of butter – equivalent of a heaped tbsp, or olive oil 

a generous grinding of pepper

seasoned salt

4 eggs

2 tbsp milk/thin cream/water

• Over a low heat, melt the butter and stir in a pinch of salt and the black pepper.

• Add the milk and eggs; beat quickly together for a moment until the yolks are broken and blended with the whites. You don’t want them to be totally incorporated as in an omelette.

• Cook gently, occasionally scraping the setting eggs from the bottom and sides of the pan – don’t stir too vigorously because you want to create soft, smooth curds.

• When all the egg is set, but before it starts drying out and turning rubbery, serve immediately, usually with hot toast, but it’s also good with freshly-baked bread.

Variations:

• A little dried, minced garlic is delicious in scramblers at any time, and particularly if the eggs are getting past their best.

• Add a little grated cheese to the pan, as soon as you’ve put in the eggs.

• A few fresh herbs go well, especially parsley.

• Try some cracked black pepper, for a change.

• A couple of sliced mushrooms, fried in the butter/oil are delicious.

• Add a sliced tomato, or several sliced cherry tomatoes.

• If you add a little curry paste to the eggs, before beating them, the result makes a delicious snack on toast or crackers.

• If you are lucky enough to find wild garlic, this goes beautifully with scrambled egg

Poached Eggs

I love poached eggs, but surprisingly few people make them. I hate those little poached egg devices that are sold: they produce a result completely different from a real poached egg, with its lovely, lacy white, surrounding a perfectly set yolk. So if you feel that you have no room for your egg poacher, take heart: there is a better alternative.

There are two requirements for flawless poached eggs: (1) plenty of salt in the water (or a tbsp of lemon or vinegar, if you prefer, although they flavour the egg quite strongly), which guarantees the white setting; (2) the water must be at a full, rolling boil before the egg is lowered into the pan. For this reason, eggs should be at ‘room temperature’, ie about 18°C (70°F). In very cold places, you may have to cook the eggs no more than two at a time.

Serves 2

2 cups seawater

4 eggs

• If the seawater isn’t very clean, use fresh water and a tsp salt. Put the water into a large saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.

• When the water is rapidly boiling, carefully break an egg into it, at one side of the pan. (If you are worried about breaking the yolks, break the egg onto a small plate first, and then slide it in.)

• Set the timer for three minutes, for a soft yolk.

• When the water comes back to a vigorous boil, add another egg. Continue in this way until all the eggs are in the pan.

• Reduce the heat and cover.

• When the timer pings, remove the eggs from the pan with a slotted spoon, in the same order as they went in.

• Serve immediately, generously seasoned with black pepper, on hot, buttered toast.

If you find that everything froths up too much, move the lid sideways, to partially cover the pan or turn off the heat as soon as you've added the final egg. Let the pan stand for 6 (soft) or 7 (firmer) minutes and then take the eggs out.

Variations:

• For Eggs Florentine, cook and drain spinach, season with pepper and serve topped with a poached egg.

• Instead of butter, spread the toast with Dijon mustard

• Sprinkle the eggs with a mild ground chilli powder, such as Kashmiri

• If you like the heat, spread the toast with chilli paste

Fried egg sandwich

I suspect that this sounds pretty revolting to my more fastidious readers, but as they happen to be a personal favourite of mine, I am including them. For perfect fried egg sandwiches, you need decent bread – preferably home made, good-quality tomato ketchup and eggs whose yolks are set, but whose whites are not frazzled.

Serves 2

8 slices bread

tomato ketchup

1 tbsp olive oil OR butter

4 eggs

pepper

Annie’s Mixed Herbs

• Toast the bread on one side only.

• Spread a thin layer of tomato ketchup on the untoasted side of each slice of bread.

• Place a frying pan on the burner. Add the olive oil or butter and before it gets hot, carefully break in the eggs so that they are spread evenly around the pan. Tilt the pan, if necessary to keep them so, or gently move them with a spatula.

• When the whites start to set and are lifting up and down, break the yolks. Then sprinkle with Annie’s Mixed Herbs and a generous grinding of pepper. Lower the heat and cover.

• Cook for several minutes until the whites are set. Watery whites are horrible in fried egg sandwiches.

• As soon as the eggs are cooked, cut the pan full of eggs into four equal portions with a knife and then lift out a piece of fried egg, placing it on the ketchup side of one piece of bread. Put another slice on top and serve at once. If you didn’t cook the yolks hard, fried egg sandwiches can be a bit drippy, so ensure that a plate and tissues are to hand.

Variations:

• A small onion can be diced and quickly stirred around before adding the fried eggs. Don’t let it cook too long, or the pan will get hot and the whites will then end up crisp.

• A full-flavoured, but mild mustard makes a pleasant alternative to tomato ketchup. Or try another type of sauce.

• Some wild garlic, if you come across some, is delicious, snipped over the eggs while they set.

Plain Omelette

These make a pleasant change at breakfast. Ideally, they should be made individually, in 150 mm (6 in) omelette pans, but most boats would not have room for such a luxury. They come out a bit on the thin side, if you make them one at a time in a larger pan, so better to make a four-egg omelette and share nicely.

Serves 2

 

4 eggs

salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp Annie's Mixed Herbs

 

Method:

• Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them lightly with a fork or whisk so that the whites and yolks are combined. Add salt and grind in some pepper. 
• Heat the oil in a frying pan until it’s runny but by no means smoking. Tip in the eggs and tilt the pan so that the mixture spreads itself evenly around. You can lift up the edges of the omelette as it sets so that the liquid egg trickles underneath. 
• When the top is almost set, sprinkle on the herbs and as the last of the liquid egg firms up, fold the omelette in half with a fish slice. 
• Quickly cut it in half and then put each section onto a heated plate. Serve at once.
  

Variations:

• Of course, there are innumerable variations on the theme, but for breakfast, you probably don’t want anything too exciting. A little grated cheese would be very acceptable. Add just before you fold the omelette. 
• You might like to spoon over some jam, if you have a sweet tooth, in which case, leave out the herbs. 
• Another useful idea is to preheat any of last-night's leftovers and put those in the omelette. But the few herbs are really all most people would want, first thing in the morning, especially if you are fortunate enough to have some fresh herbs on board. 
• If you fancy something more substantial, make a Spanish omelette or a frittata (see recipe).

Perfect fried egg

For perfect fried eggs, break the eggs carefully into a frying pan with a little oil that is wam, but not yet hot.  Too high a heat makes the base crisp – which some people quite like. However, most people prefer the whites soft, but not runny.  If you like the yolk hard, just pierce it with the point of a knife and let the yolk spread out a little. 

Season with Annie's Mixed Herbs, freshly ground pepper and salt, if you like. Once the white is setting and starting to lift, lower the heat and cover the pan.  This saves you from either having to turn the egg over, or flip hot oil over it to set the eggs.

My mother always told me to use the back of the knife to crack the egg.  She was right!

Hollandaise Sauce

Perhaps this isn’t exactly a basic recipe, but it’s a lovely one to have in your repertoire. Typically, it’s served with fresh fish such as salmon, but it also goes superbly with fresh asparagus, which is anyway such a luxury, that it deserves the best of treatment. It’s also very popular poured over poached eggs on toast.

If you’re unacquainted with this sauce, the best way to describe it’s like hot mayonnaise, but somehow, even richer. I haven’t tried making a vegan version of this.

 

Serves 2

 

1½ tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp water

1 egg

50 g (2 oz)/4 tbsp butter

 

Method:

• Boil water in a small saucepan and then take it off the stove.
• Find a bowl that will sit comfortably over the pan, but not so deeply as to displace the hot water.
• Put the lemon juice, water, salt and pepper in the bowl.
• Beat in the egg, with a wire whisk and then add a quarter of the butter. Continue whisking until the butter has melted. By now the sauce should be starting to thicken.
• Add the rest of the butter a quarter at a time, whisking all the time.
• Taste. Add a little more lemon juice if you like.
• The sauce should be served immediately, but it will keep warm if you leave the bowl over the hot water.

If you find that the water has cooled down too quickly, you can put it back over a very low flame on a flame tamer. The water must not boil because it will then effectively scramble the egg, which will ruin the sauce.