When I was growing up, I had this vision of what my life would one day be like. I would have beautiful kids (check!), a handsome husband (check!) and we would have a wonderful life together (double check!). We would wake up in beautiful beds with clean, crisp white linen (snort!) with natural sunlight streaming in. I wouldn’t look like something that slept under a bridge and scare the kids first thing in the morning and there would be absolutely no fighting or yelling. We would have a nutritious breakfast together before we all head our separate ways for the day. Â Well, let’s just say, it didn’t quite work out like that. I wake up with pillow creases on my face, my hair in a bird’s nest on my head and I beg the kids to “get up because we’re going to be LATE!!!” I’m lucky if I get them to have a few bites of cereal/yoghurt and a sip of hot chocolate before I bundle them in the car and race off. Luckily for me, I get to come home as this is where we work and feed myself and the handsome husband. But even then it’s not a lavish breakfast as we sip our coffee and read the newspaper. It’s a breakfast eaten at our desks while he does his stuff and I do mine.
But just because we don’t have time to leisurely eat breakfast, doesn’t mean we can’t have a delicious, nutritious one. And that was when this recipe was born. C loves avo on toast. Like, loves it. I’m a bit meh about it. I don’t hate it but it’s not my favourite. I on the other hand drool at the thought of a perfectly cooked egg on toast. So we combined the two, et voila. A seriously delish breakfast that takes all of 10 minutes (if that) to knock together. Now, let’s get to this “easy poached egg” business. Look, I don’t know about you but I suck at poaching eggs. I can’t do it and it’s just one of those things I’ve made peace with. The problem is that I really, really love eating poached eggs. So I had to come up with a way of poaching eggs without poaching eggs. So here’s what I do: I heat a large, non-stick frying pan over medium heat then break in the fresh eggs. As their whites begin to cook, I pour in a little boiling water. I pop a lid on and let them poach-fry until they’re done to my liking and that’s it. Easy as can be without egg white breaking apart and floating around. My perfect egg has firmly cooked whites (can not stand wobbly egg white) with a soft, just set yolk which still has a tiny bit of ooze in it. Served on top of lemony, smashed avo and crunchy toast? Yes please!
Ingredients
- 4 free-range eggs
- 2-4 slices bread of your choice I often use rye but used ciabatta here
- 1 ripe avocado
- lemon juice
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
- Break in the eggs and when their whites begin to cook, pour in approximately 1/2 cup boiling water.
- Cover with a lid and allow to cook until done to your preference.
- In the meanwhile, toast the bread and smash the avo and season with lemon juice, salt & pepper.
- Serve the toast topped with the avo with the poach-fried eggs on top.
I was just saying to my lady that now we’ve moved into our new home we need to start eating more creative breakfasts. This looks both simple and very tasty, perfect! (I’ll probably opt for regular poached eggs as I need the practice!)
Thanks for the recipe and great images!
So glad you like the look of this, Matt. I also love how simple this is yet it feels like you’re eating something more fancy pants than plain toast. 😉
I had it for breakfast yesterday, and it was delicious! Thanks again Alida 🙂 (I did opt for the easy poached eggs in the end as I was in a hurry 😛 )
I’m so glad you liked it Matt!
Robyn, I’ve done this before and it works so well. However, I prefer the shape of this way of doing it. But that certainly is a great method as well!
I found the easiest way to do poached eggs! Put a piece of cling wrap over a mug, crack the egg onto the cling wrap, pull up the sides of the cling wrap thats wrapped around the mug, bring it together and twist closed like a sweet wrapper. Drop into a pot of boiling water and fasten the top of the cling wrap to the side of the pot with a peg – 3 minutes its done! Hope my explantation makes sense!
Definitely looks like the perfect breakfast to me! At a table or at a desk!
I’m glad you agree with me! 🙂
Yes, please indeed!!!! I am not good at poaching eggs either, so this post comes in so handy for me.
Thank you for the info, Alida. Your photos make me want those poached eggs this morning, so I am going to try your method right now 🙂
I’m so glad you like my method Pang and please let me know what you think about it once you’ve tried it! 🙂
I’ve actually tried that method before but my eggs did not turn out as pretty! I’ve heard fresh eggs work best so I’ll have to splurge and buy some.
Erin, fresh eggs definitely work best. I’m just curious, what eggs did you try this with before?
I usually buy store-brand large eggs.
Those should be fine as long as they aren’t close to the end of their expiry date. I very seldomly use farm-fresh eggs but mine are always organic/free range. 🙂