Laoise Casey shares her go-to egg recipe for a quick and easy midweek meal, featuring za'atar spiced eggs with tomatoes. This dish takes just 10 minutes from start to finish and serves one person.
A Cook's Best Friend
Much has been written on the virtues of eggs; wonderous little beings. They are among a cook's best friends: onions, sea salt, cracked black pepper and butter also being part of the gang. While they have many exciting uses (emulsifying, raising, glazing, thickening), one of their best qualities, in my view, is how quickly you can create a lovely meal for yourself with them.
If you have a few eggs, some odd veg, a spice or two, good oil and butter, that's pretty much all you need. Oh and a pan. Or if you're stuck in the office then a jug and a microwave.
Simple Preparation
Softly scrambled eggs are a sure-fire fall back. But when I don't want to wash up an extra bowl, it's cracked eggs all the way – straight into the pan, then swirl.
This is a variation of what I normally make for myself when I'm recipe writing at home. It takes 10 minutes from start to finish, eaten in less than that probably.
Serving Suggestions
To turn this into a dinner add flatbreads and a generous scoop of Greek yoghurt. You could also try one of the following combinations; spring onions, mint and paneer, or caramelised red onions, taleggio and pumpkin seeds, or lightly crushed caraway seeds, gorgonzola and sweet potato.
I've made this in one form or another so many times now. Like most good things in life, I hope I'll never tire of it.
Ingredients (serves 1)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 5g butter
- 2 – 3 medium free-range eggs
- 1 tsp za'atar
- 100g ripe plum tomatoes, sliced in half
- 30g feta
- Sea salt flakes, cracked black pepper
To serve, optional: sourdough or flatbreads, Greek yoghurt.
Method
Heat the olive oil and butter in a wide-based pan on a medium heat. When the butter starts to foam crack the eggs straight into the pan.
Season generously with salt, pepper and sprinkle the za'atar on top and leave them to cook for a minute. Then with a wooden spoon swirl them gently in the pan until they crack. Leave to cook for another 2 – 3 minutes. When the eggs are almost set, pop the tomatoes into the pan and warm through.
Crumble the feta on top and serve straight away.
Laoise (Lee-sha) is a chef, food stylist and writer. Follow her on Instagram @laoisecooks. This recipe was originally published in 2017.
