Fresh Recipes | Poached Egg w/ Avocado on Toast

I have a confession to make. I made my first ever poached egg last weekend. I don’t know why, but poaching eggs always seemed like a scary process to me. I mean, how exactly does the egg cook and stay all together when it’s submerged in water? It’s like witchcraft or something.

But while I was home visiting my family a few weeks ago, my mom made us poached eggs for breakfast one morning and they were so good that I decided it was finally time to face my fear!

Of course, whenever I try something new and especially something I’m a little nervous about, I do a little research to make sure I’m prepared. This time I turned to Alice Waters and her trusty In the Green Kitchen cookbook. Here’s her advice:

Fill a shallow heavy-bottomed pan with 2 to 3 inches of water and bring it to a simmer. Lower the heat to just under boiling, so there are no bubbles breaking the surface. Salt the water, and if you like, add a splash of vinegar. Carefully crack a fresh egg into a small cup or bowl. Hold the cup or bowl right at the level of the water and slide the bowl in. Depending of its size and temperature, the egg with take 3 to 5 minutes to cook at which the white is opaque and just set but the yolk is still soft.

She also recommended a trick of dropping the un-cracked into the boiling water for 10 seconds or so just to set the white up a bit before cracking it and lowering it into the water.

Sounds easy enough, right?

I took a deep breath and lowered the egg into the water. Immediately, the egg white began to spread out and I got really nervous that it was just going to dissolve or never harden.

But, like magic, after 4 minutes or so, I had a poached egg! Plus, it was really easy to use a slotted spoon to remove the egg for a second to test for doneness. My yoke was a bit less runny than I would have liked, but it was a pretty darn good first try if I do say so myself!