Eggs! Delicious and so Nutritious

Eggs, I love them, they are and have always been an integral part of my diet. Only in the last few years did I understand their nutritional benefits.

Eggs feature in so many recipes, from cakes to Yorkshire puddings. Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best though and while scrambled or poached can be tasty and healthy (I never add butter or oil to scrambled eggs) one of my favourite lunches, even as an adult, is a chookied egg piece. A piece being a sandwich and chookied egg being a hardboiled egg chopped up with butter while it’s still warm. It is delicious! I'm not sure where the name comes from, or if I'm spelling it correctly, but that's what we called it growing up and I still love it now.

The ideal chookied egg sandwich has just over one egg, one just isn't quite enough for the perfect bread to filling ratio. This does mean you need to cook two but the upside is you have some left to spread on toast for breakfast or, to eat with a spoon as you feel peckish!

I am talking about hens eggs by the way though I have tried duck and quail over the years, just as nice but not always as easy to source. I do always buy free range as well and from as locally sourced as I can. I am really lucky that my friend keeps hens, which I know are lovingly looked after and allowed to roam free, and whenever we see her we always come away with at least half a dozen. They are always fresher than store bought eggs too. The way to tell how fresh your eggs are is to put them in a bowl of water, if the bottom rises straight up and the egg is vertical they are past their best. You're looking for them to be horizontal or at an angle. Of course, if they are dated then just go by the date on the box!

I mentioned the nutritional benefits of egg so here is a quick summary.

An egg contains all nine essential amino acids and in the right ratios for humans. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There are 20 of them 11 non-essential, because it’s not essential that we eat them, the body can synthesise them itself, and 9 essential because it’s essential that we eat things that contain them. Eggs are also high in vitamins A and D, a typical large egg contains approx. 8g of protein, 5.5g fat and 80kcal. It’s also true that eggs have a high cholesterol however recent research has shown that this doesn’t lead to high blood cholesterol, which has been stated in tabloid media in the past.

So, the recipe for this is fairly simple, it just eggs and butter or whatever spread you prefer to use. I usually have unsalted butter in the fridge for cooking with and you will definitely need to add salt to bring out the flavour. I'm fairly sure any of my family reading this will be in stiches that I've wrote a blog and recipe for a chookied egg piece but I think you'll love it.

Recipe

• 2 large eggs

• 25g butter / spread

• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Add your eggs to a pan of cold salted water, the salt will make the eggs easier to peel. Bring to a boil and once the water is boiling set a timer for 9 minutes.

2. While the eggs cook weigh out your butter into a bowl.

3. After the 9 minutes is up take you pan to the sink and pour out the boiling water while running the cold water tap, replacing the hot water with cold.

4. Peel the eggs straightaway. They will still be quite warm to handle even though they are in the cold water. If they are too hot wait a minute or so but not too long as you want them to be warm when you add to the butter.

5. Add the warm eggs to the bowl with the butter and chop up with a butter knife.

6. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste then serve in a piece (aka sandwich) or a bread roll.

Nutrition for the 2 egg recipe above (approx. values)

366 kcal

0.3g Carbohydrates

17.5g Protein

33g Fat (of which 17g saturated fat)