After more than 10 years of knowing each other, my husband still reminds me how much I enjoy his sense of humor even though I often don’t want to admit it. Yesterday, he came to me and said from now on, after much thought, he has decided to incorporate animal protein into his vegetarian diet. I got really excited, and naively, I prepared oeufs mollets (French for soft-boiled eggs) for him. It took exactly six minutes to prepare. Lulu looked at the eggs and said: “Nah. April Fools!”
It wasn’t a big deal because my baby daughter and I ended up eating the eggs. They were delicious, especially because they were freshly laid. The preparation is very easy. Start by quickly boiling the eggs, then peel and serve them on a bed of béchamel-topped spinach and asparagus.
I’ll post another preparation that’s as simple as oeufs mollets, where the eggs are boiled for an even shorter amount of time. They’re called “oeufs à la coque”.
1. Info for Oeuf Mollet (Soft-Boiled Egg Recipe)
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 12 mins
- Servings: 4
- Calories: 72Kcal
2. Ingredients for Oeuf Mollet (Soft-Boiled Egg Recipe)
- 1 (16-ounce) package baby spinach
- 8 young asparagus spears, boiled, then transferred to an ice bath
- 8 fresh extra-large chicken eggs
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Pecorino cheese, freshly shaved
3. Directions:
3.1 For the spinach
Coarsely chop the spinach leaves. In a small skillet, heat the oil. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat for 8 minutes. Increase the heat, then add the spinach and cook until the leaves wilt. Season with salt and pepper.
3.2 Soft-boiled eggs
Fill a saucepan with water. Add vinegar. Heat the liquid. As soon as the water reaches a full boil, lower the heat to a gentle boil, then place an egg in a spoon and delicately place the eggs one at a time into the water. As soon as the eggs are in the water, cook for exactly 6 minutes. As soon as the time is up, immediately transfer the eggs to an ice bath.
Crack the shell all around so it’s easy to peel.
3.3 Assembly time
Warm the béchamel sauce in a double boiler. You could warm the sauce in the microwave but you might want to thin it with a bit of milk.
Place some spinach on an individual serving platter. Top with 2 asparagus. Drizzle with béchamel sauce.
Peel and cut the eggs in halves and place on top of the greens. Garnish with fresh dill and Pecorino cheese.
Serve immediately.
Bon appétit!
4. Tips and advices:
- Can you spot the two egg yolks? We’ve been so fortunate that many of our eggs have more yolk, yum!
- In general, freshly laid eggs have a round and firmer yolk.
- Adding vinegar to the boiling water helps soften the egg shell and makes it easy to peel.
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