not a typo
i came across a food blog a couple of months ago at the beginning of my bottarga quest called ‘fx cuisine‘. i must tell you that - people, this here is no ordinary food blog. this guy is both serious and fearless when it comes to cooking and a lot of the times this author’s food involves such a complicated route from here to yonder that honestly it’s more mileage then i’m willing to go for just about any dish out there. but when ‘serious eats’ featured a daily photo of his 300 minute egg, it jarred my memory and i recalled seeing it on his site awhile back. and if nothing else, the lure of that accompanying sauce made from anchovies, garlic, lemon, fresh ground pepper and olive oil wafted back into the forefront of my mind, and i quickly set the oven to 210 f.
i had everything i needed. and the thought of a nutty brown slow roasted egg topped with garlicky anchovy goodness was going to be worth the 60 minutes x 5 hours = 300 minute wait. i so very heart eggs.
the actual recipe, ‘sephardic oven-roasted eggs’, along with the anchovy vinaigrette is taken from paula wolfert’s book, ‘the slow mediterranean kitchen: recipes for the passionate cook‘.
as a kid, every year at passover there’d be some kind of brown/burnt egg on the sedar plate – the beitzah – which now as an adult i rediscover symbolizes the perpetual cycle of life, from birth to death to re-birth and/or a symbol of mourning over the destruction of the temple and some kind of festival sacrifice. all that to say that being the non-observant jew that i am, i barely understand it any more today than i did when i was 12 and reciting ‘the four questions’. i just knew i’d seen a roasted egg somewhere. during a sedar it’s for show only – not to be consumed. i prefer this version…
friends were coming by for an informal gathering and everyone was bringing a little something. so besides a few other things pulled from the pantry like some salsa tartufata spread on flatbread, some black sage honey for angela’s beautiful hunk of parmegiano just off the plane direct from fairway in nyc, these roasted eggs were to be my offering. oh – these and some smoked mullet roe that i had soaked and dehydrated a few weeks before, sliced and added to the fresh fettucine with creme fraiche and white truffle oil that i regularly rave about. that and a couple of bottles of a lovely louis tête beaujolais-villages. oh and a sicilian ricotta cheesecake that i baked that day. plus the rest of the chocolate sorbet…
no time for artistic presentation when your friends show up at the door.
but today we had the rest of the roasted eggs with a strip of anchovy across the top and a little dollop of stokes blushed tomato mayonnaise.
my kind of lunch.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Mary Coleman // Dec 3, 2007 at 7:14 am
God, that looks so good! I knew you’d like that beaujolais!
2 Tara // Dec 3, 2007 at 7:22 am
Wow, I had never heard of such a thing before. This was a very interesting post – I learned something new today! Thanks! P.S. I heart eggs too, as you know, and I extra special heart anchovies. I’ve been in the mood for anchovies lately too and you just reminded me of them. Yum!
3 Jennifer Hess // Dec 3, 2007 at 7:23 am
Wow – you know I’m also a big fan of eggs, and those sound delicious!
4 minimally invasive // Dec 3, 2007 at 7:27 am
So what did the eggs themselves taste like? Worth the time investment? I’m loving the sound of them, especially with that amazing sauce…I heart Paula Wofert. What a great, dramatic picture up top, too.
5 Lauren // Dec 3, 2007 at 9:13 am
There’s something a bit foreboding about a brown egg, and yet it looks so tasty. Not the lunch though, anchovies and I are not friends. Ever since a turned away caesar salad as a child, I’ve been on a boycott.
6 claudia // Dec 3, 2007 at 9:14 am
minimally – to be honest, the darker the better. i mean even 6 hours might not go astray. you can even stagger them to see/taste the diff. it is a subtle taste which is why i might be longer or maybe even 220. i liked it. i think it’s worth the investment.
tara – anchovies are just soooo wonderful.. i’ve been more careful about the brands i buy lately. these last ones were cento and they had a nice flavor. not too salty. i didn’t soak them.
jennifer – i lalso ove it when you put eggs on seemingly random stuff. i started doing it and i am so hooked.
mary – we’ve been through 3 bottles of the ’06 tete villages. i like it. very easy to drink.
7 claudia // Dec 3, 2007 at 9:17 am
lauren, my darling child – i must work on you re: the anchovy thing. you are so missing out… you were but a mere babe when you freaked over the anchovies that day in nyc on the upper west side – sitting next to ben stiller at an outdoor cafe… now that you are a beautiful young woman it’s time to GET OVER IT !
8 Lauren // Dec 3, 2007 at 11:38 am
if i can freak out sitting next to ben stiller, who at the time was- like – so cool, chances are there’s little hope for me. but really, the browned egg is oddly enticing. i’m thinking something like the radish sandwich, sounds odd, but my new favorite thing.
9 FireDog // Dec 4, 2007 at 7:22 am
I had no idea there was such a thing as a 300 minute egg! Very cool. Interesting.
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