Sometimes a special birthday deserves a special breakfast. These eggs are memorable for both their presentation and flavor. You don’t have to go to the extra effort of fitting the eggs back inside the eggshell, because the eggs and caviar will taste equally delicious either way, but if you really want to knock someone’s socks off, the filled eggshells are the way to go.
I’ve had this recipe for years, and because it is somewhat labor intensive, I like using it for one or two people, for a breakfast in bed or a birthday treat. It’s not difficult to scramble the eggs, but keeping them hot if you’re trying to fill 6 or 8 little eggs, is a challenge. It would also make a great first course for an elegant meal for two.
Caviar is the processed roe, or eggs, of a fish. There are many kinds of fish from which caviar is taken, but gourmet caviar is only considered to come from Beluga, Osetra or Sevruga sturgeons found in the Caspian Sea. Caviar is not priced according to taste, but rather by its rarity. There is excellent American caviar available, from sturgeon raised in the US, and there are many other types of fish that produce caviar: salmon, paddlefish, hackleback, bowfin and lumpfish. Caviar is sold by the ounce, and while gourmet caviar can be quite expensive, you can find caviar on your grocery store shelves for under ten dollars for two ounces.
This is one of my daughter Liddy’s favorite meals, and since it is her birthday, I wanted to share this very luxurious dish. Happy birthday Lid!
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
- 1 tablespoon cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 slices white bread with the crusts removed
- 2 teaspoons caviar
- 2 egg cups
- 2 demitasse spoons or small teaspoons
Directions
- Using a sharp knife, remove the top half-inch of the eggshell, as neatly as possible.
- Pour eggs into bowl, add cream and whisk. Set aside.
- Wash eggshells inside and out, very gently, then put into a small pan of water and bring to a boil.
- Turn off heat and allow shells to remain in the hot water.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter at very low temperature, then add egg and cream mixture, whisking and heating very slowly so that the eggs thicken.
- This should take about ten minutes. Add salt and pepper. Keep eggs warm.
- While eggs are cooking, drain eggshells on paper towels.
- Toast bread and cut into strips, sometimes known as “soldiers”.
- Put shells in eggcups, spoon eggs into shells and top with caviar. Serve with toast strips on the side.
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