Oeuf à la Coque Truffé
A Truffle a Day — Day 3
Oeuf à la coque, or soft-boiled egg served in the shell, is a classic French family dish, often served as an appetizer before dinner rather than in the morning for breakfast. The basic element can be garnished in many ways, but you really can’t get better than good butter, salt, and a grating of truffles, especially if you start with a freshly laid farm egg.
Ingredients:
1–2 eggs per person, stored overnight with truffles
A few teaspoons fresh butter
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Truffle, to grate
1 truffle sliver per person
Preparation:
Bring eggs to room temperature before lowering them into gently boiling water. Simmer them for three minutes, more or less, depending on size. (If you start with cold eggs, leave them in for a minute longer.) Plunge momentarily into cold water in order to slow the eggs from continuing to cook while you get them to the table.
Have small cups ready to receive eggs the moment they come out of the water. Place eggs, in egg cups, on a serving plate. Surround them with fingers of toast and accompany with a dish of fresh butter and a small dish of sea salt.
Show each guest how to slice off the top of the egg, add a sliver of butter, a few grains of salt, a fresh grinding of pepper, and finally, a grating of truffle. Top each egg with a truffle sliver, standing in the yolk, which will start to run over the edge of the eggshell, to be mopped up with the fingers of toast and enjoyed with a glass of red wine (if in the evening) or a cup of coffee (if in the morning).
A Truffle a Day is a series of one-a-day truffle recipes, excerpted from the soon-to-be-released Cooking with Truffles: A Chef’s Guide. All recipes can be prepared with or without truffles, depending on the voluptuousness of your pantry. Previous recipes include: Truffled Corn Chowder and Truffled Grits.
