When My Mom Got Married, She Could Barely Boil an Egg

Yep, you read the title right. And I’m not writing this blog to dishonor my mother. In fact, through this entry, I want to honor her. Because despite the temporary setback, she emerged as my main influence in the kitchen.

I remember my Dad’s sisters telling us how my Mom didn’t know how to boil rice! Whenever Daddy came home from work, Mom would be sitting on the staircase waiting for him. They never told me whether they went out to eat or my Dad cooked instead of Mom, though.

But you know, from among the many recipes Mom taught me, what I never forgot is how she made sunny side up eggs. And her perfect sunny side up’s upped my standards. (I like mine smooth, without the crust and craters, the yolk runny and with a thin white film covering it.)

To get the perfect sunny side’s, first, remove eggs from the fridge 10 minutes before you plan to cook them to make sure the eggs are at room temperature. Then, heat up your frying pan, and then reduce heat once smoke appears. Pour about half a cup of fresh cooking oil and wait for about 5 minutes. This will allow the temperature to stabilize.

Break the egg and slowly let the egg flow into the oil. Do not let the egg drop into the hot oil lest you plan to splatter yourself get scorched with boiling oil. If you want, you can break the egg on a saucer and use the saucer to lower the egg into the oil.

Add a dash of salt on the yolk and slowly splatter oil on the egg surface until a thin white film forms. Use a wide spatula to ease the egg from the pan. Drain the oil and voila!

Aside from sunny side up eggs, Mommy also introduced me to chicken salad and egg salad. I grew up putting these in pan de sal in the morning. They were never fancy, but they tasted really great. They’re among my long list of comfort food.

To make Mom’s chicken salad:

• Boil chicken breast with a little salt. Drain and allow to cool.
• Shred the chicken meat. Chop a small onion.
• Mix the shredded chicken meat, chopped onion and just enough mayonnaise. Season with salt & pepper.
• Chill overnight.

For the egg salad, follow the same procedure for Chicken Salad, but use hard boiled eggs. To make the perfect HBE (meaning, no green sulfur film around the yolk), boil some water. When the water reaches a rolling boil, reduce heat to low and slowly lower each egg into the water (use a ladle if you aren’t brave enough to use your bare hand). Again, do not drop! Begin timing (15 minutes) as soon as you cover the pan. Once the 15 minutes are up, turn off heat, remove the eggs from the hot water and immediately soak in cold water.

While we are on the egg issue, let me share an omelet recipe that I have grown to love (ever since I tasted it from Greenwich. Yes, at one point in time, they did serve breakfast.)

Cheese and Bell Pepper Omelet

• 2 eggs, beaten
• Half a bell pepper, diced
• Oil
• Grated cheese (I just use the regular cheese, but if you want to use any other cheese, go ahead!)
• A dash of black pepper

Heat some oil and sauté the bell pepper until limp. Add to the beaten eggs and add black pepper. Add more oil in the pan and pour the egg-bell pepper mixture. Let the egg spread across the pan. Grab a teaspoon of grated cheese and sprinkle in the middle of the flattened egg. Fold in both sides, flip once and serve.

Enjoy the eggs, my friends! But not too much. An egg a day is okay. More than that, and you might be on to a frequent visit to a cardiologist by the end of the month.