El huevo frito soñado (A dream of fried egg)

Saturday and Sunday breakfast is rarely complete, for at the young man and I at least, without fried egg. Now that eggs are healthy again I don't need to have guilt about this.

We like our eggs the Spanish way - taught by our Catalan friend Joan. He produced this late one afternoon as a tapas with Pa amb Tomaquet, (recipe in a later post), but it is just as good for breakfast or indeed lunch. Wikipedia Spain explains:

'El huevo frito ideal es aquel que mantiene líquida la yema y los extremos de la clara cuajada empiezan a estar quemados (o 'crujientes' según los expertos) en este caso se denomina su punto como "puntillas".'

Roughly translated this says that the yolk is still runny but the edges of the white are burned ('according to experts'). The egg is then 'on tiptoes' or en puntillas. To make it this way you need hot oil and plenty of it.

It was Ferran Adrià, chef/patron of El Bulli restaurant, who dreamed of fried egg. In "70 recetas muy personales", (not available in the UK), he recounts how he uses two whites for every yolk in order to maximise the puntillas. We do not go this far!

Huevo Frito

Start with a great egg. For two or three years now Burford Brown eggs from Clarence Court have been the eggs to beat for us. These sumptuous eggs are very dark brown, have a resilient white and exceptional yolk colour and taste delicious. They are often better than some of the farm eggs we can buy in Devon. Choose a 20cm frying pan and pour in light olive oil to a depth of 4-5mm. Heat this on your stove until you can just see little wisps of smoke coming off the oil.

Don't try to break the egg into the pan. Break it into a shallow dish. (Burford doubles are rare...but this is one egg and not two). Slide the eggs into the pan so that the white fills out before the yolk goes in. Immediately begin to spoon hot oil over the middle of the egg so that it is cooked in the centre. The puntillas will form within 15 or 20 seconds and by 25 seconds you should be lifting out the egg on a spatula. Drain the oil off for a few seconds over the pan.
Eat immediately! (The young man likes his with Hovis. I usually prefer a more rustic bread or focaccia)

Vieja friendo huevos, by Velázquez (1618). (public domain image)