Scrambled Eggs with Truffled Pecorino
November 20, 2008
Posted in: The Recipes
This is one of my earlier creations. It is lush. Utterly lush. There is no other word that does it justice. Warm, soft, and heady: the sort of food you want to pet. Permeated on every level by truffle-infused delicacies, it is a remarkably thrifty way to luxuriate in gastronomic heaven. And it takes all of one minute to make, from start to finish.
Truffled pecorino is more readily available than you might expect, as long as you’re living in a cosmopolitan area, so don’t despair before you search at least tentatively. Believe me, it is well worth the effort. Find an artisanal cheese shop! And actually, I’ll let you in on a little secret: Whole Foods carries the younger version of the Boschetto. My preference is to use half aged and half fresh, and if I had to choose one variety, I’d select the older for it’s more pronounced flavor and firmer textuer, but if the best you can find is the juvenile stuff at Whole Foods, by all means! This dish is about truffles and cheese. There’s not really any way to go wrong!
Ingredients, for 1:
- 2 organic eggs. Preferably Chino Valley Ranchers (the non Omega sort) or The Country Hen, or farm-fresh eggs if you have that special opportunity. Organic Valley eggs are also good, and are more widely available. But do seek these brands out, and be discerning: the flavor of the eggs and richness of the yolks is paramount to this dish! Since there isn’t much cooking involved at all, the quality of the dish you turn out is entirely dependent on the quality of the products.
- 1/3-1/2 oz aged Boschetto Truffled Pecorino.
- 1/3 -1/2 oz fresh Boschetto Truffled Pecorino.
- Tiny drizzle truffle oil. If you don’t have this on hand, go ahead and make the dish without it, but it will indeed lose a certain sultriness.
- Salt, Pepper
Procedure:
- Heat a cast iron pan over high heat. If it doesn’t yet have a patina, brush with a dot of olive oil.
- Slice the cheese into thin slivers with a paring knife, most paper thin, some thicker to provide texture (the thinner slices will melt into the eggs, while the thicker ones will maintain their shape and provide textural contrast and identifiably truffle-y, cheese-y bite).
- Break the eggs into a bowl, sprinkle with two generous pinches of salt (one per egg is the rule, as per Alice Waters, who’s opinion is certainly to be trusted) and a few abundant grinds of freshly ground pepper.
- Using a fork, break the yolks and barely swirl the contents of the bowl. Do not under any circumstances mix the yolks and whites homogeneously. When unmixed, the whites coagulate and firm up during cooking to create texture and body, and the yolks remain runny and bathe the dish in deliciousness.
- Pour the eggs into the hot pan, and lower the heat to medium instantaneously. Once the first layer of “skin” has formed on the bottom of the pan, break it up with a spatula.
- Add the cheese, and again break up the eggs to incorporate the cheese.
- When the eggs are still runny, remove to a plate.
- Drizzle with truffle oil and serve immediately.
- Experience “an edible orgasm,” as a friend one described it to me!
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