RECIPES

Recipes

Fluffy Scrambled eggs

Recipe from Vital Farms are often the first dish we learn how to make, yet for many it’s one of the hardest dishes to master. While everyone has a different ideal of what scrambled eggs should be like, I can’t help but smile when I’m served a plate of tender golden yellow curds that somehow manage to defy contradiction by being light and fluffy, yet rich and decadent.

Over the years, I’ve seen all kinds of tricks suggested to get fluffy scrambled eggs. Some rely on additives such as baking powder, while others tell you to whisk the eggs until they are foamy and full of air. While both these techniques will incorporate air, they work a little too well and make your scrambled eggs spongy rather than fluffy. I don’t know about you, but if I wanted to eat spongy eggs I’d go eat a sponge cake!

The trick to getting fluffy eggs isn’t about what you add, or how you beat them; it’s about how you cook them. When the water in eggs come in contact with a hot pan, it heats up and evaporates; this naturally creates tiny bubbles of steam in your egg. Voila! Fluffy eggs! Simple right? Well that’s how it works in theory at least…

Perfect Scrambled Eggs

In practice there’s a little more to it. The tiny air pockets formed during cooking are fragile and will burst if you don’t treat the eggs properly. Here’s what you need to know to make perfect scrambled eggs:

Be gentle, if you manhandle your eggs by scrambling them vigorously, you burst the bubbles and the steam escapes. You want big smooth curds of egg that look more like chunky ice cream than granola. Scrambling eggs is really more about gently stirring than scrambling, but “gently stirred eggs” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Temperature also plays a part in whether your eggs turn out light and fluffy or dense and rubbery. When eggs cook, the proteins in the egg form a web of bonds. As the temperature goes up, the bonds tighten and the web.

becomes denser (think of it like a sweater shrinking in a dryer). A denser web means the eggs will be firmer, and the tighter knit also squeezes out water and air, making the curds dry and dense. That’s why it’s important to cook the eggs gently over a medium low heat so you’re not driving out all the moisture and air.

Time is the last key component to making fluffy scrambled eggs and it goes hand in hand with the temperature. Cooking at a lower temperature allows you to cook the eggs more evenly, but the pan and eggs trap heat and will continue to cook the eggs after you’ve turned the heat off. That’s why it’s important to get the eggs out of the pan just a touch before you think they’re done. I like my eggs on the soft side, so I take them out of the pan when there is no runny liquid left, but the surface of the curds are still glistening and wet.

As for what you add to your eggs, it’s a matter of personal preference. I like my eggs rich and creamy, so I add cream to the eggs and cheese at the end, but if you want your eggs to be lighter, substitute milk in for the cream and leave out the cheese.

On adding cheese, many recipes tell you to grate the cheese and add it in with the eggs, but I like having veins of recognizable melted cheese intertwined with my scrambled eggs. That’s why I use a vegetable peeler to thinly slice the cheese and add it in when the eggs are nearly fully cooked.

You can make a sandwich by cutting a croissant open, toasting it, then adding a layer of smoked salmon, your scrambled eggs, and some thinly sliced avocado. It’s decadent, but makes for a protein packed start to a day.

Baked Egg in Avocado serves 2

Looking for the perfect protein-packed breakfast or a quick snack? Try baking a pasture-raised egg in an avocado half.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425° Fahrenheit
  • Slice avocado in half and remove pit
  • Scoop out extra avocado flesh to make a reservoir for egg yolk and white
  • Crack open egg and gently separate the yolk from the egg white. Reserve white in a small cup and set aside.
  • Pour reserved egg white around the yolk, filling the reservoir
  • Season egg white with salt, pepper, and chili flake

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a medium bowl whisk eggs,salt and set aside.
  3. Add 1 tablespoon of virgin coconut oil to a skillet and place over medium-high heat
  4. Sauté chopped veggies for about 2 minutes until tender.
  5. Remove from heat and add sautéed veggies into egg mixture and gently whisk together.
  6. Coat oven-safe pan with remaining coconut oil, and pour in egg and veggie mixture.
  7. Sprinkle top of egg and veggie mixture with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes until set.
  8. Remove from oven and let sit for about 5 minutes to cool, and then serve.

Caribbean Spanish Egg Tortilla serves 4

INGREDIENTS

  1. 6-8 Long Paddocks Pasture-Raised Eggs
  2. 1/2 medium sweet or yellow onion
  3. 1/2 large bell pepper Green, Red, or Yellow…or a mixture of the three
  4. 1/2 jalapeño pepper, de-seeded add chopped seeds to raise heat
  5. 2-3 garlic cloves
  6. 3-4 white mushrooms
  7. Hand full of cilantro
  8. 1/2 stick of Vital Farms Pasteur-Raised Unsalted Butter
  9. Shredded cheese Cheddar
  10. Spices (Black pepper, Oregano, Basil, Cumin, and Coriander)To your taste

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Whisk eggs in a small bowl and set aside
  2. Chop onion, bell peppers, mushroom, jalapeño, cilantro, and garlic into small pieces.
  3. Place skillet over medium heat and melt the butter until small bubbles start to form at the edges.
  4. Sauté veggies in the butter until tender (adjust heat to medium-high, if desired)
  5. Add whisked eggs into the skillet and incorporate into the sautéed vegetables. Turn the heat to low and cover the skillet with a lid.
  6. Let set for 10-12 minutes.
  7. Carefully flip the tortilla to cook the other side (this takes a lot of practice…if you can’t manage to flip over the whole tortilla, cut it in half and flip each half one at a time).
  8. Turn off the heat, and add shredded cheese on top (to make cheese melt faster, cover the skillet with lid and let it set for a few minutes minutes.)
  9. Garnish with cilantro leaves and enjoy!

RECIPE NOTES

Serve over rice and beans, hash browns, or a green salad…or even wrap it in a corn or flour tortilla to make a delicious taco!