Zoe Williams 

Eggs are good for you – so here’s how to cook them

Zoe Williams suggests healthy recipes from prawn frittata to huevos rancheros
  
  

A boiled egg
Photograph: Johnny Green/Press Association Photograph: Johnny Green/PA

I knew it! Eggs are not bad for you, after all. They were thought to contribute to high cholesterol, but the main offender is saturated fat. We have been limiting ourselves to three eggs a week (I haven't, but perhaps you have) for years, on evidence that has now been discredited by research at the University of Surrey. And while I am opposed to the media dissemination of more sodding diet tips, here's one: eggs for breakfast make you eat less during the day, a combination, researchers believe, of their fullness factor and something they do to your metabolism. No, I cannot be more specific; what do you think this is, Men's Health? More importantly, now that we have the green light to go to work on an egg, here are some delicious recipes to start your day.

Prawn frittata Go dietary-cholesterol crackers! This is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe - I only ever have half the ingredients and cook it for a quarter of the time. Put the grill on, put a pan on the gas, crack two eggs into a bowl and add a handful of small cooked prawns, flat-leaf parsley, spring onions and a squeeze of a lemon. Mix and cook like an omelette, on the hob while the bottom cooks, then under the grill as the top puffs up.

Spanish tortilla I make an incredibly fast tortilla as well, by slicing the spuds thinly and parboiling them for six minutes. Continue in omelette fashion. If you like, grate cheese over the top before you grill.

Huevos rancheros You could get purist about this and do it with chorizo and panache, or do it like scrambled eggs - only add thyme and adobo paste, scramble them and serve with salsa over the top.

Overnight eggs You can do them on a hob for eight hours, but the temperature's more constant (it has to be 68C) in a slow cooker. They're boiled eggs, except less sulphuric and ready when you wake.

Fun eggs Get a large, tasty, hopefully white loaf, cut two slices, cut a square hole in each, chuck them in a pan, crack an egg into each hole and fry. Also fry your spare squares. Now you have fun eggs, and fun fried bread.

How do you take yours? Tell us on the food blog.

 

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