Pike Place Market

Sharon Shaw of Marshland Orchards with their Farm Fresh Eggs

Okay, I admit some of my penchants for certain flavors border on the idiosyncratic. Like tomato catsup. I can eat it on so many different things, and not just with French fries.

Eggs would be another. I love eggs.  I can eat them morning, noon and night. That’s right, even for dinner. My family thought it a bit odd at first, especially my son. But it’s an idea that is catching on, and I’m discovering that there are others out there (hello, you’re there, right?) who also enjoy eggs in such ways.

An article written by Los Angeles Times Food Editor Russ Parsons made me cheer. He’s another who never hesitates to have eggs for dinner. Knowing he has eggs in his fridge is comforting to him, no matter what the day has brought. He, as I do, feels all you need to do is add a few simple ingredients to eggs and you end up with tasty and sophisticated light main course.

Eggs have been much maligned in the past, but they’ve made a comeback lately. Health experts now say eggs aren’t as unhealthy as they were once claimed to be. New research has revealed that moderate consumption of eggs does not have a negative impact on cholesterol. They’re a great source of protein, too—one egg has six grams of protein, plus all nine essential amino acids.

Omelets, frittatas and scrambles are among the easier ways to include eggs in meals. Eggs, cheese and bits of vegetables or meats, and you have a one-dish meal. Or, you can simply cook eggs to whatever style suits you (sunny side up, anyone?), make a quick salad, and there you go.

Scrambled eggs are delicious for late-night dinners if you’ve been outside enjoying a nice summer evening. The trick is to make them look more like the rich and creamy eggs you get at nice restaurants instead of the crinkly egg pieces you get with a couple pieces of bacon at a greasy-spoon diner.

Regardless of what time you like to enjoy your eggs, Parsons’ secret to smooth eggs is butter, plus monitoring the heat very carefully. Whites and yolks set at different temperatures, and proteins in eggs start to set at a fairly low temperature, about 150 degrees. Once they start to set, firmness quickly follows.

One way to get avoid quick firmness, Parsons suggests, is to add just a little bit of cold butter to the raw eggs. Start by cooking eggs over medium-low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. In a couple minutes, you should begin to feel them getting thick and creamy looking. Add the cold butter to moderate the temperature, keeping it just below the point at which the eggs will set.

The eggs are finished when they have formed tiny, creamy curds. Take the eggs off the heat while they still look a tad too moist. They cook so fast that they’ll firm up more in the minutes you’re dishing them up.

I followed his advice, and it works. No more diner-style eggs at my house. Add some of your favorite spices, such as herbes de provence or even freshly-ground black pepper, and you’ve got dinner’s main course. You can add fresh herbs as well, such as thyme, tarragon or rosemary. For another take on fried eggs, try Parsons’ version fried with bread crumbs.

Pike Place Market farmers like Marshland Orchards offer duck, chicken and goose eggs. Pike Place Market Creamery in the Sanitary Market Building has a wide variety of eggs, from small quail eggs, to the above-mentioned eggs plus turkey eggs, which look like they’ve been sprinkled with cinnamon. All are local and free-range, not from any massive egg business. You can bet that all the birds are humanely treated, and the Creamery even sells organic eggs.

So try a little sunny side up, even as we enjoy the long sunny days of summer. You’ll find they taste, well um, I’ll avoid the obvious egg pun.

-- Scott Davies