How to boil an egg

How to boil an egg
Rose Carrarini, Phaidon, $39.95.

For: the cook who needs to master the basics.

British chef Rose Carrarini (pictured above) opened the much-loved Rose Bakery in Paris in 2002 with her husband Jean-Charles. Delightful, hand-drawn illustrations by botanical artist Fiona Strickland accompany Carrarini's 80-plus recipes, which celebrate this most versatile of ingredients.

Tofu hot pot

This great restorative one-pot dish is a good way to use up extra vegetables.

Ingredients
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
1 onion, cut into bite-size pieces
1 leek, cut into bite-size pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into bite-size pieces
1 carrot, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 head spring cabbage, cut into bite-size pieces
4 baby turnips, cut into bite-size pieces
300g firm tofu, cut into large bite-size pieces
dash of shoyu
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tbsp olive oil (optional)
25g (2 tbsp) butter (optional)
4 eggs
salt and ground black pepper
hot chilli sauce or Dijon mustard, to serve

Method
Pour the stock into a pan and bring to a simmer.

Add the onion, leek, celery and carrot and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the cabbage and turnips and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, until tender but not overcooked, then add the tofu and warm through.

Season to taste with shoyu and salt and pepper, if necessary, and add the chives.

The eggs may be fried in olive oil and butter or added to the pan and poached.

Transfer the eggs to 4 individual bowls, ladle in the stew and serve immediately with a hot chilli sauce, Japanese chilli powder or Dijon mustard.

Serves 4

Tomato, porcini and egg soup

This is a broth with lots of interest, rather like a thin minestrone.

Ingredients
25g (or 1/2 cup) dried porcini (dried ceps)
4 tbsp virgin olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
pinch of sugar
3 eggs beaten
1 litre chicken or vegetable broth or stock
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
handful fresh basil leaves, torn
salt and ground black pepper

Method
Put the dried mushrooms into a heatproof bowl, add 250ml (1 cup) hot water and let soak.

Heat half the olive oil in a pan, add the onions and celery and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the onions have softened. Add the sugar and season with salt.

Meanwhile, heat a little of the remaining olive oil in a frying pan or skillet. Pour in a small quantity of the beaten egg and cook until just set, then remove with a spatula.

Continue making more very thin omelettes in this way, adding more oil as necessary, until all the beaten egg has been used.
When these omelettes are cool, roll them up and shred them into 1cm thick strips to make egg ’noodles’. Set aside.

Add the tomatoes to the vegetables in the pan and cook for five minutes, until softened, then pour in the broth or stock and add the mushrooms with their soaking liquid. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt, sugar and/or pepper to taste.

Add the basil leaves, ladle into soup bowls, top with a handful of egg noodles and serve immediately.

Serves 4

• More cookbooks