The Green Egg

An herb-smothered breakfast from author Fanny Singer

The second installment of the California Breakfast series comes from Fanny Singer, the founder of Permanent Collection—which offers beautifully designed housewares and other objects—and the author of Always Home: A Daughter’s Recipes and Stories (a series of autobiographical essays about growing up with and around her mother, Alice Waters). I’ll share my full interview with Fanny in a week or so, but first I wanted to share this recipe, which I’ve been making constantly, ever since she told me about it.

Absolutely delicious…and maybe next time I’ll add even more herbs?

The Green Egg

According to Always Home, proper green eggs should be “showered, almost to the point of rendering the eggs themselves invisible, with a handful of chopped herbs while they’re sizzling in the pan.” I haven’t quite gotten the ratio in the photo above correct, but the basic idea is absolutely wonderful—no matter how many herbs you actually use. Fanny told me that the ideal way to cook this egg is in Alice Waters’ famous egg spoon, which the chef specifically designed for cooking eggs over the open fire in her home kitchen (or over an open flame), but Fanny also notes that a small cast iron pan works well. The key is to use a lot of olive oil, so the edges of the egg get crispy.

Fanny uses a combination of many different herbs for her eggs, though they should be herbs that won’t go limp and turn brown when cooked (like basil can). She’s particularly partial to marjoram, but she usually has around eight different herbs in her fridge at any given time, and she just uses whichever ones sound best. When I make this egg, I use whatever is doing well in my garden, which, right now, is chives, shiso, and oregano. The combination might sound funny, but it works really well.

Makes 1 egg

Olive oil
1 good-quality egg
1 large handful (maybe 1/2 cup) chopped herbs
Toast, for serving (optional)

Heat a layer of olive oil in a small cast-iron skillet (or in an Alice Waters-designed egg spoon) over high heat or an open flame. Crack the egg into the pan, and let it cook until the whites start to set, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle the herbs over the egg, then cover the pan to help let the yolk set slightly, roughly 1 minute. Transfer the egg to a pan and eat immediately, with toast to mop up the yolk (if you like).

Photo: Georgia Freedman