A few years back I decided to try my hand at poaching eggs.  So my boyfriend at the time and I found a site which said to bring a frypan of water to a simmer, add some vinegar, swirl with a knife to form a whirlpool effect for one minute then slowly crack the eggs into the water.

We ended up with scrambled egg water and lots of swearing then laughing at how stupid we felt.  I also ended up with a phobia of poaching eggs for years with a bizarre idea that it was one of those things shrouded in mystery like year 11 physics (let’s just say I didn’t take it in year 12 and leave it at that), and that I had to line up for hours at super hip cafes on weekend mornings to eat poached eggs.

Not so!

On the weekend I decided, being inspired by my friend Jacqueline’s delicious post at Tinned Tomatoes, to try it again.  Jacqueline’s advice was so easy and sensible I just had to give it a go … and although far from a perfect result it worked!  I was so excited I had to share in case there was anybody out there who might be feeling the same way I did.

Here’s what I did:

• Bring a small to medium covered saucepan of water to the boil.
• On boiling, turn down to low/medium.
• Immediately crack each egg on the side of the pan and carefully (don’t get a steam burn) slide into the water (or as was suggested by Ann in the comment below, crack into a ramekin first).
• You’ll see quite a bit of egg white in the water but don’t fret, it turns out.
• Simmer on low for 2-3 minutes covered, standing by in case it boils over.
• Use a slotted spoon to drain each egg a bit then place on your plate.

I ended up with 2 medium poached eggs after about 2 minutes.  If you prefer yours a little more rare, then simmer for a shorter time.

I served ours with brown mushrooms and spring asparagus sautéed in butter and black pepper.  So much yum for such a little, healthy dish.