Those three egg cups with forget-me-nots were behind the sliding glass of my grandmother's sideboard. They were beautiful and I would secretly take them out for my dolls to have lemonade. When my grandmother passed away, I kept her sideboard and turned it into my cottage kitchen. Only those cups were gone. I missed them for a long time.
Until I have my own cups. Embroidered, with my name. Now our Davídek and his cousins have taken my cups and they are arguing over who will have the egg set in flowers, stripes, polka dots or houses, as the boys have named them. And they shout while poking at the cup for me to tell them about the "funny grandfather from Klatovy".
I'll start with my grandfather's master trick, how he cracked open the shell of a fresh egg with a spoon and drank it straight from the shell, most often after he had drunk himself the night before. The boys want to show it off. I won't let them, so I'll entertain them with a soldier, a toasted piece of bread that they dip in the liquid egg yolk until soft. They enjoy it and I enjoy watching them. Always.
And the boys want more stories, so I tell them about their grandfather, my dad Láď. The family remembers how he wrote his diploma thesis in his grandmother's apartment and was completely overwhelmed by the eggs. When my grandmother saw how crazy he was, she pulled herself through the mountains of his papers and books and placed a bowl on the one free square decimeter of the table for him, in which she whipped the egg yolk and sugar until foamy. "So that you can endure it, Ladíčka," she whispered to him and he didn't hear anything. I can also make the whipped mixture and give it to those in need.
Our Davča suddenly noticed that he was the only one who didn't have the picture-print briefs his cousins who no longer needed diapers wore. Of course, he wanted them right away too. So I put some on him from the boy's suitcase over his sweatpants and suddenly he looked like a big boy.
I have already infected our Davídek with my love for eggs. He has his own little kitchen with a sink, into which he cracks his "pajíčo" or egg. When he goes to the fridge for the third time and the yolks, whites and shells are everywhere, I prefer to sit him on the kitchen counter and we start cooking together for real. Svitek is his beloved. Mine too!
But I suspect that my love of eggs is connected to the forget-me-not cups in my grandmother's cupboard. How they stood there like soldiers and fell somewhere just as soldiers fall. Do you understand that I had to have my own? And when I made them, I stand over them and tell myself that they deserve honor. So I created and packaged a whole new set of egg cups for myself and for you. There are five of them, each with a different pattern and a salt shaker. I would say that this is my life's work. She will be baptized at Easter and I will give one cup to the carolers who come to see me. If they can still stand on their feet. Since the morning at the pomlázce, they have mostly drunk their cups to the bottom.
My friend Kuba tests restaurants with this delicacy with an amazing sauce. If it's not exactly how he imagines, he sends it back to the kitchen and that restaurant is over for him. I'm afraid to invite him to mine. He would never leave!
First of all, I make English muffins. I pour water into a large bowl, add yeast, mix and let it rest for about five minutes. Then I add flour, baking soda and salt. I mix everything thoroughly and finally add the stiff peaks that I whipped from the egg whites. I mix the dough thoroughly again. If it is sticky, I add a little more flour, if it is too dry and crumbly, I add water. I take the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead it thoroughly for about 10-15 minutes until it is beautifully elastic and smooth. I transfer it to a bowl that I have lightly greased with oil so that the dough does not stick and cover it with a clean cloth and let it rise in a warm place for an hour.
When the dough has risen, I roll it out on a floured work surface into a flatbread about two centimeters thick and cut out loaves with a glass about eight centimeters in diameter. I place them on a cloth that I have sprinkled with flour and let them rise for another 30 minutes. Then I fry them on a medium heat in a lightly oiled pan for four minutes on each side.
Then I make the hollandaise sauce. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with water until they are nicely fluffy. Then I place the bowl on a pot of gently simmering water so that the bowl is not touching the water. I continue whisking until the mixture starts to have a creamy consistency. I slowly add the butter and keep whisking and whisking. Every now and then I take the bowl off the pot, keep whisking, then put it back on. I do this so that the eggs don't start to curdle. When the sauce is nicely smooth and creamy, I stir in the lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
Then I prepare the poached eggs. I boil water in a shallow saucepan or deep pan, the water needs to be at a very gentle boil. I add vinegar to the water. I first crack the eggs into a ladle or bowl and then carefully pour them into the water. They need to have enough space around them. And I put a maximum of four in one pan at a time, otherwise they will cool the water too much. I cover the pan with a lid and let the eggs sit for three minutes. Then I use a wooden spoon to loosen them from the bottom or help them a little so that they have a nice round shape. I cook them for a total of 3–5 minutes depending on their size. Then I take them out with a spoon onto a plate.
And then I put everything together. I put a few slices of avocado on the halved bun, then the poached egg, bacon, pour hollandaise sauce over everything, and season with pepper if desired.
It slides down your throat like a kid down a slide. This cake is so soft and just the right amount of sweet. We love it as a dessert, as a cake for guests, or with a nice cup of tea on a Sunday morning.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, add the salt, butter and lemon zest and mix thoroughly again. Stir in the semolina a spoonful at a time, then stir in the milk and finally carefully fold in the egg whites.
I grease a round cake tin with a diameter of 20 cm with butter, sprinkle it with flour and spread the prepared dough into it.
Bake the rolls in an oven preheated to 180°C until golden brown. It takes about 20 minutes.
I cut the cooled roll into lengthwise pieces, place them in a larger saucepan, pour in the milk mixed with sugar, and heat on the stove over low heat until all the milk is absorbed into the roll. Then I place the roll on a bowl and pour over the cream.
And I prepare the cream like this. I mix cold milk with sugar, egg yolks and vanilla, pour it into a glass bowl, which I place on a pot of gently boiling water so that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. I mix until it thickens. I whip the whipping cream into whipped cream.
We like sweet pastries best decorated with cream and whipped cream.
This is our Sunday morning in the kitchen at the cottage. There's almost nothing more fitting for such a lazy start to the day than candles.
Are they spicy? They are! And special? That too, and beautiful. They disappear from the bowl of treats first. Plus, it's a handy recipe for an after-dinner egg treat.
I pour water into a large saucepan, bring it to a boil, add the eggs and cook them for 10 minutes. I drain the water and put the saucepan with the eggs under a stream of very cold water, where I leave them for about five minutes. The eggs then peel easily. I peel them and cut them in half and take out the yolks, which I mash with a fork in a bowl. I add the mayonnaise, sour cream, salt, pepper and mix everything well or blend them.
In a smaller pan, I heat a tablespoon of clarified butter and fry the garlic and spring onions for about two minutes. I take the pan off the heat, let it cool, and add everything to the yolk mixture. Then I add the chives. I mix everything carefully again.
Using a small spoon, fill the cooked egg whites with the yolk mixture (you can also use a pastry bag). Garnish each half with a pinch of chili and chives.
We are waiting for guests and our Davča is peeking through the chair - I stopped him in time before he could taste them all.
Our Onďa didn't know that these little toasts are called soldiers in different places around the world and suddenly he says: "That's good, Dito. Those sticks are lined up like soldiers!" And he was quite amused by this simplicity. I always was too.
I put water in a saucepan to boil. When it starts to boil, I put the eggs in it, turn down the heat a little and cook them for four minutes. In the meantime, I toast the slices of bread, spread it with butter and cut it into strips. I break off the woody ends of the asparagus and boil it in salted water for about 3 minutes. If it is a very young mini asparagus, we eat it fresh. I put the toast and asparagus on a plate, put the eggs in a cup and then we all have a nice dip.
Try it and see what happens. My husband Mára doesn't like new things and when I put the frittata in front of him, he said: "What is this?" But he forced himself to take the first bite. The next day he called to see if we had any eggs at home, saying that if so he would buy some...
