Sunny side up or not, a breakfast is incomplete without the egg and its many forms
The best way to get a chef nostalgic is to ask him about his favourite childhood breakfast. “I remember my mother used to make egg paranthas or scrambled eggs stuffed in a roti,” says Ravi Saxena, executive chef at The Claridges hotel in Delhi. It’s a memory many can relate to. After all, the humble egg remains the first choice when it comes to a wholesome breakfast and is the perfect comfort food. But while almost everyone who has cracked an egg on the edge of the pan knows that getting the sunny side up can be difficult, we all experiment. The chef lets us in on how to make that perfect sunny side up, scrambled and poached eggs.

Egg Florentine
“This is an Italian dish, and the word Florentine implies that spinach is used in the dish. We will be using an egg made sunny side up,” says Saxena. He takes a burger bun and neatly cuts it into two. One half is lightly toasted on a pan and serves as the base of this dish. The chef takes a fistful of spinach leaves, dunks them into a pot of boiling water and adds a pinch of salt. “We need to cook the spinach for a minute or two, so that it doesn’t taste raw. Once done, strain the spinach and transfer it immediately into a pot of cold water. This stops the cooking process and keeps the colour a rich green,” he says. Once the leaves are cooled, chop them.
The chef pours a smattering of olive oil into a pan and lets it heat. In it, he sautés chopped onions and garlic; the chopped spinach goes next with a pinch of salt and pepper. This mixture is layered on to the toasted bun base. He then takes a tomato and places it in boiling water for a minute. “This will help us to take the skin off. This is not to cook the tomato,” he says. The skin removed with a light pinch, the tomato is then cut in roundels and placed in a neat circle on the layer of spinach.
Now, for the egg. Saxena places a skillet on the fire and doles out the first lesson in cooking eggs. “Use a non-stick pan and always heat it first. If you keep your hand over it, you should be able to feel the heat without touching it,” he says. Into the pan, he twirls a mix of olive oil and butter. “Olive oil is healthy and butter gives a good taste. Butter by itself burns,” he says.

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