There are a thousand and one recipes for flashy scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs with asparagus, with salmon and probably with chicken tikka, god help us! But this is all meaningless is one cooks revolting scrambled eggs - and believe me, many do.

This is what scrambled eggs SHOULDN'T be:

    * They should not resemble yellow cat litter
    * They should not be in one solid chunk
    * They should not run round the plate in a thin stream
    * They should not have great lumps of white in them

All of these I should not have been served over the years, and yet I have found all these and many more worse examples placed in front of me.

This is what scrambled eggs SHOULD be:

    * Soft
    * Slightly creamy
    * Warm
    * Fresh

And it really is not very difficult to do - so read on.

For one person:

• 2 or 3 eggs
• Knob of unsalted butter
• Salt and Pepper
• Pinch of Parsley
• 1 tbs Double (Heavy) cream at room temperature - optional

Break the eggs into a bowl and remove any stray bits of eggshell - well, you don;t want your guest hitting you, do you?

With a fork (not a whisk, or an electric anything, or some special device from the telly, just a fork!) beat the living daylights out of the eggs so they are properly mixed and just a little bubbly. Give them a quick grind of salt and pepper. Note, make sure the pepper is not too chunky!

Take a small non-stick saucepan or frying pan and heat to medium heat. Add the knob of unsalted butter and spin round the pan quickly till mostly melted but still butter colour - err on the side of not melted enough rather than burn the poor stuff. Add the eggs and with a wooden spoon get stirring - gently.

Note I said stirring, NOT beating! Being violent with your eggs will turn them to cat litter very quickly. What you are looking for is a just set state. In an ideal world you get this so right that there is no reason what so ever to add the cream. Part of the trick here is not to cook the eggs too hot - that will give you a thick omelette rather than soft and creamy eggs.

Once you have got them slightly softer than you want them, take the pan off the heat. If you want to use the cream, add a small splash now and stir in. Turn the eggs out onto a warmed plate and serve. If you get it right, the time it takes to get to the table should have finished the eggs off beautifully.

Eat with a fork and try not to make over satisfied slurping noises.

Tags: scrambled eggs
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