Howth-style scrambled eggs with smoked salmon

Name: Howth-style scrambled eggs with smoked salmon
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 7 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Irish
Ingredients: 6 large free-range eggs; 30g salted Irish butter; 150g WOH sliced smoked salmon; 2 thick slices sourdough or good white bread; 1 small bunch fresh chives, finely snipped; 1 lemon, cut into wedges; Freshly ground black pepper; A pinch of sea salt (optional; the salmon is salted)

Prep3minCook7minServes2LevelEasy

Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon is the Saturday-morning dish of every Irish fishing village, ours included. The recipe is barely a recipe. What makes it work is restraint: a low heat under the eggs, butter rather than oil, and the patience to take the pan off before the curds look done. The salmon is the last thing to touch the plate, never the pan. If you do it right, the eggs are soft enough that you barely need to chew them and the salmon is cool and silky against the warmth.

Ingredients

6 large free-range eggs
30g salted Irish butter
150g WOH sliced smoked salmon
2 thick slices sourdough or good white bread
1 small bunch fresh chives, finely snipped
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of sea salt (optional; the salmon is salted)

Method

Beat the eggs in a bowl with a fork. Don't whisk them to a froth, just break up the yolks.
Melt the butter in a non-stick pan over a low heat. When it foams but doesn't brown, pour in the eggs.
Stir slowly and gently with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Pull the cooked curds from the edge into the centre, then tilt the pan to let the runny egg flow out to fill the gap. Keep doing this.
Toast the bread while the eggs are coming together. Butter it generously.
Take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly under-cooked. They will continue cooking for another 20 seconds in the pan.
Pile the eggs onto the toast. Drape the smoked salmon over the top, loose folds, not flat. Snip the chives over everything.
Black pepper, lemon wedge to one side.

Tips from our kitchen

Low heat is the whole secret. If your spoon starts dragging across cooked egg stuck to the pan, the heat was too high.
Take the pan off the heat before the eggs look done. They keep cooking on the plate.
Don't be tempted to add cream. Butter is enough. Cream gives you wet eggs, not soft ones.

Howth-style scrambled eggs with smoked salmon

Ingredients

Method

Tips from our kitchen

Irish Organic Oak Smoked Salmon by Wrights of Howth

Irish Organic Oak Smoked Salmon 900g with Wooden Serving Platter

Wrights of Howth Smoke House Box

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