Vintage Recipe Revamp: Egg Nests With Fresh Mint and Honey

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Would you pay 42 cents for this 1977 version of egg nests?

A 42 cent lunch would be nice! However, I’m not quite sure I’d even fork over that amount, measly it may be, for the above egg nest featured in a March 1977 publication of Homemakers. From the looks of the recipe, there’s nothing in the dish but the elements to a satisfying breakfast! The picture is what gets me. The egg yolk looks raw and the egg white puff looks like some sort of mold overgrowth – not the best thing to imagine on a sensitive morning stomach.

My modern adaptation of an egg nest breakfast uses similar ingredients to those in this retro recipe, but the result looks a lot less worse for wear. I use the egg whites to coat the bread and seal in the moisture, form a nest for the egg yolk, and then give the dish a hint of sweetness with honey and a touch of light earthiness with the fresh mint.

French Toast Egg Nests

Serves 2

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Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon milk or cream
  • Dash of sea salt
  • Dash of black pepper
  • 2 slices of a thick, fluffy bread
  • 1/2 teaspoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • A few mint leaves for garnish

Directions:

Separate the egg white from the egg yolk. Reserve the egg yolks for later, keeping them whole.

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In a small bowl that has the width (or greater) of the length of the bread slices, whisk together the egg whites, cream, salt, and pepper.

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Over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Soak both sides of each piece of bread in the egg white mixture so that both faces’ areas are covered, and place in the saucepan.

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Let the bread sit over the head for 1 minute, or until slightly browned, before flipping. Once you rotate the bread, delicately pull apart the center of each slice to create a small nest. Fill each nest with the reserved whole egg yolks, one for each bread.

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Pour any remaining egg white mixture in the nests as well, equally distributing it among the two. Don’t worry about the egg whites leaking outside of the nests. Embrace the rustic look!

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Immediately transfer the entire saucepan into the oven. Broil on high until the egg yolk cooks to your liking – approximately 2 minutes.

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Remove from oven and present the dish in the center of the breakfast table while the toast is still in the saucepan. However, not before drizzling with honey and garnishing with mint.

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Enjoy!

There is nothing quite like flipping through the pages of grandmother’s faded cookbooks in all their imperfect glory — the worn edges, the rampant sauce stains and the cluttered pencil marks. With their casseroles, ham dishes and affinity for elaborate presentation, the Betty Crockers and the Joy of Cookings provide a glimpse of food before it all became so much more complicated. At EcoSalon, we love good vintage inspiration, even when it comes to food. Welcome to Vintage Revamp, where we take old and classic recipes and refresh them with a modern-day twist.

Image: JBCurio, Aylin Erman

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.