Egg

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

María de los Angeles Rodr‭guez Artacho, co-owner with her husband of Bar Jordi, was kind enough to share her recipe.

Tea-marbled eggs are a time-honored part of Chinese cuisine. The outer shell of a hard-boiled egg is cracked (but not removed), and the egg is then soaked in tea, which gives it a lovely marbled appearance and subtle smoky flavor. We found traditionally cooked tea-marbled eggs — usually simmered for an hour — were too tough for our taste; this method yields more tender whites.

This classic cookie combines two of my favorite sweets: buttery-tender Scottish shortbread and satiny lilting English lemon curd. The problem has always been getting a firm enough topping and avoiding a soggy shortbread base. The special technique discovered for this recipe virtually guarantees success. The clean, refreshing flavor of lemon makes these the perfect sweets to follow a rich Christmas goose.

If you prefer, the eggs can be fried instead of poached. Do-ahead steps make this dish very manageable — even for six. The sauce can be prepared the day before.

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

This delicious rustic omelet's flavors, when it's served at room temperature, are in full flower.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 15 min

This is a classic French preparation that is easy to prepare and quite light. Once you have mastered the base, you can add any fruit that you have on hand. It is a great brunch dish since it is not quite an entrée nor is it sweet enough to be a dessert. One omelette is just enough for two people, and since I think that it is almost impossible to make an attractive omelette large enough to feed six, it is best to make one recipe at a time when feeding more than two people. You can keep the finished omelettes warm in a preheated 300° oven while you make the necessary number.

Here's a delicious specialty from The Gallic Kitchen in Dublin, Ireland, a small, bright pâtisserie with excellent sweet and savory goods.

A bit of water whisked into the eggs tenderizes them. You may fill this omelette with anything you like, of course. It makes two very generous servings. For the mushroom and goat cheese variation, sauté 1 pound of thickly sliced mushrooms in 2 tablespoons unsalted butter until they are golden and most of their liquid has evaporated. Use about 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, and 1/2 cup of chervil sprigs (you may substitute flat-leaf parsley), which you mince at the very last minute, to take advantage of their flavorful oils.

Some thickly sliced tomatoes and hot corn bread would be good with this country-style dish. A great choice for dessert is rustic stewed rhubarb with dollops of sour cream.

Crema Pasticciera I Campanians are wild for pastry cream. Thickened with flour, rich with eggs, flavored with vanilla, lemon, chocolate, or coffee, it fills cream puffs, sponge cakes, and ladyfingers in all the composed desserts called delizie (delights), and the grandest of all, Zuppa Inglese. It goes under fruits and fruit preserves in tarts, which are called either crostate or pizze. It forms a topknot in the hole of the famous fried Zeppole di Guiseppe, the bignè — or French crullers, you might call them — made in honor of St. Joseph on March 19. Pastry cream is also one of the bases for frozen desserts. It can be lightened with whipped cream, thinned with loquid cream. It also makes a fine sauce, the same as the French crè anglaise. This recipe requires total concentration and a quick eye and hand. The eggs must be heated just to the point that they do their maximum thickening and never so much that they scramble. The starch must be kept in constant motion, too; otherwise it will lump. I find that even with the best technique it is always prudent to be prepared with a strainer placed over a bowl. No matter how careful you are, there are frequently at least a few lumps that need to be smoothed out.