Recently I tried an interesting recipe for 300-minute eggs from Morocco. The original appeared in Paula Wolfert’s book, The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, which is one of our favorite Middle Eastern cookbooks together with The Arabian Nights by Habeeb Salloum. Traditionally these Sephardic eggs are left in the embers of a fire to cook slowly, or are nestled in sand in a baker’s oven. Not having access to either romantic mode of cooking, you can settle for my regular oven or even a dry crock pot. During the long, slow roast, the eggs take on a delicious nutty flavour and turn a beautiful brown colour. A tangy anchovy sauce finishes the dish.
Preheat oven to 200-225F. Place the eggs in warm water to bring them to room temperature then put them directly onto a wire oven tray and let them cook for 4 1/2-5 hours. During this time you might see little beads form on the eggs as the albumen comes through the shell. Stagger the removal times to get different shades of the brown eggs inside. At the end of cooking time, place the eggs in a bowl of cold water for five minutes then taken them out and remove the shells. Allow to cool. Meanwhile crush a clove of garlic in a mortar and then pound in the anchovies. Mix in the lemon juice and a little ground white pepper when gradually whisk in sufficient olive oil to make a creamy emulsion. Check seasoning, adding more lemon juice to taste if necessary. Halve or quarter the eggs and drizzle with the anchovy sauce. Footnote: These eggs can also be served with a tomato sauce – take a few tomatoes, grate them, add a little salt and pepper and Shata, a very hot chilli paste. |
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