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Fried egg (Αυγό τηγανητό)
Easy and delicious fried egg cooked in olive oil.
Growing up there were very few things that only one of our parents would make; generally they worked together to prepare their delicious meals and desserts. But some things…some things belonged to only one of them, and fried eggs belonged to our father.
On weekend mornings our father would often greet us with a fried egg or two. Αυγά μάτια (which literally translates into eggs eyes – bizarre!) are a variation of sunny-side up eggs made more delicious because they are fried in olive oil. This cooking technique results in an outer edge of crispy egg white and a yolk which is cooked just perfectly. Sprinkled with just a touch of salt and pepper, they are a simply beautiful way to start the day.
In addition to having these amazing fried eggs for breakfast, you can use them on top of pasta for a classic Greek meal. Pasta topped with a fried egg is an amazing quick and easy lunch or dinner that delights everyone!
Helpful hints:
Don’t crack your egg directly into the frying pan. Instead, crack it into a bowl and then slip it carefully into your frying pan. Cracking your egg this way is very handy for the times that you may accidentally end up with a piece of shell with your egg. You can easily remove the shell from the bowl, but not so easily when your egg is in the hot pan.
Heat the olive oil until it is very hot prior to adding the egg to the pan. Once you add the egg however, turn the heat down to medium as the oil tends to spatter. Be careful not to get hot oil on you! One good trick to prevent, or stop, the oil splattering is to slightly tilt your pan so that the oil pools to one side, and your egg stays on the other side of the pan. This is also what you need to do in order to scoop up some of the hot oil with a tablespoon and drizzle it over the egg yolk. This will help cook the yolk.
We used a non-stick pan to cook our egg, but you don’t have to. If you don’t use a nonstick surface we recommend that you lightly grease your pan with cooking spray before adding the oil; this will prevent any sticking (which you would think wouldn’t happen given the oil used to cook the egg in…but it sometimes does).
You will have oil left over after cooking your egg. You can place it into a small glass container once it is cooled and store it in your refrigerator. This oil can then be used again in cooking or frying.
Even if you have a very large frying pan and many hungry mouths to feed, we wouldn’t suggest cooking more than two eggs at a time. It may become too difficult to control any oil spattering. Take your time. Make breakfast in batches.
Mia Kouppa: Fried Egg
Ingredients
- 1 fresh egg
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Choose your frying pan. If it is not a non-stick surface, spray it with some cooking spray.
- Add olive oil to your frying pan. The oil should be about 1 cm deep.
- Heat oil over medium-high heat for about one minute until it gets quite hot.
- Crack your egg into a bowl and gently slip it into the hot oil. The egg should start to cook immediately, with the egg white turning opaque very quickly.
- Turn the heat down to medium and cook egg carefully. Tilt your pan to one side occasionally to pool the hot oil into one side of the pan. This will help stop any oil splattering. Also, with a tablespoon, scoop up some of the hot oil and carefully pour it over the egg yolk. Repeat this several times, depending upon how runny (or not) you want your yolk.
- Continue to cook your egg until you have a nice, golden, crispy outer edge to your egg white.
- Using a slotted spatula, carefully remove your egg from the frying pan.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired. Enjoy!
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17 responses to “Fried egg (Αυγό τηγανητό)”
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i love fried eggs anytime. i remember reading an archie comic when i was young and he had a fried egg sandwich with a glass of milk and i could not wait to make that sandwich. that is a beautiful plate. part of enjoyable eating is the memories.
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Completely agree with you! these recipes are very nostalgic for us. 🙂
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Fried eggs are my favourite! love your blog.
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Oh wow! Thank you so much, we really appreciate that 🙂
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This is exactly how my father cooked his eggs, many years ago. You have brought back a good memory. Thank you
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We’re so happy to be able to bring up happy food memories. We always say that nostalgia is delicious 🙂 Hope you find more to love here! xoxo Helen & Billie
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I wasn’t even going to read this recipe–I mean, I know how to make a fried egg! But I did read it–and it brought back a memory of how my dear mother-in-law made her delicious fried eggs. Yes, she used olive oil. Yes, she spooned the oil over the cooking egg. I bet you won’t be surprised to learn that her name was Athena!
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Dear Lori,
Thank you! Thank you for taking the time to read the post (and we get it…we even have a post on how to make a soft-boiled egg and we wonder if anyone has read that one! LOL)
We are so happy to hear that our post brought back memories of your mother-in-law. We suspect that you will be reminded of Athena quite a bit if you read through our blog 🙂
Thank you again for your comment; you really have made us so happy.
xoxo
Billie & Helen
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If you cross the Harvard Bridge in Boston and happen to be with a tour guide, you will learn that in the late 1950’s MIT student Oliver Smoots came up with a unique unit of measure as part of a fraternity pledge. By lying head to toe across the bridge, Oliver determined that its length was 364.4 Smoots.
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