rosemary garlic fried egg

I had some rosemary left over from the bunch I bought to make my elderflower, cucumber and rosemary granita, and I had been giving a lot of thought to what I would do with it. In the end, on a fine Saturday morning, I came up with the idea of making fried eggs with rosemary and garlic infused olive oil.

garlic and rosemary olive oil

This dish may be simple in concept and easy to make, but it is so good! Here's how I did it...

Recipe (for two):
4 eggs
4 medium/large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
a 3-inch sprig's worth of fresh rosemary leaves, separated but not chopped for a nice crunch
olive oil (approximately 2 tablespoons)
salt and pepper to taste

Throw the garlic, rosemary and olive oil into the mortar, and proceed to crush the garlic and bruise the rosemary leaves with the pestle. When it looks like the picture above, it is ready to use. Ladle into the pan, spread it out and fry lightly until the garlic is soft, then fry the eggs as per normal. When they are done, season with salt and pepper.

It seems that many people like their fried eggs in the form of a pristine sunny side up, but I love it the way my mum makes it - cooked on one side, then flipped over to cook briefly on the other side. To me, it's the abundance of golden, crispy bits that makes a fried egg exciting and delicious, both in texture and taste. And as you can see, you can still have a runny yolk with this method! I am also very pleased with how both the garlic and rosemary performed in this dish - they gave the fried egg a beautiful aroma and flavour. I'm not even sure how I managed it, but the garlic melted in the mouth, while the rosemary was wonderfully crisp. I gorged on this, then washed it all down with a glass of iced elderflower water. Bliss.

rosemary and garlic fried egg