Prostituée d'Oeuf

The Cute Gardener's favorite cherry on top of his signature rice hash.

Yes, that’s right, I am an avid egg whore … and an easy one. All you really need to do to float my culinary boat is to stick a softly fried egg with a runny yolk on top of pretty much any plate of food and you will watch me melt along with the bright yellow ooze that accentuates the positive in just about any dish.

But the lust doesn’t stop there. I go equally gaga for nicely quartered, hard boiled chunks in a warm nicoise; disks super fried in bacon grease on any breakfast sandwich; fluffy poached and runny on beds of artisanal lettuces or Lyonnais; truffle oiled and deviled coldies; diced into a curried egg salad on moist, fresh bread with pickles; stuck to the rice caramelized on the innards of a Korean bibimbap hot pot; in a pile of fluffy yellow, scrambled with lemon thyme; quail-sized and raw in aphrodisiac, shot glass form at the tail end of an exquisite sushi supper; or swirled as a final touch into any bowl of freshly made and steaming pasta.

Omelets are perfect for leftovers, in this case it was diced red pepper pesto chicken.

And of course, nothing is as sublime as the concept of the simple omelet that can be made for breakfast, lunch or dinner. In one of my all-time favorite television shows from the BBC, Gavin and Stacey, the mother of one of the characters is famous for whipping up omelets every time a guest arrives. In English style, hers are flat and filled with a thin layer of cheese and nothing else. In France, they are made purely with eggs (and don’t you dare cause any part of it to become brown) and then adorned with a chunk of cheese, typically Brie or some other creamy version, and a sprig of herb. Here in America they are traditionally stuffed to overflowing with vegetables and other goodies. I love them all.

Today in the Los Angeles Times, one of my favorite female chefs Nancy Silverton from Mozza, wrote an article about the perfect frittata with some excellent tips on cooking one. I think it may become my next food test obsession in the kitchen because unlike thick, quiche-like versions that I am used to, hers are touting a thin, soft base for toppings almost like a pizza.

I can easily think of ten other foods that I love as much as I love eggs but the lovely, ovular globes may just be one of those foods that I would put into my top five list of things I would choose if I could only eat five things for the rest of my life.