Six-minute egg salad

Poached eggs used to crop up everywhere, but the current trend is for what the French call the oeuf mollet : a six-minute boiled egg. With a firm white and a slightly runny yolk, it has the perfect texture for a salad. Much is made today of preparing eggs by the sous vide method: The eggs, submerged in water at 62 to 65 C, cook slowly for an hour or so. But I prefer this much quicker approach for a similar texture, as does chef Johanna Ware. At her stylish restaurant, Smallwares, in Portland, Ore., she made this six-minute egg as an hors d'oeuvre, split in half and served as finger food; I in turn have adapted it for a salad. While Ware coated hers in panko and then deep-fried them, this isn't necessary. Another option is to garnish the salad with shaved Parmesan.

Servings: 4

Ready Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons honey mustard

1/2 teaspoon sriracha sauce

8 cups mixed field-fresh greens

1/4 cup chopped chives

1/2 teaspoon coarsely chopped tarragon leaves

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Place the eggs in boiling water and cook for exactly 6 minutes. Remove from pot and run under cold water until they are cool enough to handle, then shell them.

Combine honey mustard and sriracha. Reserve.

Place the mixed greens, chives and tarragon in a bowl.

Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with greens.

Place greens on 4 plates. Dot each plate with the mustard mixture. Cut the eggs in half and place two halves on each salad. The yolks will be runny.

Dot a little more dressing on the eggs. Sprinkle with pepper, if you like.