Tom Parker Bowles has unveiled a classic Royal Family breakfast that his mother, Queen Camilla, once whipped up every December in ‘huge quantities’. The recipe, nicknamed ‘buttered eggs’ by the Princess Margaret, only requires four main ingredients and you can make it in just 10 to 20 minutes.
Writing in his new book, ‘Cooking & The Crown‘, Tom explained that the dish has now become a ‘Boxing Day staple’, while asserting that he’s ‘never eaten a finer egg’. “Another favourite growing up, my mother, Queen Camilla seemed to be able to make huge quantities of these, with the minimum fuss,” he penned.
“It was also a Boxing Day staple – some (relatively) light relief, usually made with our own eggs, that always seem to taste better than any other on earth… Princess Margaret didn’t like the word ‘scrambled’ and insisted on calling them ‘buttered eggs’, which certainly has an appealing burr.”
If you’re eager to give this recipe a go, the Royal suggests getting hold of four eggs, a block of salted butter, smoked salmon and some bread. This will give you enough for two portions.
Once you’ve bagged these, crack the eggs and whisk them up with a dash of salt and pepper. Tom advises that you shouldn’t go too mad on this – just beat them until they’re ‘well mixed’. Then, put 30g of the butter into a pan and wait until it starts to foam.
Crucially, the trick here is low heat as Tom jokes that overcooking the eggs will create the texture of ‘wall insulator’. When the pan looks ready, pop the eggs in and keep stirring with a wooden spoon until it looks cooked but still a little runny.
At this point, add some smoked salmon and a tad more seasoning before serving on some buttered bread or toast – Tom recommends brown loaves. Then, voila!
In even better news, Tom’s recipe isn’t just tasty but may even have some game-changing health benefits too. In a recent Mirror report, Helen Bell, a nutritionist at the UK Care Guide, explained that eggs are packed with protein and may even help you lose weight.
She said: “In my experience, consuming eggs as a snack can actually be quite beneficial for weight loss. Eggs are high in protein, which helps to increase satiety and keep you feeling fuller for longer.
“This can reduce the overall calorie intake throughout the day. But, it’s important to watch portion sizes and prepare them in a healthy way, like boiling or poaching, to avoid adding unnecessary fats.”
A visit to Asda showed me that you can buy the main ingredients of Tom’s egg recipe for as little as £9.69, equating to £4.84 per portion. This total includes the four major ingredients: smoked salmon (£3.50), (£2.50), organic eggs (£2.50), butter (£1.89) and brown bread (£1.80).