# Soft-Boiled Eggs with Homemade Toast Soldiers

> Soft-boiled eggs: 3 minutes of cooking and one technique worth learning once and for all. Here we serve them with **homemade toast soldiers** in four versions: butter, ham, parsley, cantal. One to dip per guest, everyone picks their favourite. Simple, fun, perfect for brunch or a starter that actually stands out.

**Total time** : 20 min · **Prep** : 10 min · **Cook** : 10 min · **Servings** : 4 · **Difficulty** : facile

## Ingredients

- 4 pc Extra fresh eggs
- White vinegar (dash)
- 4 slice Country bread
- 2 slice Cooked ham
- 2 thin slices Cantal AOP cheese
- 60 g Salted butter
- 1 bunch Flat-leaf parsley
- Salt

## Method

1. **30 minutes ahead**: take the eggs out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to **200°C (390°F)**. Melt the butter. Finely chop the parsley. Cut the ham and cantal into **strips 1 to 1.5 cm wide**.
   _Tip: Cold eggs from the fridge dropped into boiling water risk cracking from the thermal shock and the cooking will be uneven. **30 minutes minimum**, 1 hour ideally. This is the most important rule in the recipe._
2. Toast the bread slices in the oven for **5 minutes**. They should be crispy on the outside and still slightly soft inside. Remove and cut into **1 to 1.5 cm batons** to form the soldiers.
   _Tip: The bread should stay slightly soft inside to absorb the yolk properly. **5 minutes at 200°C**, no more. Too long and it becomes too dry to dip._
3. Assemble **4 versions of soldiers**: one buttered, one buttered with a strip of ham, one buttered and rolled in chopped parsley, one with cheese and ham. Adapt to each guest's taste.
   _Tip: Assemble the soldiers **right after taking the bread out of the oven**, while it's still warm. It takes 2 minutes._
4. Bring a pan of water to a **rolling boil**. Add a dash of white vinegar. Lower the eggs in gently with a spoon. Time exactly **3 minutes** (very runny yolk) or **3 min 30** (slightly more set). Remove, place in egg cups and **slice off the top**. Serve immediately with the soldiers.
   _Tip: The vinegar in the water prevents the egg from dispersing if the shell cracks slightly. Lower the eggs in **gently** with a spoon, don't drop them. If you're worried about breakage, place a cloth at the bottom of the pan._

## Tips & variations

**3 cooking methods** depending on what you have: in water (3 min, the classic method), in the oven at 65°C max in a muffin tin (7 min), in the microwave in a ramequin covered with cling film (25 seconds at 800W). Never cook an egg in its shell in the microwave: it will explode.

If you're not eating the eggs straight away, keep them in **water at 60°C** to stay warm without continuing to cook.

For the soldiers, adapt the toppings to what you have: gruyère instead of cantal, smoked salmon instead of ham, or simply butter and fleur de sel.

**Tags** : Under 30 min, Breakfast, French, Lunch, Starter

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Source : https://disheazy.fr/en/recettes/soft-boiled-eggs-with-homemade-toast-soldiers