a runny egg topper makes food look fancy

there is such simplicity and refinement in a gorgeous, runny egg.  especially a pasture egg.  the yolks are extra sunshiney and rich.  you know those glorious eggs that the british tv cooks use?  jamie oliver and the nigella lawson would make me so jealous with those orange yolks of theirs.  they casually crack the shells, revealing an egg which is clearly superior and they treat it like no big deal.  meanwhile, i am thinking about my pathetic, yellow yolk.

sometimes, those europeans really have us beat.  they get raw cheese galore too.  don't get me started.

but, last week while perusing the options at whole foods, i spotted a few special egg cartons all tucked away.  they were intriguing.  i grabbed one and did some reading.  these little guys were eggs from a smaller local farm and they were the cutest speckled eggs that you ever did see.  and from truly roaming, pasture chickens.  great, i will give them a go.  i usually go for the pasture eggs anyway but these appeared to be extra couture or something.  and i am a sucker for small batch, local anything.

as soon as possible, i plucked one from the carton and started about making them into a meal.  and my oh my.  at first crack i knew i had found my nigella eggs.  orange yolks!  real orange.  not teaser yolks with an orangey-yellow hue.  no mediocre pigmentation here.  these were as orange as orange could be.  the stuff that english countryside dishes are made of.

and yes, i pay out the nose for them but that's okay.  a runny golden yolk is like gold flakes, in my book.

p.s. the dish above is zucchini + dill + spring onion + feta patties layered with cold smoked sockeye salmon and topped with a runny egg and micro kale