Best of Boiled Eggs, Mediterranean Style

Boiled eggs are a popular ingredient eaten in The Mediterranean Diet.  From Tunisia to France, to Israel to Croatia, you’ll find boiled eggs served whole, sliced and chopped into dishes. Boiled eggs are a simple food that can elevate your cooking, particularly in combination with fresh vegetables. They have a natural umami (savory) flavor, so you can why they are added as an additional flavor to common dishes. The umami flavor of eggs is much more present when cooked.

Eggs are a prized food in our house and we eat a lot of frittata, omelets, and fried eggs. In Michael Ruhlman’s “Egg”, Alton Brown is quoted as saying “Yeah, I’ve always liked to say that the egg is the Rosetta Stone of the kitchen.” Eggs are fabulous for cooking in myriad ways, featured in all cuisines and a key ingredient in baking and making homemade pasta. And, don’t forget that there are many other options in addition to the chicken egg. Duck eggs have an even more luxurious umami flavor than chicken eggs. For me a six-pack of duck eggs is a special treat. Other commercially available eggs include quail, turkey, emu and ostrich. These are more readily available at farms than in grocery stores.

I am particularly fond of boiled eggs for their convenience, high protein content and delicious flavor. We also love making Stuffed or “Deviled” Eggs, which first appeared as far back as 6,000 BC and were enjoyed by the Greeks and Romans.

If available and affordable to you, I highly recommend using local pastured eggs, particularly for your special dishes that strongly feature eggs. Pastured eggs are higher in nutrients than factory farmed eggs and have been demonstrated by a Pennsylvania State University study to have three times the omega 3’s. The eggs of hens raised in pasture also have a better flavor profile. If the hens eat wild food, their eggs will be even more flavorful.

I got a great tip from Kathy Casey’s “D’Lish Deviled Eggs” book. Very fresh eggs will not peel easily. It is better to store them in the fridge for at least a few days for easier peeling. Another tip I found in “Egg Cookery”, by Lily Haxworth Wallace, who recommends testing the freshness of eggs by placing them in a bowl of water. If they sink right away, they are fresh, if they are slow to sink then they are not quite so fresh. We like this article at The Kitchn with more great recommendations for how to test your eggs for freshness

Mediterranean Living fan, Blaise Doubman of Blaise The Baker shared his foolproof recipe for delicious and perfectly boiled eggs. Although his food blog focuses mostly on baking, his boiled egg recipe is ever popular. Stop by our recipe box and bookmark this for future reference. Thanks, Blaise!

Scout out some delicious eggs for boiling. Then check out our roundup of The Top Seven Favorite Mediterranean Recipes using boiled eggs:

Have you heard about Genius Recipes? Genius Recipes is a book of one hundred foolproof, popular and delicious recipes put out by Food52. One of the genius recipes is this Green Sauce recipe from The Silver Palate cookbook. I often make this recipe, which features chopped boiled eggs, when entertaining guests for appetizers and cocktails. It pairs wonderfully with sourdough bread. In the summer I enjoy it with heirloom tomatoes. In the winter, the bright green flavor adds a lovely contrast to heavier dishes.

Get the Genius Recipe for Green Sauce at Food 52. 

 Virginia Willis is a celebrated Southern Food expert, accomplished food writer and cookbook author. She is trained in the classical French style, which shows through in this popular Deviled Eggs recipe. You can find her deviled eggs on Food52 as both a Genius Recipe and a Community Pick. This recipe includes delicious and healthy Mediterranean herbs and spices. On her blog, she shares the recipe and offers great tips on ensuring perfect deviled eggs.

One of my absolute favorite foods is asparagus. We’re fortunate that in western Massachusetts we get a fine crop of asparagus from our fertile Connecticut River Valley. When asparagus season arrives, I’m all in and constantly searching for the best of dishes that compliment this delicious vegetable. This recipe from thekitchn for Asparagus with Eggs and Parmesan is simply top notch! I also love that it is a very easy and quick recipe to prepare.

Pick up the Asparagus with Eggs and Parmesan recipe from thekitchn.

Nicoise Salad is a traditional and classic French salad that makes for a lovely lunch. It’s also great served as a side at brunches and other gatherings. This salad is a composed collection of many of our favorite Mediterranean ingredients, including eggs. You can also be flexible and creative with this salad, by making slight changes to the vegetables, fish and starch included on the plate. We like this version of Nicoise Salad at Chow.com

Try out this Nicoise Salad recipe from Chow.com. 

 Ready to try something new? Look no further than Tunisian Tagine. It’s a bit like fritatta, a bit like tortilla and full of delicious flavors. Food.com brings a recipe that can be served as a vegetarian or non-vegetarian option. This recipe is full of Mediterranean superfoods, so it’s a great choice for health conscious eating.

Get the Tunisian Tagine recipe from Food.com.

Here is a recipe that keeps it simple at Mediterranean Living. The recipe is simply sliced boiled eggs with olive oil on sourdough toast. It is a divine start to the day!

Come on by Mediterranean Living’s recipe box to try our Eggs and Sourdough Bread recipe. 

A bit reminiscent of both Nicoise and Greek Salads, this lovely collision of salad styles comes together fast and makes a wonderful lunch or side dish. This recipe for Cretan Salad is from Koula Barydakis, co-author of our book, “Foods of Crete.”

Stop by here to try Mediterranean Living’s traditional Cretan Salad by Koula Barydakis. 

This recipe is a great way to celebrate heirloom tomatoes in the height of the season. It is simple and showcases some of the best of Mediterranean flavors. It also adopts some of the key ingredients in the Nicoise Salad and Deviled Egg recipes.

We hope that you enjoy all of these recipes and explore other recipes too! Here is a resource list for egg cookery: 

‘D’lish Deviled Eggs’ by Kathy Casey

‘Egg Cookery’ by Lily Haxworth Wallace

‘Egg’ by Michael Ruhlman

‘The Perfect Egg’ by Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park