Monday nights often call for a fast solution and there is nothing faster than an egg or two. On toast, in an omelette, scrambled…every variation is wonderfully quick but all a bit, well, samey. Every time I cook a plain fried egg I often think I must remember to make one of those many Turkish/spicy variations I keep cutting out of the newspaper and never using.

Well, today I managed to combine the thought and the action and made this. I’ve adapted it from one of Skye Gyngell‘s, she of Petersham nurseries fame, probably the only garden centre cafe on the planet with a Michelin star. I’ve never eaten there; I’ve only ever walked near it on the Capital Ring footpath but the next time I’m in the area, sans walking boots, I plan to go in. I did have a vague notion that by cooking this I was somehow going to start reducing my carb intake, after a friend told me how successful the Dukan Diet is, but then it would be a shame not to mop up the lovely garlicky yogurt sauce and all that, erm, butter, with a piece of good bread…

For two small portions (or one, yes that will be me, greedy portion) you will need:
Cupboard (or things you may already have):
eggs, 2
garlic clove
unsalted butter, 35g
olive oil, 25ml
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Shopping list
Greek yogurt, 120ml
sage leaves, 4
red chilli, fresh or dried, 1
bread, something with sesame seeds would be nice, or maybe a plain pitta or two

How to
1. Chop the chilli (and, if using a fresh one, de-stalk it too) and leave to one side. Rinse the sage leaves if necessary and leave those to one side too. Then peel and chop the garlic and mix it with the yogurt, a pinch of sea salt and the olive oil.
2. Put the butter and sage leaves in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook until the butter starts to separate (you’ll see a whitish sediment at the bottom) and then brown. Once brown, tip it into a small bowl so that you can re-use the frying pan.
3. Put the frying pan back over the heat, tip in a teaspoon or so of the browned butter (keeping back the sage leaves), add the chilli and then break in the eggs. Fry until the eggs are done to your liking.
4. Just before serving the eggs, divide the garlic yogurt between two plates then place the eggs on top, season and pour over the sage butter and leaves.