Sunday 20 February 2011

Recipe: Poached Egg on a Potato Galette, with Leek Sauce


Think of this as a first cousin to Eggs Benedict - although, you could be forgiven for comparing it also with a more prosaic 'egg and chips' (which may sound rather ho-hum, but where the flavour-combination of runny egg yolk with cooked potato is in fact incomporable, IMHO). The addition of the leek sauce in this version lifts the dish to a whole different level, though, and makes it something you could readily serve to guests without blushing.

The success of the dish depends on getting the eggs right - cooked a point, so the yolks are still runny, but the whites are perfectly firm. Over the years, I've researched countless methods for poaching eggs, and found that everybody seems to advise a different approach: add vinegar to the water (or not); make whirlpools before you drop the the raw eggs in;  aim for (or avoid) the areas of water which are bubbling most fiercely; stir the water around the eggs as they cook, to wrap in their 'tails'....and in fact none of these methods has ever really worked for me. The method I use (which I recently discovered is very similar to that advocated by Richard Olney) is to heat water to a boil in a large sauté pan, and then to turn off the heat, and poach the eggs inside  individual serving rings for exactly three minutes, with the cover on the pan. Use tongs to remove the rings, once done, and take the eggs from the water using a slotted spoon. If you don't have individual serving rings, then use the forms from small tuna cans, with the top and bottom removed (which can also subsequently be used btw, on a baking sheet, to shape individual pastry shells, in the absence of appropriate false-bottomed flan tins)

For two.

Ingredients: 2 large Eggs; 2 medium-sized Potatoes; the white part of a medium sized Leek; 2 tbs Butter; 2 tbs Oil; 100 ml White Wine; 100 ml Cream; Seasoning.

Method:

1. Dice the Leek finely, and sauté it gently in half the Oil and Butter for five minutes or so, until softened; add the Wine, raise the heat to bring to a boil, and then add the Cream. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, stirring regularly, for five minutes or so, until the sauce has thickened. Keep warm, and taste and adjust the seasoning just before serving.

2. Peel the Potatoes and cut them into matchstick-thin julienne (do NOT wash them once peeled, as it is the starch in the potatoes which makes the galettes stick together...washing them will remove the starch). Heat the remaining Oil and Butter in a heavy frying pan over high heat, and then arrange the julienne strips in two 'cakes' in the pan. Season the Potatoes, press down lightly on them, and after a minute or two, gently ease the blade of a palette knife underneath, to ensure they aren't sticking to the pan (as you do so, tilt the pan slightly, to allow more oil and butter to run beneath each galette). After four minutes or so, use the palette knife to turn each galette over, and repeat the process; adjust the temperature throughout to maintain a high heat, but not so high that the galettes start to burn. Four minutes on each side should be sufficient.

3. Poach the two Eggs using the method described above.

4. To serve: on warmed plates, place each poached egg on top of a potato galette, and spoon leek sauce over the top. (And for a more formal presentation, sprinkle with chopped parsley).

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's my supper decided then - thank you!

Pomiane said...

Well, try it first, and then say if you think it's as good as I do...

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed it immensely, thank you for the recipe. I shall be making it again too.

Pomiane said...

It comes from a book published in the early seventies by Simone Beck (she who was the 'eminence grise' to the more famous Julia, in Mastering The Art). Although distinctly ho-hum at desserts, her skill with starters seems to have been stellar - I've also recently tried a chicken terrine of hers, as well as a mushroom tart...both of which were excellent!

anna said...

Looks delicious - will try it tonight!
We are English couple, long settled in Pisa with dog. Your dog sitter gave us your name as we have booked her to look after our dog at Easter. Any feedback re your experience of her wld be appreciated. Many thanks and good to hear your sick dog doing well.

Pomiane said...

Oh, Arianna is splendid; completely reliable, in our experience. The four-footeds love going there (well, strictly speaking, the senior FF would probably prefer to stay at home, where he's always top dog...but he accepts La Gabella as a viable alternative).
How strange that there are other Brits in Pisa - does this mean we'll have to stop booking restaurants and merely giving our name as the 'due Inglese'?

anna said...

Thanks very much.
From looking at your blog I think we live very near. We're Via Carducci, the other side of Saint'Anna. Our dogs may even have sniffed each other in Piazza Santa Caterina! Ours is a female black lab.

Pomiane said...

Well, they're in Piazza SC most mornings, for their constitutional, but I doubt they would have encountered your dog, as the junior four-footed is embarrassingly fearful of other dogs (only in the piazza, otherwise, he's fine with them) and pulls strenuously in the opposite direction whenever he sees one on the horizon; Senior FF likes to go and say hello, so I end up being dragged in two directions at once.
Via Carducci....you're practically spitting distance away!

anna said...

My partner has been in Pisa for 25 years and me 10, yet we've never met another British couple! Perhaps it would be nice to meet?
anna.southern@gmail.com