Real Food for Real Life

Friday, August 6, 2010

I've never done this before...

Salade Lyonnaise and Stuffed Mushrooms

I have never poached an egg before.  I can fry a beautiful egg with a runny center, but have always found the idea of dropping that same egg into simmering water to be a bit intimidating.  An article by Mark Bittman in The New York Times (and the luscious photo) about Salade Lyonnaise convinced me that I had to give this poaching thing a try.  

I prepared the dressing, had the greens ready, stuffed mushrooms (courtesy of the Kroger produce department) and bread in the oven, table set, drinks poured...yes, you get the idea, I was putting off poaching those darn eggs.  Well, it got to the point where there was nothing left to do, so I got the water simmering (per Bittman's instructions) and dropped in the first egg, and Eureka!, it came out okay...better than okay, it even LOOKED good, with the white very nicely formed around the yolk...Bittman advises that fresh eggs keep their shape better, so my eggs must have been REALLY fresh :)

My first poached egg...not too bad :-)

Feeling much better about the whole thing, I started poaching them two at a time.

This experience was a success, and before dinner was over Ben was talking about poaching eggs in wine as we had seen one of the Iron Chefs do (can't remember which one).  Since I was serving this as a dinner salad, rather than a first course, I modified the quantities given in the original recipe.  This salad is a definite keeper, despite making a poor choice a greens...I was school shopping at Meijer, and not wanting to make another stop, picked up the best they had to offer, spring greens, which were much too delicate for the warm dressing and eggs.  But the taste, oh the taste, was rich and decadent, and also reminded me of the simple greens of my youth wilted with a warm bacon dressing, uuummm...

Salade Lyonnaise
adapted from Mark Bittman

16 oz.s torn frisée or other strong-tasting, sturdy greens
 3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
12 oz. bacon, diced
4 tbs. finely diced red onion
4 tbs. sherry vinegar
2 tbs. Dijon mustard
coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper
6 eggs

Put greens in large salad bowl. Put olive oil in skillet over medium heat. When hot, add bacon and cook slowly until crisp all over, about 10-12 minutes; remove to a paper towel lined plate, reserving most of the drippings in the pan.  Add the onion and cook until softened and turning golden, 4-5 minutes. Add vinegar and mustard to the skillet and bring just to a boil, stirring, then turn off heat.

 Meanwhile, bring about two inches of salted water to a boil in a small, deep skillet, then lower heat to barely bubbling. One at a time, break eggs into a shallow bowl and slip them into the bubbling water. Cook eggs for 3 to 4 minutes, just until the white is set and the yolk has filmed over. Remove each egg with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on paper towel.  If necessary (it was for me and my procrastinating), gently reheat dressing, then pour over greens (they should wilt just a bit), toss and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top each portion with a handful of the reserved bacon and 2 eggs, serve immediately. Each person gets to break the eggs and let the yolk run over their salad.  I did not use all the bacon and tucked it away in the fridge for another use.

This made three dinner sized salads.  Make sure to serve with some nice crusty bread to wipe up your plate, because you dO NOT want to leave any of this behind.

1 comment:

  1. On Facebook:
    Tracey said:
    oh mary, I have poached many an egg in my time..i think that started back in 9th grade when I went on my first "real diet"... they certainly look decadent in your salad and more appetizing than my "poached egg on dry wheat toast with sliced tomato" that was my breakfast staple of my diet.(followed of course by the necessary jane fonda workout that was all the age in 83 (sshhhhh...thats shows my age doesnt it?)
    August 6 at 9:32pm

    On Facebook:
    Tracey said: oops thats rage, not age ..typo!
    August 6 at 9:45pm

    On Facebook:
    Casa En La Cocina said: No problem, I read it for context and missed it :) Egg on toast with tomato really doesn't sound too bad, it's just missing the Hollandaise sauce :)
    August 7 at 8:29am

    On Facebook:
    Tracey said: I adore hollandaise sauce...but its hardy diet friendly is it? well maybe on atkins!
    August 7 at 8:42am

    ReplyDelete

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