Tuesday 11 September 2012

Flo's Poached Egg and Asparagus Salad



After watching 'How to Cook like Heston' on catch up, whilst trying to get to sleep, I woke up with a poached egg craving, unsurprisingly... His method is pretty easy, though you have to keep an eye on the thermometer and keep turning the heat on or off to keep it at 80 degrees (see method below). I was so impressed with my first attempt (these really are better tasting and looking than usual) that I decided to build a recipe around it for a friend who was coming round for lunch.

Ingredients (serves 3)
3 fresh medium eggs -NOT kept in the fridge
12 asparagus
3 pieces of pancetta/thin bacon
3 big handfuls of nice, delicate leaf salad (washed and dried)
9 cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic
Olive oil for cooking
1/4 lemon

2 small slices of sour dough bread, crusts cut off

Dressing:
50ml extra virgin olive oil
30 basil leaves
1 clove garlic
2 pinches of salt
¼ tsp black pepper

Parmesan / grana padana to serve

Equipment: whizzer/hand blender, one of those big spoons with lots of holes in them (see pic), pan, grill.

Put grill on high heat. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Blanch your asparagus in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Take out and drain. Cut your tomatoes in half.

In a bowl mix up the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of oil, a crushed garlic clove and a pinch of salt. Place asparagus and tomatoes on tin foil in a baking dish and drizzle with the oil/lemon, garlicky mix. Place the bacon on the foil too. Grill for around 2 minutes – watching carefully so they don’t burn. 


Take out and turn the asparagus over to do the other side for 2 minutes more (you want them to brown nicely). When done, take out and put aside.


Now, for the dressing: Place basil and garlic in a whizzer, whiz up, then slowly add the oil, salt and pepper. Put aside.



Rub the bread in olive oil and place on tin foil on a baking dish. Grill until crispy (watching carefully) then turn over and do the other side. This should take around 2 minutes each side (maybe less if your grill is really really hot).

Take the bread out of the oven and cool until cool enough to handle. Cut it up into croutons (1.5cm by 1.5cm). Turn off the grill, wrap the croutons in foil and place in the oven to dry out.

Egg time: Start heating the water for Heston’s poached eggs and follow his instructions here.

Heston's trick

mmm...

Meanwhile, assemble stage one of the salad: place a handful of salad on each place, place 4 asparagus across in a woven shape (see below).



Take the croutons out of the oven and artfully sprinkle over the plate. 

Now you should have finished cooking Heston-style eggs: If not, wait till they are done then carefully take out of the water and drain as Heston instructs. Place the egg on top of the salad. Grind some pepper and shave some parmesan on to it. Last of all, lightly spoon the basil mix around each salad.

Tadaaa….



Best eaten in a sunny garden!


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