The above-mentioned frigging spring onions.
Usually, Wednesday nights are fajita nights. Except this Wednesday, when I totally forgot because I’d been thinking all day about the best way to have poached eggs for dinner. It’s just been so sunny for the last few days and even though it hasn’t been terribly warm, immanent springtime put me in the mood for a lighter meal. When I stopped by Whole Foods after work to pick up some Smackdown ingredients for tomorrow, I saw a big pile of spring onions and immediately thought: spring onion and mushroom saute topped with poached eggs, and a simple salad. Which I came home and started preparing. Because that’s what normal people do.
Unbeknownst to me, Brian had invited his brother and his wife over for fajitas and, because of a failed game of phone tag, there I was with a pan full of spring onions. Although I love fajita night, I really really wanted a poached egg, so I stuck to my guns (risking displeasing my surprise dinner guests, thus incurring the wrath of my inner Italian nonna). Because I’m the one cooking, and you’ll eat what I give you and you’ll like it. Okay, not really. But you will. Like it, I mean.
Not a fajita.
I’ve never used spring onions, but they look like ginormous scallions with bulbous ends so I treated them as such. I chopped the whites and light greens and tossed them into a big skillet with cremini mushrooms, olive oil and salt. The mix smelled heavenly, and stirring the enormous skillet of veggies was highly satisfying in that home-cookin’ kinda way.
While the veg slowly browned, I contemplated how I could bring the dish up the additional proverbial “notch”; things were looking entirely too wholesome for my taste. I decided to deglaze the pan with a little madiera and tossed in some creme fraiche to enrich things a little, relying on the warm poached egg yolk to bring everything together as one luscious sauce. A squirt of lemon juice brightened things and added a little welcome acid up front.
Not a pig’s ear…but close.
Foolproof notch-bringer-upper: pork. In a flash of inspiration, I crisped up a few slices of prosciutto to crumble over the top for some crunch and salt. Because apparently, I can not go one single meal without involving some kind of pork product. And if you think there’s something wrong with that, then I think there’s something wrong with YOU. Crispy prosciutto is like the delicate, consumptive younger sister of bacon, but in a good way.
I sacrificed my firstborn child to produce a good-looking poached egg. FOR YOU I do these things.
The finished dish was really. Fucking. Good. A layer of mushroom and onion saute, topped with a perfectly poached egg – hot but still nice and runny – with some crispy prosciutto shards propped against it and a pile of baby spinach dressed with a revelatory apple-cider based dressing we discovered during a past Smackdown. As I’d hoped, the egg yolk mixed with the madiera-and-creme coating on the vegetables and created a richly flavored and textured sauce. The prosciutto lent a welcome bit of texture and salt that cut through the unctuousness (unctuosity?) of the yolk. A tasty spinach salad is what it is (e.g., tasty. Also, made of spinach.)
I was hoping there might be some leftover mushroom mix to be incorporated into a future eggs en cocotte. Apparently, the brother- and sister-in-law did not mind my impromptu shelving of fajita night, because there are currently no more mushrooms or spring onions left in this apartment. Fajita night will return next week, lest the resulting anarchy cause the earth to spin clear off its axis.
Les frigging oignons de printemps avec des oeufs poches
serves 4
2 tbsp. olive oil
4-6 spring onions, slice on the bias
16 oz. mushrooms (I used cremini, you can use any mix you like), sliced
1/3 c. madiera (marsala would also be tasty)
2 tbsp. creme fraiche
Juice of 1/2 lemon (you could substitute vinegar for this if you like)
1 tbsp. white vinegar
4 large eggs, room temperature (8, if you’re a hungry bunch)
4 slices prosciutto (omit for a veggie version, but include some crusty bread for textural contrast)
Make the veg saute: Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and mushrooms and sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are wilted and fragrant and the mushrooms give up their liquid, about 10 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook for 5-7 more minutes, until the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are browned. Pour in the madiera and scrape up the mushroomy fond (brown bits) stuck to the bottom of the pan; cook for a minute or two until the wine is reduced to a glaze. Stir in the creme fraiche and lemon juice and adjust the salt to taste. Hold the veggies over low heat.
Poach the eggs: In a large, deep pot, heat 4-5 inches of water and the white vinegar to a rolling boil. While the water heats, crack the eggs into 4 small bowls. When the water hits a boil, turn the heat as low as it will go. Wait for the major bubbling to subside and slip the eggs in one at a time. Cover and cook for 3 minutes.
Fry the prosciutto: Heat a drop of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the prosciutto and fry for 1-2 minutes per side. Remove to a paper towel.
To plate, spread a layer of veg saute on a plate. Remove a poached egg from the pot with a slotted spoon and nestle it on top. Lean a few shards of proscuitto against the egg. Eat immediately; break into the egg and allow the yolk to permeate down into the veggies.
God I hate poached eggs. I wish I didn’t, but they just gross me out. I’d eat everything else, though.
truly eggcellent
my kinda food…
Nice looks like we both wanted some spinach onion and eggs as of lately =)
I am so impressed with your poached egg! I can never get mine to look that good.
Frigging-A! This recipe pushes all my buttons. Great story, and nice work dreaming up dinner!
oh, the poached-eggy goodness. i heart it. i hope poached eggs are the foodie trend this year, replacing stacks (which in my kitchen are called piles). heidi does them. cy does them. i ear them.
i will drive out of my way to go places that can perfectly poach an egg. and put it on a pile of freshly made corned beef hash. and have rye toast and butter on hand. and let me eat it.
ummmm, right, this isn’t my blog…
nice eggs.
I’d never have thought of that, but it looks good. My hens are laying 6 eggs a day now, so I might just give this try. I have eggs coming out of my ass!
geggie: i’ll allow it to be made with a fried egg, but just this once.
claudia: groan.
johnny: something about springtime, i guess!
christie: i wasn’t kidding about the selling-the-firstborn thing. this egg is the exception, not the rule.
angela: thanks! i live to button-push.
dan: i, at least, am willing to make poached eggs my foodie trend for spring 08. in fact, just as i declared that smoked paprika was the official spice of fall/winter 07-08, i declare the poached egg to be the official food trend of spring 2008. let it be known!
syd: that sounds painful, i’m sorry.
Mushrooms and onions are the best! The addition of madeira and creme fraiche sound wonderful too. I like to think great minds think alike since we both made a similar dish on the same day! Looking forward to reading about your latest Smackdown.
Looks tasty. I don’t know what it is about a poached egg, but it makes me want to eat it every time I look at one. This is beautiful.
amy @ We Are Never Full
with trends like that, even i can be a slave to fashion. poached eggs are the shit.
Looks like a perfect plate of food.
I’ve been cooking eggs in a water bath (sous vide, but without the vide) and by adjusting the temp you can get them to that perfect collapsing yet still holding together point where you wonder how you survived before being able to do this. And then you add the home-cured pork products.
Best part is, no children are sacrificed in the making of a perfect egg.
A poached egg is pretty much the closest thing one can get to oral sex in a foodstuffs whilst keeping one’s panties on.
There’s just nothing about Heather I don’t like.
shari: that happens a lot in the foodblogosphere, i find – i think about something, then suddenly 10 other people are making it. i guess it’s the zeitgeist. or something.
WANF: thanks!
louise: i would put forth that they are, in fact, the shiz-nit.
peter: truly, once i figured out how to churn out the perfect poached egg, there was no turning back.
heather: you wear panties while you poach eggs? there’s your problem right there.
peter: i don’t know, maybe the fact that she keeps her underpants on while poaching? i mean, come on – what is this, 1954?
Michelle – Thanks for your comment on my blog – since that’s how I found you blog (so glad I did too). You crack me up, woman! I love the style of your site and I’m looking forward to reading up on your previous posts too.
I think if you can poach an egg properly, life ain’t half bad. N’est-ce pas?
Hee! I love your writing style, and the fact that you swear like a sailor, like me. (Swearing like a canary? lmfao) This friggin spring onion delight looks like something that is going on my menu plan soon!
I like this one. I could dig this for an easy weeknight meal.
So let it commence: The Offical Food of Spring ‘08. Behold the poached egg!
Of course Mr. Sensitive Tummy will make me leave the prosciutto off of his. Wuss!
Love everything about this dish! A well poached egg is truly a thing of beauty. Crisping up the prosciutto was brilliant!
christine: i’m glad you dig it here!
canary: let me know how the recipe works out for you! (i tend to be a little fast and loose with my measurements)
rachel: way to jump on the poached egg bandwagon! also, re: leaving off the prosciutto: lame.
susan: thanks!
Poached eggs make the world go round, and they’ve been a mainstay for Mrs. Varmint and me for some time. Glad you’re on the bandwagon.
Now get yourself some duck eggs and try your dishes with those!
[...] time ago, I declared the official foodie trend of Spring 2008 to be the poached egg. Today was a lovely spring day – sunny, brisk, daffodils in bloom, Target setting up shop on the [...]
[...] down the stairs on a daily basis for no good reason, but I can poach the holy hell out of an egg. I’ve written about my method before, although I should reveal that I’ve left a critical step out of my instructions to prevent [...]
Oh, this looks so so yummy and the poached egg just adds another layer of fantastic yumminess! I have been practicing my poached egg skills for spinach salads of my own, but I am not up to your level yet!