Sauteed Mushrooms, Toasted Sour Dough, Poached Eggs and Hollandaise Sauce

I think that breakfast can be the most enjoyable meal of the day.

There is nothing better than waking up on an “early-ish” Sunday morning, going to the farmers market and shopping for fresh ingredients like fresh mushrooms, freshly baked bread, eggs fresh from the farm and herbs straight from the farm garden. It’s a peaceful start to a day, no rushing about and you can really enjoy these wonderful stress free moments and for me, to enjoy that part of the day is rare because it is usually the busiest time of my normal day. You can really let your mind wonder and relax.

I have been asked to show people so many different recipes but none has fascinated people more than the old poached egg. That one request continually amazes me. Even when I cook breakfast at work, people are always amazed at how we can cook a perfectly poached egg. I guess it is because we have done it a million times and we forget that we did find it all a bit of a mystery once upon a time.

One secret to the perfectly poached egg is the egg itself. It must be fresh so that it can cook in the perfect round and egg like shape as opposed to the whispy broken and flattened egg that non-fresh eggs give out.

The second thing is the pot. Use a pot with long sides and deep. This allows the egg to drop at a distance so by the time it hits the bottom, the outside would set slightly, helping form that perfect round shape.

The third and most important is the temperature of the water. It mustn’t be too hot or it will break up the egg too much and it mustn’t be too cool or it will sink to the bottom too quickly and stick to the bottom of the pot. The bubbles from a prefectly heated pot of water help it form the round shape by forcing the heated water and bubbles up and around the egg and it also helps it by not allowing it to sink and stick to the bottom of the pot. Too hot and it will break up the egg but the right temperature keeps it buoyant, preventing it from ever touching the bottom, sticking and over cooking.

The vinegar is there to also help set the egg. The acid makes the protein harden.

Photo by Jun Pang

Sautéed Mushroom on Grilled Sour Dough with Hollandaise Sauce

Serve 4

For the Hollandaise

4 Cloves of garlic

1Tspn Black Peppercorns

1 Bay Leaf

2 Cups White Wine

3 Eggs Yolks

500gr Butter – melted over a double boiler

Sea Salt – to taste

Ground White Pepper – to taste

For the Mushrooms

2tspn Vegetable Oil

100gr Butter

100gr Shitake Mushrooms – finely sliced

150gr Shimeji Mushrooms – stalk removed and individually picked

100gr Oyster Mushrooms – ripped into this strips

200gr Button Mushrooms – finely sliced

1 Bunch Parsley – finely chopped

Sea Salt

Ground White Pepper

Poached Eggs

2 Liters Water

¼ Cup Vinegar

8 Fresh eggs

1 Loaf Sour Dough Bread – cut on angle, 4 pieces 2cm thick

Olive Oil

Method

For the Hollandaise

1. Place the garlic, black peppercorns, bay leaf and white wine into a small pot and reduce to a third and set aside to cool
2. Put the 2 Liters of water you are to use for the poached eggs on simmer and place a mixing bowl large enough to cover it on top, acting as a double boiler
3. Place the egg yolks and wine reduction in the bowl and whisk vigorously until fluffy (this is fluffy egg mixture is called a sabayon). Make sure to not allow any of the egg to sit too long on the sides and to incorporate all the eggs mixture into the bowl. Do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water at any point in time
4. Once really light and fluffy, slowly “stream” the clarified butter into the sabayon whilst vigorously whisking, incorporating all the mixture back into the centre of the bowl as often as possible
5. Do not get any of the butter fat into the hollandaise, just the clear, golden butter mixture. If the mixture gets too messy, take off the pot and stir through so as not to over cook
6. Once the clarified butter is mixed through and resembles the thickness of a light mayonnaise, set aside

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For the Mushrooms

1. Heat up a large frying pan on high heat for 1 minute
2. Add the oil then the butter to melt through
3. Add all the mushrooms and sauté until slightly browned and soft
4. Add the chopped parsley off the heat
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside briefly

For the Poached Eggs

1. Bring the water back to a slight simmer, if you have a thermometer, about 85ºC, “rolling” simmer and not breaking the surface of the water
2. Add the vinegar and allow to mix through for about 1 minute
3. Slowly crack your eggs into the pot, the bubbles of the “rolling” simmer will avoid the eggs from sinking to the bottom and sticking and it will also envelope the outside of the egg around the entire egg, forming a harden/cooked egg white around the outside and soft on the inside
4. Allow to cook out for about 1-2 minutes and scoop out with a slotted spoon and onto paper towels to drain

To Finish

1. Oil the sliced bread and grill or pan fry until golden brown and crunchy
2. Place the mushrooms evenly on all four slices of bread
3. Place two poached eggs on top of each serve
4. Scoop hollandaise on top

Photo by Jun Pang