French · Starter
Oeufs en Meurette
Burgundy's great egg dish — poached eggs in a glossy red-wine reduction that tastes like a bœuf bourguignon distilled
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- Eggs, very fresh — 4 (plus 2 spare)
- Red Burgundy (or Pinot Noir) — 500 ml
- Brown chicken stock — 300 ml
- Smoked bacon lardons — 120 g
- Button mushrooms, quartered — 150 g
- Pearl onions, peeled — 120 g
- Unsalted butter — 60 g
- Plain flour — 10 g
- Sugar — 3 g
- White wine vinegar (for poaching) — 30 ml
- Sourdough, sliced — 4 slices (120 g)
- Garlic clove — 1
- Fine salt — 5 g
- Black pepper — 1 g
Method
- Reduce wine by two-thirds with the stock in a saucepan (to about 300 ml total).
- Brown lardons in a dry pan; remove. Glaze pearl onions with 20 g butter, sugar and 50 ml water, 10 min; add mushrooms, sauté 4 min.
- Knead 10 g butter with the flour (beurre manié); whisk into the simmering reduction until it coats a spoon. Season.
- Return lardons, onions and mushrooms to the sauce; keep at 80 °C.
- Poach eggs 3 min in barely simmering water with vinegar; drain on cloth.
- Rub toasted sourdough with garlic and butter it.
- Set each egg on a crouton, spoon the meurette generously over.