FLOWER POT KITCHEN: MUSTARD HOLLANDAISE POACHED EGGS WITH BUBBLE AND SQUEEK

16 Sept 2020

MUSTARD HOLLANDAISE POACHED EGGS WITH BUBBLE AND SQUEEK

One of my family’s most favourite breakfast brunches, crispy roasted goose fat potatoes topped with a poached or fried egg and served on top of some garlic butter sautéed garden greens. This is a deconstructed take on my childhood bubble and squeek, which I still love, leftover roast potatoes, sometimes mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts pan seared with a crispy crust.

Ingredients

(serves 4)

Bubble n Squeek

1 kg King Edward potatoes peeled and halved

3 tbsp goose fat or schmaltz

500g kale or chard

2 cloves garlic sliced

50g butter

Himalayan sea salt

White pepper

Perfect Poached Eggs

4 eggs cracked into individual ramekins

30ml apple cider vinegar

Himalayan sea salt

Mustard Hollandaise Sauce
2 egg yolks

150 - 200g melted butter

1/2 lemon juiced

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Himalayan sea salt

White pepper

Pre heat your oven to 200 C / 392 F. Place the peeled potatoes in a pan of simmering water and part boil the potatoes until just fork tender, (10 minutes), drain, season with salt and leave to steam dry for 5 minutes. Place your roasting tray in the oven with the chicken or goose fat for 3 minutes, then add the potatoes, toss to coat in the hot fat. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes turning once half way through until golden and crispy all over.

Ten minutes before the potatoes are ready:

Bring a large deep pan of water to a gentle simmer ready for the poached eggs.

At the same time heat a skillet pan medium add the garlic, butter and kale, sauté for two minutes, meanwhile...

To the simmering water for the poached eggs add the apple cider vinegar and mix to combine. Gently slip in two of the eggs individually a minute apart folding the egg over as it leaves the ramekin and cook for around three minutes until soft but formed. Remove from the pan and repeat with the final two eggs.

Hollandaise

Now...I make this in a bowl situated on top of the simmering poached egg pan, using this as my Baine Marie or double boiler. Place the egg yolks in the bowl with the lemon juice, start whisking and do not stop, once the egg yolks are thick and creamy start adding the butter 20-30ml at a time until you have a velvety rich sauce, mix in the mustard, season to taste and serve immediately over the poached eggs, on top of the garlic butter kale and crispy roast potatoes.

The Perfect Poached Egg

The Secret is in the Method

I have tried so many times to make the prefect poached egg, I whisked the vinegar water, cracked in the egg and more than often ended up with an egg white octopus and seperate yolk! After watching a cooking program I saw that I was not using a bowl to slip the egg in the simmering water, I was cracking the egg in directly, turns out that is the secret! by pouring the egg in to the simmering vortex of water from a bowl your guaranteed a successful beautiful presentable poached egg...so simple when you know how.

Prep Time 5 minutes / Cooking Time 3-5 minutes

Ingredients

(one egg)

1 fresh egg cracked into a bowl

1 deep pan of simmering water

50 ml white wine vinegar

Bring the pan of water to a gentle simmer, add the vinegar and gently whisk to create a vortex in the centre and then pour in the egg from the bowl, the egg will swirl around gently with the vortex allowing the egg white to swirl around the yolk to create a perfect poached egg. Cook gently for around 3-5 minutes depending on how runny you like your yolk,

You can check the egg by removing with a slotted spoon and gently prodding to see how wobbly the egg is, the firmer the bounce back the more cooked the egg is. Remember the poached egg will continue to cook for a minute once it is taken from the water and served.

Get Ahead Eggs

You can poach your eggs ahead of time, once cooked, plunge the poached eggs in to a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process, when your ready to serve gently place the eggs back into a pan of just simmering water for one minute to warm back through.

That's it Perfect...

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.