← Nouns Cooking · French

Ingredients

• 100 g smoked lardons
• 20 g Butter
• 2 Shallot, finely chopped
• 150 g button mushrooms, quartered
• 1 clove Garlic, crushed
• 500 ml red Burgundy or Pinot Noir
• 250 ml beef or chicken stock
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 1 Bay leaves
• 1 tbsp butter mashed with 1 tbsp flour (beurre manié)
• 1 tbsp Plain (all-purpose) flour
• 4 very fresh eggs
• 1 tbsp white vinegar, for poaching
• 4 slices slices of baguette or country bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic
• salt and black pepper

Method

1. Fry the lardons in the butter over medium heat for 5 min until golden, then add the shallots, mushrooms and garlic and cook for 5 min more. Scoop everything out and set aside.
2. Pour the wine and stock into the pan with the thyme and bay. Boil for 20 min until reduced by about half.
3. Whisk in the butter-flour paste a little at a time and simmer for 3 min until the sauce is glossy and lightly thick. Return the bacon and mushrooms, season and keep warm.
4. Bring a pan of water to a gentle simmer with the vinegar. Crack each egg into a cup, swirl the water and slide it in. Poach for 3 min until the whites are set and the yolks still soft. Lift out with a slotted spoon.
5. Put a garlic toast in each shallow bowl, top with an egg and spoon the hot wine sauce over.

Tips

• Traditionally the eggs are poached in the wine itself; poaching in water keeps them pale and pretty.
• Soft yolks are not recommended for pregnant women or the very young; poach them a minute longer for a firmer set.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food Serious Eats