Eggs Pomodoro

...Or 10 steps to the culinary mastery of poaching an egg.

I had never poached an egg before, at least not in water. I use to call eggs that I microwaved a certain way poached, but after poaching eggs and eating them, those were definitely just microwaved eggs. So I decided it was time to change this and level up in my culinary skills. I am not sure how many of you have watched Julie & Julia, a movie I was very surprised that I highly enjoyed, but there is a scene where one of the main characters attempts to poach eggs. I had heard it was difficult to poach eggs and this scene reinforced that fear. From an episode of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Anne Burrell, I learned that you need to add a bit of vinegar to the water. Julia Child from Julie & Julia says you need very fresh eggs. Finally, Whitney Miller, the winner of Masterchef US, used a technique on the show where you swirl the water before you drop the egg in to be poached. With all of these tips, I set to work poaching eggs for the first time.

I originally wanted to do an Eggs Benedict,
but decided that as delicious as hollandaise sauce is it is equally heart-stopping. Instead I chose to create my own recipe featuring a poached egg that was a bit healthier. Pomodoro is Italian for tomato, so this recipe is sliced sourdough toast, topped with a roasted tomato slice and a poached egg.

Eggs Pomodoro

Prep Time 10 min : Cook Time 20 min : Servings 3

Ingredients

1 large tomato
6 eggs¹
1 loaf of sourdough²
1 Tablespoon vinegar
olive oil
fresh course ground pepper
salt, to taste and 1/2 teaspoon
basil, fresh or dried

Roasting the Tomatoes

1. Slice the tomato into nice thick pieces, you want at least 6 slices.
2. Place the slices on a foil lined baking sheet.

Tip: I much prefer fresh herbs, but they aren't always available or practical. When you use dried herbs, remember to rub them in between your fingers before adding them to the recipe. You will smell their wonderful aroma, this shows that you are releasing the last bits of their oils locked inside and increasing their flavor.

Drizzle the olive oil over the tomato slices and sprinkle with pepper, salt and basil to your liking. Should be about one teaspoon each to the precision chefs.
3. Place the baking sheet in the broiler set to high. It will ultimately depend on your tomatoes and your broiler as to how long they will take to cook. You want them to have that great crinkled skin that tomatoes get from being in the oven. It should be about 10 minutes, but make sure you keep an eye on them.

Poaching the Eggs

4. Fill a small saucepan with 2-4 inches of water, bring to a rolling boil.
5. Reduce heat until the water is barely simmering, add vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Don't skip this step as the vinegar helps to keep the egg together!
6. Now into a small bowl crack one egg. While holding the bowl in one hand, probably the non-dominant one, swirl the water with a whisk or spoon in the other hand. You want the water to look like a little whirlpool for something small like mice. When the water is vigorously swirling, quickly remove your swirling apparatus and place the lip of the bowl as close to the surface of the water as possible. With one motion slide the egg into the center of the whirlpool. The motion of the swirling water holds the egg whites together and prevents you from having to try to push them close to the egg yolk. Unfortunately with this method you can only cook one egg at a time, but it is well worth it as the other method is a bit more finicky.³
7. Allow egg to simmer until egg whites are "set", about 3 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon⁴. Repeat until all eggs are poached.

Assembly of Deliciousness

8. Slice your sourdough loaf into decent pieces. If your loaf is wide, as mine was, cut the pieces in half. Toast to desired darkness.
9. Place a perfectly toasted slice of sourdough on your plate. Top with a supremely roasted slice of tomato. Then crown with a creamy poached egg. I love ground pepper so I put just another short grind on there to finish off the flavors.

10. Behold the dish you have created with beautiful technique! And, of course, dig into the scrumptious meal.



Notes:
1 I used local eggs from Nu Way Farm.
2 I had Allegro Hearth's Left Coast Sourdough, deliciously tangy!
3 This isn't as difficult as it sounds. Also, if you mess up and have something resembling egg drop soup, throw out the water and start again. Poaching eggs just takes a bit of practice, by the 3rd or 4th egg I was much more comfortable. The best thing to remember is don't be too tentative, be confident: simmer, swirl, drop.
4 I have a gas oven and the broiler is on the bottom. While the tomatoes were cooking the oven was warm, so I used it to keep the finished eggs warm.