Poached Eggs In Wine Sauce At Balthazar

Found this on an interesting blog www.frombatoparis.com - thank you Cristina

On the menu at Balthazar in Soho New York City

For these Eggs Meurette (serves 2) you will need:

* fresh eggs, 2
* Burgundy wine ( or similar), 90 ml
* bacon slices, 4
* butter, 35gr
* vinegar, 1 teaspoon
* red onions, 2
* brown sugar, 2 teaspoons
* slices of bread, 2
* fresh greens,

(for the “beurre manié“)
* butter, 1 teaspoon
* flour, 1 teaspoon

For the red wine sauce: combine using a fork, one teaspoon of soft butter (room temperature), with one teaspoon of flour. Knead it into a ball. Refrigerate (this is called “beurre manié” (Once you are at it, you can make more “balls” of beurre manié, keeping them in the freezer for other sauces that you will make in the future; remember the proportion flour, butter is always 50/50). Put the wine in a saucepan, let it boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer till reduced to a third (it should have a syrup consistence). Add the beurrie manie. Whisk until well dissolved, and the sauce coats a wooden spoon.

Put the slices of bacon on the grill rack of your oven ( 110°C) Cook until crispy. At the same time, you can toast the slices of bread ( I used Poilâne here)

For the caramelized onions: slice the onions thinly. Melt the butter. Sauté the onions in it. Add the sugar. Then reduce the heat, and let the onions caramelize for 25′ aprox.

For the poached eggs: put water in two saucepans. Take them to a boil and then, reduce the heat to medium. Add one teaspoon of vinegar to the water in one saucepan. Break the egg in a little bowl. Swirl the water with the vinegar using a spoon, place the egg in the central hollow that is formed. Cook the egg for 3′. Then with a slotted spoon, remove it from this water, and rinse it in the water of the other saucepan. Drain it on paper towels. Trim off the stringy edges, if necessary, using a small knife.

Put the slice of toasted bread on a dish, accomodate one dollop of caramelised onions on it, then the poached egg. Serve with greens. Place the two slices of bacon on the greens. Spoon the sauce over the egg.