Mother's Day Brunch

Diane wanted poached eggs over hash browns. Emily wanted blintzes. I began with those ideas, but went for the variations. I have never poached eggs before, so started with some investigation. First, I found a set of general instructions with several options. I enjoyed Jenny Slafkotsky's video of traditional poaching, but b3ta's detailed experimental approach convinced me that I had to try the "saran wrap" approach.

In keeping with the poaching theme, I decided to thinly slice four medium red potatoes and one spring onion and poach them in a cup of cream. I cooked them a bit, then set out for the farmers' market where I picked up parsley, very fresh organic eggs, flowers (of course), and strawberries.

I use Emily Luchetti's blintz recipe, but my mascarpone cheese had spoiled, so Blintzes were out. However, the farmer's market had a guy selling crepes, and I know that Emily would be fine with them, so I made a half-recipe of the Google crepe batter and let that sit while I made the eggs.

Google Crepe Batter

1 1/4 cup milk

pinch salt

1 1/2 tsp. sugar

1 cup flour

1 tbs. melted butter

Whisk together first four ingedients, add the butter and whisk until combined. Strain if lumpy, but if you do a good job whisking you shouldn't need to. Let sit for 20-60 minutes.

I then turned back to the eggs. I first set two saucepans to simmer with about 3-inches of water. I then took a small bowl, pressed in a piece of cling film and carefully cracked an egg into the bowl, raised up the corners of the film, squeezed out most of the air, twisted the film, and secured it with a rubber band. Repeat eight time. I put the egg bags into the refrigerator on a plate to cool.

Then got out the truffle oil and finely chopped some parsley. Added salt and white pepper to the potato mixture and started it reheating. When the water reached 170-180 degrees, I set the flame low and placed four egg bags in each pot of water and covered the pots. After 2.5 minutes, the eggs seemed too watery, so I gave them an extra 30 seconds before removing with slotted spoon.

For plating, I stirred up the potato mixture, spooned a bunch onto a plate, sprinkled with grated asiago cheese and parsley, drizzled with truffle oil, and then cut the top off two egg bags and placed the poached eggs on top. (Since the eggs showed creases from the cling wrap, they looked better with the bottom, smooth side up.) I put out more salt and white pepper on the table and served them. Other than that they could have been slightly more watery, they were deemed by Diane, Emily, and Grandpa Herb to be perfect. Next time I might try other herbs as well; the fresh thyme and tarragon growing outside would also work well. Served with toast made with the best bread in the world, from Tartine.

After we cleared the plates, Emily sliced the strawberries while I heated our small nonstick saute pan, added a smidge of butter and made the crepes. After I flipped them over, I added a spoonful of Nutella and some strawberry bits, folded the sides in, and voila! A dusting of confectioner's sugar would have been a nice finisher, and maybe a sprig of mint. Yums all around.