simple salad with parmesan wafers & poached egg

Friday. Pilates. A cold glass of white wine. Salad. A poached egg. Basia Bulat. Followed by an orange. Perfection.

simple salad with parmesan wafers & poached egg
adapted from Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone
Serves 4

A few notes. I poached one egg and put the rest of my salad dressing in a jar for later. If you’re afraid to poach eggs refer to this post from smitten kitchen before you begin.

The recipe also calls for two yolks in the dressing. I didn’t do this because I was raised to be uncomfortable by raw egg. If you’re not, add it to the dressing in the first step with the garlic and mustard.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 large garlic clove
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup oil (Curtis recommends grapeseed, I used olive)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 large eggs
8 cups of salad greens (Curtis recommends romaine, butter lettuce and parsley. I used spinach and mixed baby greens)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Combine mustard and garlic in a blender/food processor/immersion blender until garlic is minced. Blend in 1/3 cup of vinegar, followed by Parmesan cheese. With the machine running, slowly add the oil in a thin, constant stream until the dressing is nice and creamy. Season the dressing with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from blender and set aside.

2. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese over the paper, forming a thin rectangle. Bake for about 7 minutes, or until the cheese is lacy and golden. Remove and cool completely. Break the Parmesan wafer into large pieces.

3. Poach your eggs in your preferred method or like this: bring a large skillet of water and the remaining 2 tablespoons of vinegar to a simmer over high heat, you want the bottom and sides of the pan to be covered in bubbles. Crack each egg into a separate small bowl. When the bubbles begin to break the surface of the water, gently/slowly pour each egg into the pan. Be sure to leave room between each egg.

4. Cook eggs, undisturbed until white is just set and yolk is still runny, about 3 to 4 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to release eggs from the bottom of the pan if necessary. Use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs from the water and spoon on to a paper towel to remove excess water.

5. Toss the greens in a large bowl with enough dressing to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Divide salad among serving bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan wafers. Top each salad with a poached egg. Sprinkle with black pepper and marvel at the sheer beauty of a single poached egg.