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| My rendition: potatoes, spinach, Arzak egg, grated bottarga |
Bar Tiramat opened recently near us: a great place for imaginative, well-crafted food, and good wine. They had an unusual dish: Huevo con Kimchi y Bottarga 6€; it's a beautiful presentation with a poached egg on top of bright red kimchi, topped with grated dry fish egg. I like how the salty bottarga went with the egg, but didn't think the kimchi was a great marriage. I wanted to do a riff on it.
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| Bar Tiramat's kimchi, egg, bottarga |
In Catalunya, trinxat is quite popular -- a mash of potatoes and cabbage. Eggs go with potatoes, and Eggs Benedict adds spinach, so that will be my base. Tiramat poached their egg, but here I used chef Arzak's technique -- wrapping in plastic and simmering gently to maintain form. We have bottarga from the Mercat de Sant Antoni, and sometimes make an intense pasta cream sauce with it.
I made up the recipe, since it was composed of individual parts that are all pretty simple.
Defrost frozen chopped Spinach, squeeze to remove excess water. Warm in a pot or pan with a bit of Butter or Cream; grate a bit of Nutmeg if you want to suggest creamed spinach.
Prep the Arzak Eggs: take a 25x25cm sheet of cling film and press the center into a small ramekin or bowl. Spread with Olive Oil. Break an egg into the center, without breaking the yolk. Dust with salt and pepper, and add a bit more Oil. Bring the corners of the film together and squeeze to remove the air, then twist to seal, and hold closed with clothes pegs.
Slice unpeeled potatoes about 1cm so they'll boil quickly and evenly; start them boiling. During the last 6 minutes of the boil, or a bit more, drop the temperature to a very gentle boil and add the Arzak Eggs. Cook 6 minutes then remove to prevent over-cooking and setting the yolks. Check the potatoes, and cook until a fork pierces without too much resistance. Drain the potatoes, add a bit of Cream or Butter to the still hot pot, and rice the potatoes into the pot; combine with a spatula, and adjust Cream and Salt.
Put ring molds on plates and scoop the mashed potatoes into each, tamping down when about half full; if you don't have a lot of Spinach, add more potatoes. Top with the Spinach, and smooth down, creating a slight well at the top. Remove the ring molds. Unwrap each Arzak Egg and add on top of the Spinach. Grate the Bottarga on top, strewing it attractively on the plate. Serve.
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| Also called "flower eggs" due the shape of the top |
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| Break the yolk, it should be quite runny |
How was it? Changes for next time...
The ring mold gave it a nice shape, and the egg texture was good.
The grated bottarga was soft, almost waxy when grated; perhaps we could plane off thin strips instead. I'd like to find a much harder, parmesan-like texture and grate finer. We could switch to mojama, the dried salted tuna which is quite hard.
It needed some texture, something crunchy -- which at Tiramat was hinted at by the kimchi. Perhaps add crunchy fried onions (Ikea sells them by the pillow case!) or toasted seeds/nuts (perhaps pine nuts or pistachios).
