Eggs meurette

La Côte d'Or : a very colourful region of Burgundy, with seemingly everlasting vineyards and glazed rooftops, is beautiful to visit at this time of year, just after the grape harvest. A good chance to stock up with some fine wines... I first discovered this region around 15 years ago staying in a small hotel in Saulieu, directly opposite the famous restaurant of Bernard Loiseau.

We were dazzled by the quality of the local produce, cheeses such as Epoisse and Chaource, the speciality blackcurrant syrops, and the traditional dishes. This is a very typical example, les oeufs en meurette. I thought about trying Bernard Loiseau's own recipe, but it does involve setting light to around 1 litre of wine, and I retain a bad memory of this once as I nearly burnt down the kitchen. So, I just kept his idea for the addition of carrot purée in the sauce...

Preparation : 15 minutes

Cooking : 45 minutes

Ingredients for 6

6 large fresh eggs

3 slices of white bread

70 gr butter

2 tbsp oil

2 chopped onions

2 peeled and chopped carrots

2 pressed garlic gloves

1 bottle of red burgundy (Passetoutgrain)

1 herbal bouquet (thyme, laurel, parsley)

100 gr diced bacon

2 cloves

Salt, pepper

• Melt 50gr of butter slowly in a bain-marie, and remove the white foam that forms as the butter gets hot with a spoon. This clarified butter will not turn brown when it cooks. See this link for pictures Chef Simon pour les images.
• Fry the 2 chopped onions using the clarified butter.
• Pour in the bottle of red wine, and season with pepper.
• Add the pressed garlic, the herb bouquet and the 2 cloves. Cover, and leave to reduce for around 45 minutes.
• Cook the carrots in boiling salted water for 8 minutes. Then press them into a purée, and add them into the sauce.
• If the sauce tastes a little too acidic, add in one lump of sugar.

• Croûtons : Trim the crusts, fry the bread slices in a little oil or clarified butter on a low heat, and then cut each slice into two triangles.
• Rub the fried bread with the inside of a fresh garlic glove chopped in two if you want to heighten the garlic flavour.
• Place the fried bread in a deep plate or soup dish ready for serving.

• Poach the eggs in the wine sauce at the end of its cooking time : break the eggs one by one into a ladel, plunge into the hot sauce, and remove immediately from the heat.
• Cover, and leave the eggs to poach for 3 minutes.
• Remove the eggs with a perforated spoon and dry using absorbant paper.
• Trim the egg white to form a regular shape.
• Place the eggs on top of the fried bread slices.
• Keep warm on the open oven door.
• You can choose to strain the sauce (but I prefer to keep the onions).
• You can also add 100gr of diced bacon, boiled for 5 minutes in water and then browned in a frying pan with butter, to the sauce.
• Finally, melt 20gr of butter into the sauce, and then reduce on a low heat.

Pour the hot sauce over the eggs, and serve immediately.