Poached Egg with Bacon, Croutons and Tomato Tea

Poached egg with bacon, croutons and tomato tea

Ingredients

Tomato Tea
Vine ripen tomatoes and stems
Basil
Garlic (thick slice)
Wedge of red onion
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco (alternatively use chilli)
Salt

Ripe tomatoes
2 Eggs
Bread
Thyme (2 sprigs)
Bacon
Slice of lemon peel (without pith)
Garlic (thick slice)
Baby Celery leaves

To make the Tomato Tea:
Quarter tomatoes, removing the cores (which are bitter) and place into a food processor along with red onion, handful of basil leaves, garlic, splash of Worcestershire sauce, couple drops of Tabasco (or chilli) and salt. Puree in the blender.

Lay some muslin cloth over a bowl and place reserved tomato stalks (flavourer) on cloth and add tomato puree, straining the mixture until almost a clear liquid is left.

Finely dice (or slice) bacon and set aside.

Cut rectangle, thick chip sized croutons from bread.

Blanch tomatoes, then core and remove seeds and cut tomatoes into matchsticks.  Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt flakes.

In a non-stick pan, add a little olive oil and fry bacon with lemon peel and garlic until bacon is crisp.  Add a sprig of thyme towards the end of cooking the bacon (herbs should be added at the end of cooking rather than at the start so the aroma isn’t cooked out). Set bacon aside and keep warm.

Using the same frying pan, add more oil and fry croutons with another sprig of thyme.  When croutons are crisp and golden brown, drain, set aside and keep warm.

Bring a saucepan of water to the simmer.

Poach two eggs.
(Eggs can be poached using cling wrap method – cut a piece of cling wrap, rub with a little olive oil and place cling wrap over a small brulee bowl. Break an egg into the cling wrap. Then gather up the cling wrap, expel the air, twist the top of the plastic, knot it then push the knot down tightly towards the egg. This method produces a smooth and well presented egg.)

Place the cling wrapped eggs in the simmering water (just enough to cover the eggs) and cook for approximately 3-4 minutes.

Remove eggs from the saucepan and cut the plastic knot off and carefully peeled off the wrap, revealing the poached egg.

Assemble the poached egg salad in a pasta bowl, stacking the tomato matchsticks and croutons, then carefully place the poached egg on top and then pour in the tomato tea around the stack.

Sprinkle fried diced bacon over the dish and garnish with baby celery leaves.

My interpretation of the recipe as seen on MasterChef Australia on Ten

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