Poached Eggs with Red Wine Sauce

By corlear

Oeufs en Meurette

This is one of my favorite Sunday night suppers. It's a great dish to have in your repertoire when the cupboard is rather bare, that is, limited to eggs, wine, bread, and a few staple vegetables. It can be served as a first course or main course, depending on your appetite.

Traditionally, the wine sauce is blended with a rich dark brown sauce, but I prefer this purer, simpler version, with its deep red wine color. I also like adding fresh herbs to the sauce as the wine reduces, giving the sauce a bit more personality in the end. Be sure to use a good sturdy red wine.

"La Meurette ... it’s a sauce. It consists of placing in a casserole red vin de pays, carrots, garlic, leeks, salt, pepper, and ... a cube of sugar. As soon as it boils, turn down the heat and let it ‘frissoner’ for a quarter of an hour. Pass this sauce through a fine-mesh sieve and pour it over fish that you have flamed with a glass of eau-de-vie de marc."
--Maurice Guéġan, Chronique Gastonomique, Revue des Usagers de la Rouse, 1928

Ingredients

• 1 carrot, peeled and cubed
• 2 shallots, minced
• 2 imported bay leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary or tarragon
• 2 cups (500 ml) full-bodied red wine, such as a Côtes-du-Rhône, Cahon, or Madiran
• 8 slices French bread or any good homemade bread, cut into ½-inch (1.5 cm) thick slices, crusts removed cut into even 3-inch (7.5 cm) rounds with a biscuit cutter
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
• 1 tablespoon (½ ounce; 15 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons distilled vinegar
• 8 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

1. In a medium-size nonreactive saucepan, combine the carrot, shallots, bay leaves, minced garlic, rosemary, and wine over high heat. Boil until reduced by half; about 10 minutes. Strain the wine; discard the vegetables and herbs. (This step may be done well in advance and the wine refrigerated.)

2. Preheat the broiler.

3. Toast the bread on both sides until golden brown. Remove from the oven and immediately rub on both sides with a cut garlic clove.

4. Complete the red wine sauce: On a plate, mash the butter and flour together to form a well-blended paste (beurre manié). In a small nonreactive saucepan, bring the reduced wine to a simmer. Carefully whisk in the butter and flour paste, a little at a time, until the sauce is lightly thickened and glossy. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

5. In 2 shallow 10-inch (25.5 cm) pans, bring 3 inches (7.5 cm) of water and 1 tablespoon of vinegar to a boil. Turn off the heat and immediately break 4 eggs directly into the water in each pan, carefully opening the shells close to the water’s surface, so the eggs slip into the water in one piece. Immediately cover the pans with tight-fitting lids to retain the heat. Do not disturb the pans. Allow the eggs to cook for 3 minutes before lifting the lids. The eggs are ready when the whites are opaque and the yolks are covered with a thin, translucent layer of white.

6. While the eggs cook, place 2 toasts (croutons) on each of 4 warmed plates. Using a flat, slotted spoon, carefully lift the eggs from the water and place on top of the croutons. Spoon the wine sauce all around, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately, with additional toasted bread, if desired.