eggs poached in red wine sauce

· ·
Eggs poached in red wine

This is a classic Ouefs en Meurette recipe and is quite possibly the most delicious way to eat a poached egg.

I first heard of this dish via a friend on Twitter and was instantly intrigued. To say I am mildly obsessed with poached eggs would be an understatement. Poaching them in a rich red wine sauce with bacon and beautiful aromatics takes the whole experience to another level.

I had the opportunity to taste this dish which was beautifully prepared at The Red Leaf restaurant on Beyerskloof Wine Estate in Stellenbosch recently. We did a three vintage vertical tasting of their Diesel Pinotage, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and listening to wine maker Beyers Truter talk about the subtle nuances in the wine brought about by climate variances from year to year was inspiring. This is a man that produces wine in the vineyard and is completely connected to the relationship mother nature plays in the process. From the temperature at specific times of the grapes life, to the amount of wind and level of rain, these all have a dramatic effect on the finished product.

No wonder his Pinotage is legendary.

The lunch was a sumptuous and delectable feast of comforting French fare, including the eggs poached in Pinotage, Coq au Vin, a leek vinaigrette and selection of home made bread to soak up any left over juices. I cant wait to go back and try the Pinotage burger enjoyed against stunning vineyard and mountain vistas.

This is quite a ‘cheffy’ dish to make, but so well worth every minute of the effort to do, and the perfect opportunity to practice poaching eggs. Just follow this short and informative video on how to poach an egg on the Woolworths Pantry website.  Simply make the whirlpool in the red wine sauce and 3 – 4 minutes later you will feel like  a masterchef.

Like with all things in cooking, what you put in is what you get out. Make it using using this lovely wine, it is integral to the dish.

Ouefs en Meurette: Poached eggs in Beyerskloof Pinotage wine sauce

Serves 8 for a starter or 4 for a brunch, lunch or light supper

  • 750ml (3 cups) Beyerskloof Pinotage
  • 500ml (2 cups) Beef stock
  • 8 large free range eggs – as fresh as possible
  • 1 onion – thinly sliced
  • 1 carrot – thinly sliced
  • 1 stalk celery – sliced
  • 1 garlic clove crushed
  • 1 bouquet garni
  • 1/2 t pepper corns

Croûtes / toasts:

Use 8 slices of bread ( I like sourdough) cut into rounds. Fry these in 30ml of sunflower oil and 30g butter or what I did, and fried them in the leftover pan fat after frying the bacon, onions and mushrooms.Rub finished croûtes / toasts with a cut fresh clove of garlic.

Garnish:

  • 30g Butter
  • 170g Button mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
  • 170g Bacon, cut into lardons
  • 330g pearl onion – cleaned, left whole

Bring the wine and beef stock to the boil and poach the eggs for 3 – 4 minutes. Set aside and refrigerate if you are using later. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, pepper corns and bouquet garni to the red wine and stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain and reduce this to sauce consistency.

Fry onion, mushroom and bacon in a pan with butter until cooked add to sauce and simmer for 20 minutes.

Place the eggs into boiling water water with a slotted spoon one at a time to warm through for one minute only.Place an egg on top of croûte and add the sauce and garnish.

To make a bouquet garni, simply tie a selection of herbs on the stalk together with string. For this dish I used parsley, rosemary and thyme.

 

 

For all the pictures of this lunch at Beyerskloof, visit my Facebook page.

SaveSave

10 Comments

  1. Good lawd, this brought tears to my eyes, looks heavenly! I freakin love poached eggs

  2. O my word, Sam!! You are cooking the most delicious things lately! I love poaced eggs and this sounds heavenly! Where did you find the beautiful plate?

  3. Thanks Zirkie, seriously the most stunning recipe for poached eggs. I’m a changed women.

  4. Hi – please can you remove my recipe and image from your site – you have stolen my content. thank you

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *