Poached Egg on Potato Rosti with Parma wrapped Asparagus

Brunch to me is synonymous with poached eggs and lazy weekends. It’s all about the yolk slowly oozing out and covering everything on the plate with its yellow goodness. So when I went to make brunch last weekend, I knew there had to be at least one poached egg. But what else was I to put with it?

I had some leftover asparagus and remember seeing the Heston Blumenthal for Waitrose recipe cards of asparagus wrapped with smoked salmon served as soldiers for dippy egg.

And you know what? Asparagus make for the perfect soldiers as they carry the yolk well. I went down the same route wrapping some pencil asparagus with parma ham and then quick frying in a dry frying pan to get some crisp edges.

I next decided this dish needed carbs but I was out of bread, and I was far too lazy to get out of the house to go to Waitrose, so I made potato rosti’s and added a little chopped dill that I had lying around. I’ve never made these before so I am quite pleased how they turned out. I used a round pastry cutter to use as a ring to hold the rostis in place whilst I was frying them, but I didn’t really see the point of that as the rostis would fall apart as soon as I removed the ring. I also couldn’t figure out how to get the sides cooked any ideas?

The resulting dish was exactly what I needed that morning, soldiers to dip in my yolk and a rosti to mop up the mess. This dish is light, yet filling and immensely satisfying and indulgent. Vegetarians need not shy away; you can add cheese to the mix instead of the parma ham for a similar salty edge. I would tie the asparagus with a string and then shave some parmasaen over the warmed asparagus.

Ingredients
2 medium Potatoes, washed and peeled
2 fresh Eggs,
bunch of Asparagus, washed and trimmed
4 slices Parma ham
1 small Onion or Shallot, finely sliced
small bunch of Dill, finely chopped
Vinegar
knob of Butter
Salt & Pepper
Cooking Oil

Recipe
Start by boiling a pan with water. Once the water is boiling, drop the potatoes in and let them cook for 7-10 minutes. They need to start to soften yet still be pretty firm. If you have a steamer, fit that over your boiling water so you can steam the asparagus at the same time. When the potatoes are ready, drain the water or reserve it by putting it back on the heat to poach the eggs in. Let the potatoes cool a bit until you can handle them. Toss the asparagus in a bit of butter and seasons with salt and pepper. Put to one side.

When the potatoes are cool, use the thick side of a box grater to grate them. Mix the grated potatoes with the shallots and the chopped dill. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan and place a buttered, round pastry cutter in the centre. Drop a small bit of oil in your pastry cutter, then spoon your potato, dill and onion mixture inside. Fill the mixture to the top, pressing down as you go along to compact it all together.

Fry on a low/medium heat for about 4 minutes until the bottom starts to turn brown. Remove the cutter, and flip the rosti over to fry for a further 4 minutes on the other side. This method works well if you have multiple pastry cutters that are the same size and large frying pan so you can do 2-3 on the go. If you’re like me with only one pastry cutter, then you can remove the cutter earlier, about 2 minutes in but you might need to play around with the rosti’s to stop them spreading round the rest of the frying pan.

For the asparagus, take a slice of parma ham and wrap them round a bunch of 3-4 aspargus. In a separate frying pan, flash fry them for a couple of minutes to get the edges crispy.

When you’re frying the last rosti, add a dash of vinegar to the boiling water and then drop your raw eggs into the water. Cook the eggs for 4 minutes and then remove with a slotted spoon. Drain the eggs on kitchen towel then assemble your dish by placing your rosti first with your poached egg on top and then your asparagus on the sides. Grind pepper and sprinkle rock salt over the egg. Enjoy.