Autumn brings cravings for earthy, warming and rich dishes. With mushrooms in season, I've decided to start my Saturday morning with this popular brunch dish.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 15min prep, 45min cooking time
Serve: 2
Ingredients
Mushroom Ragu
- 450g mixed mushrooms sliced*
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 2 tbsp kombu dashi**
- 1/4 cup of dry white wine
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- olive oil and butter
- salt***
- pepper
Truffle Polenta
- 1/3 cup polenta
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/3 cup liquid from rehydrating the dried mushrooms
- 1 bay leaf
- truffle salt
- pepper
- handful of parmesan
- 5 tbsp butter
63 Degree Eggs
- 2 good quality free range eggs
* I used 375g of portobello mushrooms, 50g of button mushrooms, 15g of dried shimeji mushrooms rehydrated and 10g of dried mutsutake mushrooms rehydrated. Mutsutake mushroom is one of my all time favourite mushrooms that adds a rich, aromatic and earthy fragrance to the dish. Dried mushroom can be rehydrated by soaking them in hot water for 10-15min.
** Kombu dashi is a stock made from sea kelp available from most Japanese grocery shops. It adds an extra dimension to the flavour mix and works very well in this dish. You can skip it however if not available.
*** I've used truffle salt that I have in my pantry for extra aroma. You can also use truffle oil.
Method
1. Start the eggs with a sous vide stick, set at 63.5 degrees and cook for 45min. If you don't have sous vide stick, you can also replace it with poached eggs but perhaps cooked it a bit later so everything is ready at the same time.
2. Bring the stock, milk, bay leaf, salt and pepper to boil in a pot. Slowly whisk in polenta until fully mixed. Reduce to low heat and let it simmer over 45min, check and stir occasionally and add more liquid (mushroom stock) if required for a smooth consistency.
3. Start cooking the mushroom 15min before the polenta is ready. Add oil and butter to the cooking pan, add garlic, shallot, salt and pepper and cook until softened. Add rehydrated mushrooms and cook for few minutes until fragrant, then add the residual fresh mushrooms, rosemary, thyme and cook until it's well coated by oil and starting to brown. Add the white wine, and more butter if desired, and cook at medium heat until the liquid is nearly evaporated and mushrooms nicely softened. Take it off heat and sprinkle with lemon zest and lemon juice and mix well. Lemon zest and juice adds the freshness and acidity that will help freshen up the whole dish and cut through the richness.
4. Finish the polenta by mixing in the parmesan until melted, and the butter.
5. Assemble the dish by pouring the polenta into the serving bowls, top it with mushroom ragu, 63 degree egg, sprinkle of lemon zest and fresh thyme leaves to finish. Enjoy while it's hot!
Hope you'll enjoy this dish and I would love to hear from you for any questions or how you went with it.
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