This is something that I threw together one Sunday morning brunch because we had some oysters on hand, creamed spinach and fresh salsa. It is a baked whole-wheat wrap shell with a bed of creamed spinach topped with stewed oysters and then delicately poached eggs, then topped with a Beurre blanc sauce and a side of fresh chunky salsa with home fried new potatoes and garnished with chopped green onions. I named this dish after a small town in New Mexico that sits just north of Santa Fe and below Taos, nothing special there, just a small town with a great name…hence the salsa. This first image on the left shows the shell with creamed spinach and oysters, and with the side potatoes. Click on the image(s) for a larger view.
I suppose that a formal recipe could be written here, but this is just a variation on a theme. Poached eggs being the main event here, and really are quite easy to prepare, with a few tricks of the trade…that I will be happy to share.
A shallow sided saucepan works well for poaching eggs, or one that has a large broad flat surface area and at least a 3-inch wall straight up. Fill the pan about ½ way with cool filtered tap water. Then add about 1 ½ cups of white vinegar, this is the little trick I was telling you about, the vinegar helps the eggs to stay together and coagulate quickly. Otherwise, the eggs would spread out and be hard to stay together. The image on the right shows the poached eggs, salsa, sauce and garnish added to the base Florentine, oysters and shell.
Over a medium-high heat bring the liquid to a very slow simmer, you want tiny little air bubbles to form on the bottom surface of the pan. When the water is hot enough gently crack up to 6 or 8 eggs into the warm water, then using a slotted spoon gently push the eggs a slight bit to ensure they will not stick together or to the bottom or sides of the pan.
Continue to poach the eggs until the desired doneness, timing varies here so be sure to use the slotted spoon and lift one of the first ones out and gently press it with your thumb or forefinger to check. If you like the yolks runny then less time is required, on the other hand if you like your yolks hard then more poaching is required. Practice makes for perfect poached eggs; I cannot remember how many I have poached in my day.
In most major production kitchens there will a piece of equipment called a tilt skillet. These are massive gas heated skillets that can be tilted from a hand crank, or from the push of a button to pour out the finished product. In the case of mass egg poaching for banquet or buffets at hotels, the tilt skillet would be utilized to produce hundreds of them at a time. I can remember poaching four or more cases of eggs for Sunday brunch, do you know that each case contains 12-dozen eggs, which is 144 eggs per case. That is a lot of poached eggs, for buffet items such as Eggs Benedict, Eggs Rockefeller, Eggs Florentine, the list goes on…
25 responses so far ↓
1 Drick // Nov 17, 2009 at 9:17 am
interesting combination with the oysters and spinach … thanks chef…
2 Cookin' Canuck // Nov 17, 2009 at 9:31 am
I finally learned to poach an egg this year and now I can’t stop! This is such an original combination of ingredients that would work really nicely with a perfectly poached egg.
3 Noelle // Nov 17, 2009 at 10:05 am
I miss eating eggs! I think poaching them was the best!
4 Jessie // Nov 17, 2009 at 10:15 am
can you believe I never had poached egg, I must change that now after seeing this delicious breakfast
5 Mathea // Nov 17, 2009 at 10:30 am
Thanks for including info on the tilt skillet… a look inside the professional kitchen is always a nice side dish to the recipe! 🙂
6 Natasha - 5 Star Foodie // Nov 17, 2009 at 10:45 am
These poached eggs sound so good with oysters and spinach!
7 Conor @ HoldtheBeef // Nov 17, 2009 at 11:01 am
What an interesting, tasty brunch dish! I’m a big fan of poached eggs, and exceedingly glad I have acquired the poaching skill. Very easy once you get the hang of it, as long as you don’t get distracted while they’re poaching away!
8 tina marie // Nov 17, 2009 at 11:28 am
I have never poached an egg yet that is my favorite way to order them in restaurants. Love the combo of spinach with it.
9 Rachel J // Nov 17, 2009 at 11:58 am
I just ‘everything but the’ dishes are simply amazing plates of food. All the flavors and textures you’ve got going on here make my jowls water. Its an excellent balanced brunch. In fact, I just wrote a post about making your own perfect brunch at home, http://laptopsandstovetops.blogspot.com/2009/11/finding-sunday-brunch-balance.html
Cheers!
10 linda @saltyseattle // Nov 17, 2009 at 12:41 pm
delicious! change the poached egg to a duck egg and i am sooo there!
11 Jenn @ cook or be eaten // Nov 17, 2009 at 1:03 pm
must be nice! … JUST had some oysters around! kinda like i just have some cheap canned tuna around? haha!
12 Danielle // Nov 17, 2009 at 1:05 pm
What interesting things you have leftover in your fridge and what a wonderfully creative and delicious way to utilize them! I’ll be over for bruch next Sunday!
13 Cajun Chef Ryan // Nov 17, 2009 at 2:05 pm
You should see my pantry! Actually, most of the ingredients for this brunch dish came from leftovers from a four course dinner we had the night before which consisted of Shrimp Cocktail, Oyster Stew, Stuffed Pork Loin with a side of creamed spinach, and La Fonda Pudding. The potatoes were extra that were not used in the oyster stew. This was a FoodBuzz dinner awhile ago: http://cajunchefryan.rymocs.com/blog2/recipes/celebrating-reliving-history-fine-dining-north-american-railroads/
14 lululu // Nov 17, 2009 at 4:35 pm
very luxurious sunday breakfast with oyster!
seems pretty easy to come up with too.
love the poached eggs to go with it.
15 wasabi prime // Nov 17, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Yum, poached eggs over anything is fab! Agreed with the vinegar, although my technique with poaching needs improvement. Everything on this dish is a home run!
16 Trix // Nov 17, 2009 at 6:04 pm
My husband would LOVE this dish – he is a poaching fiend and he adores oysters. Yum!
17 petite nyonya // Nov 17, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Hi! This is a wonderful, complete breakfast! Looks really delicious too!
18 Karine // Nov 17, 2009 at 10:24 pm
This looks so gourmand! Thanks for sharing 🙂
19 Daniel@CocinaSavant // Nov 17, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Amazing use of the oysters and spinach, which reminds me of oysters rockefeller. No doubt the Beurre blanc sauce adds interesting complexity. Thanks for the ideas.
20 kristy // Nov 18, 2009 at 12:09 am
Wow, oyster for breakfast! What a luxurious breakfast and the poarchd eggs look just perfectly well done.
21 penny aka jeroxie // Nov 18, 2009 at 2:25 am
Ok. I must make this one Sunday brunch. I love poached eggs with anything!
22 cheah // Nov 18, 2009 at 4:56 am
Lovely brunch, love oysters too.
23 Joy // Nov 18, 2009 at 11:44 am
I think you’ve just won my heart with the oysters and poached eggs — are you kidding? That sounds like the best brunch EVER mmm this is a great one I am in heaven
24 Sam // Nov 19, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I am catering a brunch for 35.
How would do you recommend poaching about 5 dozen eggs? I don’t have a tilting skillet, and I was planning on poaching a day before and warming them at service.
Can’t wait to try the Florentine Espanola. Yum,
Sam
25 Ryan Boudreaux // Nov 19, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Sam,
Do you have a large brazing pan maybe? Any large but short walled pan would do for poaching large quantities of eggs. Even a 4-inch tall chafing dish insert would work. When poaching ahead of time we would set up an ice bath of chilled water to drop the poached eggs into so that they would stop cooking quickly, as in the blanch and chill method. Then keep them in the cool water for overnight storage.