A Bottle of Cab and Two Eggs...Dinner is Served!

Eggs for dinner is really easy to make, and this recipe for poached eggs in red wine will have them licking the plate (I'm not kidding!)

When I was a kid, we lived in the San Fernando Valley (that's the north west edge of Los Angeles County). Since my dad worked for the studios, he was never home for dinner, so my mom took us out occasionally. There was a Bob's Big Boy near us, and they had car service! I can still remember, riding down Sherman Way, in the back seat of that huge station wagon, with the windows down and a breeze of warm summer air blowing my hair back. We'd get to Bob's, pull in the back, and a server would come by to take your order. They'd hook these trays on the inside of the car doors, so you could eat dinner in the car. And I'd have bacon, eggs and hash browns for dinner, every time!. I enjoyed that so much, we still have eggs for dinner on a pretty regular basis!

If you're not an eggs-for-dinner fan, this recipe will change your mind. It's based on a traditional French recipe, Oeufs en Meurette; eggs poached in red wine. That recipe is great, but it has a couple of drawbacks. The eggs turn a purplish - gray color (not the best color for any food), and the sauce is a total pain in the ass. The French like to make everything more complicated than it has to be (next time you have a whole day to kill, try making some consommé. Its chicken soup, and you'll probably not get the results you were hoping for).

This dish is much easier than the traditional method, and the sauce is amazing. Make sure you have extra bread to scoop up the sauce!

This image is from Food & Wine

You're going to need some demiglace (concentrated beef stock). You can get it at some supermarkets, and the demiglace choices at Williams-Sonoma are excellent). A 9 ounce jar runs $30, but you only use a little bit at a time, so it should last you a while.

And just like all recipes, this one can be used as a guide. Sometimes I just want to do this a-la-minute and I don't have a boquet garni laying around, so guess what? I don't use it. I throw in a little dried thyme at the end and it was great. As for the bread, I like using sourdough as it holds up well to the sauce and the eggs, but if you can find brioche bread (thank you Gelson's...), go for it! Brioche is a bread made with lots of eggs and butter, it's very rich and moist. The rest of the stuff should be available in your kitchen right now! FYI, this will serve 4 people.

2 cups

1/4 cup beef demiglace

2 cups of dry red wine (Cab, Merlot, Burgundy)

2 shallots, thinly sliced, about 3/4 cup (if you don't have shallots, an onion will work)

1 bouquet garni: 5 flat-leaf parsley sprigs, 1 thyme sprig, and 1 fresh bay leaf, tied securely with butcher’s twine

6 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 pieces

2 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons flour

salt & pepper

8 poached eggs

4 slices white bread, sautéed in butter and oil until browned

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

For the sauce: whisk together 2 cups water and demiglace in a large saucepan over medium until demiglace dissolves, about 2 minutes. Stir in wine, shallots, and bouquet garni. Bring to a boil over high; reduce heat to medium-high, and simmer until reduced by half (about 2 cups), 30-40 minutes. Strain the sauce through a sieve, and put in to a small sauce pan. You can use the large sauce pan to cook the poached eggs...

While wine mixture reduces, heat a medium skillet over medium-high. Add bacon, and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Stir together softened butter and flour in a small bowl until smooth to make a beurre manié, you're going to use this to thicken the sauce. Bring reserved wine mixture to a simmer over medium, and gradually whisk in beurre manié. Cook, whisking constantly, until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 1 to 2 minutes. and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Now you get to poach the eggs. Don't freak out, it's really easy to do. Fill a large sauce pan with water, and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat till the water is just barely simmering, drop the eggs in for EXACTLY 3 minutes. Take them out with a slotted spoon and put them on top of the bread you already sauteed.

To serve, place 1 poached egg on each fried bread round; spoon about 2 1/2 tablespoons wine sauce over each egg. Sprinkle the chopped bacon on top along with some chopped parsley and serve with remaining wine sauce.