Oeufs en meurette

Poached eggs in red wine sauce is one of the grand classics of French country cooking. This dish is made with dark concentrated essence of red wine paired with bacon, onions and shallots browned in butter and served with toasted bread.

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

To begin the sauce,
1)Pour the entire bottle of wine in a medium sized sauce pan.
Add bone or bouillon if using as well as the bay leaves, garlic, shallot and whole peppercorns and salt.

2)Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and reduce the liquid by half. Reduce slowly to create the most flavour.
20 -30 minutes.

3)Strain and reserve the reduced wine and keep warm.
Discard the solids.

4)In a high sided frying pan over medium heat add the butter and bacon. Saute until bacon renders its fat. 3-5 minutes. Keeping the fat, add the mushrooms and shallots to the pan. Saute for until softened.
Add flour to mixture.
Stir mixture until flour is well incorporated and becomes light brown and toasted.

5)Slowly add the reduced wine to the bacon,mushroom and shallots. Stirring constantly until the mixture begins to thicken.
Approximately 20 Minutes.
Keep warm.

6)Toast the bread.
Prepare 4 three minute poached eggs.
Using shallow bowls, place a slice of toast in each one. Place an egg on the toast.
Spoon sauce over and around the eggs.
Add the second piece of toast. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Sprinkle with chopped green onions and parsley.