Recipe for Herbie Mushrooms on sourdough toast with poached egg

Herbie mushrooms on sourdough toast with poached egg is a popular choice on The Maples breakfast menu.  We first tried this recipe a few years ago whilst we were attended a B&B course at Hopton House B&B. This relaxed and friendly Shropshire Bed and Breakfast is in the beautiful Shropshire countryside near Ludlow. We have found this vegetarian recipe to be an all-round hit!

The quantities are quite generous and rather approximate, as I tend to judge by eye when cooking.  In my defence, I have found that mushrooms shrink and very little goes down the waste disposal unit!

Recipe

Large knob of butter

Drizzle of olive oil

125gr chestnut mushrooms (approximately half a pack)

1 tbsp thyme

1 tbsp parsley

½ tbsp. chives

Salt and pepper

Sourdough bread

1 egg

Boiling water

White wine vinegar

Melt the butter and olive oil in a small frying pan, whilst the butter is melting slice the mushrooms thickly.  Add the mushrooms to the pan and season with salt and pepper.  Add the herbs – I snip the herbs from the herb pot, the amounts are approximate.   Initially cook on a high heat until the mushrooms are beginning to become juicy and then lower the temperature.

How I poach an egg

At this point I start poaching the egg.  This is my tried and tested method of poaching an egg.  Before coming to The Maples the idea of poaching eggs filled me with horror.  Now after countless numbers of eggs it is by far my preferred method for cooking eggs!  To begin poaching the egg, have a large saucepan of approximately 1.5lt boiling water.  Add some salt and a splash of white wine vinegar.  Break the egg into a ramekin dish (a teacup also works well) pour the egg into the water and however tempting leave the egg alone.  Set a timer for three minutes – this will give a firm egg with a runny yolk.

At this point I start toasting my sourdough bread.  In my toaster I find that most bread takes 1 ½ – 2 minutes to cook, but sourdough takes a little longer.

Give the mushrooms a quick stir.  For the poached egg have a small plate ready with a piece of absorbent kitchen towel.

When the three minute alarm goes off, it’s action stations!

Scoop the poached egg up with a slotted spoon and place it on the absorbent kitchen paper to drain any excess water.  Place the sourdough toast onto a hot serving plate, pile the mushrooms on top of the toast and then add the poached egg, sprinkle with chopped herbs.  As my old boss would say “enjoy!”