'Leon' Egg Pot & Bacon Jam Soldiers
When I worked in Soho I was a frequent patron of the Old Compton Street branch of Leon (no longer there :( ) and in particular, their truffled egg pots. The whole healthy fast food premise of Leon is one I like very much, and any eatery that can provide me with a pot of poached egg in delicious truffled gruyere for a measly 139 calories is a winner in my book and I miss them sorely. I have been known to arrive ludicrously early for any morning train from Kings Cross now in order to procure myself some cheesy eggy goodness from their in-station branch.
It struck me that these must be fairly easy to recreate at home. Leon themselves do many different versions of their egg pots; ham hock, chorizo, 'saucy beans' and whatnot. I had a rummage in the fridge and found some mushrooms that needed using, so I dry fried these off in a hot pan (only about three small mushrooms) and then placed in my 'egg pot' - any old largeish ramekin type dish will do. Then I cracked an egg over it, drizzled about a teaspoon of truffle oil over and grated some manchego cheese over it all (about a small matchbox sized portion). I've not made these before but I was concerned it wasn't going to be gooey enough, so I also added a splash of milk and kind of jiggled it all about - remember you don't want to break the egg.
Then, I - whisper it - microwaved the dish! I know! For about 40 seconds, but checking throughout as nobody wants to clear up an exploded egg in a microwave. My egg was still *slightly* overdone, but the result was a pot of creamy cheesy truffled indulgence.
My friend Lorna, a Grand Dame of cheese, recently sent me a pot of Bacon Jam from the people at Eat 17
after I went on about the delights of 'nduja. She'd recommended it as an accompaniment to strong cheese, and I felt confident that the richness of this egg pot would go nicely with the sweet, tangy umami-like taste of bacon jam spread on some buttery soldiers. I was right. It cuts through the creaminess and adds another level to this breakfast. I can't recommend it enough! I've also tried the Bacon Jam with normal dippy egg and soldiers in the way that lots of people have Marmite (yuck) soldiers, and this is very satisfactory too. You can buy the Bacon Jam in Tesco now, such is its success.
I didn't calculate the calories of this one, but I'd estimate it is sadly wildly above the Leon count of 139; not least because of the addition of toast. Probs about 400. Make this for your mums on Mother's Day and forget about the calories for now.