Tuesday February 21

Low carb recipe - Jonno Proudfoot's favourite recipe

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My favourite Banting / low carb diet recipe in the history of the universe has got to be Eggs ‘baconnaise’.

It happened when I was preparing breakfast for some mates during my epic month of writing The Real Meal Revolution.

I didn’t really feel like dirtying too many dishes so, half way through frying the bacon for my eggs hollandaise, I decided to throw all of the butter that I was supposed to clarify, right in the pan with the bacon. It slowed down the bacon cooking process, but when it got bubbling again, I could smell the butter taking on that smoky bacon flavour.

Once I removed the bacon, I continued to simmer the butter until it separated and then carried on with the skimming process.

I thought I had just saved myself the hassle of cleaning an extra dish until I tasted it. Then I realised I was onto something. Bacon fat hollandaise = Baconnaise.

 

Jonno's favourite low carb recipe - Eggs ‘Baconnaise’

 

 

Makes 2

Jonno’s tip: A tip for the best poached eggs – use the freshest you can find, they hold their shape the best. A tip for making baconnaise or hollandaise – if the mixture gets too thick, add a few drops of hot water. If it starts splitting, do the same and keep whisking. If it splits completely, start again with the lemon, egg yolk and mustard and slowly pour in the split mixture while whisking continuously (as if the split mixture is the butter in the original low carb recipe).

 

Ingredients:

Rostis:

2 small aubergines, grated

1 tsp salt

1 large egg white

1 tsp psyllium husks

100g butter, melted

Baconnaise:

300g butter

250g streaky bacon

4 large eggs

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Poached eggs:

Vinegar for poaching

4 large eggs

 

Method:

1. First, make the rostis. Mix the grated aubergine with the table salt and leave it in a sieve for about 30 minutes to drain
2. Then, using your hands, ring out the aubergine (squeeze quite hard) until it is as dry as possible
3. Now, mix in the egg white and psyllium and leave for about ten minutes
4. Then shape the aubergine into large, rosti-shaped cakes
5. In a heavy-based frying pan, fry the aubergine cakes on a low heat with 100 g of butter for about 30 minutes, turning them very carefully every five minutes
6. Next, make the baconnaise. Place a small saucepan of water on the stove and bring it to the boil
7. In a large frying pan, fry the bacon on a gentle heat (be careful not to burn the fat or the butter) in 300 g of butter
8. Once the rashers are crispy, remove from the pan but be sure to leave as much fat as possible back in the pan
9. Now, separate four eggs, place the yolks, mustard and lemon juice in a heat-proof bowl and place the bowl on top of the saucepan of boiling water (leave it on the heat so it continues to boil)
10. Whisk the mixture in the bowl until it becomes light and fluffy
11. While continuing to whisk, slowly pour in the melted bacon fat and butter mixture. Be careful not to pour it in too fast as it may split
12. Once you have poured in all of your fat and it has emulsified, your baconnaise is ready. Simply season with salt and pepper and set it aside
13. Now that the Baconnaise has been set aside, you may use the water in the double boiler to poach the eggs
14. Season the water with a good splash of vinegar and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer
15. To poach the eggs, break each one into a small bowl. Now, using a small ladle, swirl the water to create a medium-strength circular current. Then drop the base of the bowl into the centre of the swirl and tip out the egg
16. Do this one by one with each egg to avoid them cooking into one giant poached egg. Allow them to cook for about three or four minutes (or until soft) then scoop them out using a slotted spoon and drop them on to a paper towel to dab off excess moisture
17. To serve, place two rostis on each plate and top each rosti with bacon, then a poached egg and finally a massive dollop of baconnaise. Give it crack of black pepper and dig in

 

Take a look at our low carb recipes page for more exciting and easy to make recipes.