Tart

Mexican Bruschetta With A Poached Egg

This is a very fun brunch dish, full of flavour, colour and life. Just what brunch should be. Brunch is one of our favourite meals, when we had our pop-up restaurant we dedicated the whole weekend to it. Every weekend we came up with a new menu and that was that – all day brunch. You had the early birds who were usually in for their granola type dish, then you had the bacon and egg people then there were the cheesy quesadilla and spicy noodle people along with jugs and jugs of bloody Mary’s. We had a huge amount of fun.. brunch went on till dusk where the last people were dancing out the doors and we were left with a headache and a lot of empty rose bottles to tidy up. This is one of those type dishes, a dancing around and allowing yourself to an ice cold margarita on a Saturday afternoon type of thing. Everything can be made in advance which is a plus, even the poached eggs. The cheat with the eggs is after poaching them plunge them into cold water and they can stay there for at least an hour, when ready to serve, dip them into boiling water for a few seconds then serve. With the avocado make sure it has lots of citrus to stop it from turning brown and add an avocados stone – an old wives tale, we are not sure if it is true or not but seems to work for us, and then to cover with cling film till needed. We are obsessed with the little-puffed corn kernels, they are pretty addictive if munching away on them with drinks. We use them in a lot of dishes for an extra crunch, very good in a salad if its taking texture. You find them in the snacks aisle or with the dried fruit and nuts.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

Olive oil

1 large red pepper, cut into quarters and seeds and pith removed

1 large tomato, chopped in half

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin

squeeze of honey

salt and pepper

for the avocado salsa:

1 garlic

4 jalapenos (pickled from a jar)

bunch of coriander

2 avocados, peeled and de stoned

juice of 1 lime

salt and pepper

4 eggs

2 tbsp. white wine vinegar

1 lime

puffed corn

coriander

feta

4 pieces of sourdough

INSTRUCTIONS

1. First pre heat the oven to 240c and then make the salsa. Put all the ingredients in the food processor and blitz, taste add more lime or seasoning if needed, leave to one side. 2. Place the tomatoes and red pepper pieces on a tray, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and put in the oven for 20 minutes, till starting to turn black. Take out and leave to cool. 3. Heat a little olive oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the onion, garlic and bay leave and sauté for about 5 minutes. 4. Roughly chop the roast peppers and tomatoes and add to the onion mixture along with the paprika, cumin, honey and salt and pepper. Allow to simmer. 5. Bring a small pan of water to a gentle boil and add the white wine vinegar. Crack the eggs one by one and add to the water, poach for 3 minutes then plunge into cold water. 6. Toast the sourdough and place on a plate then drizzle with olive oil. Divide the avocado salsa between the toasts then spoon over the tomato mixture. Sprinkle over a little feta, coriander and puffed corn and a squeeze of lime then finish with the poached egg.