Fried bantam’s egg, celeriac purée, celeriac crisps, Morteau sausage, wild rice crumb

Colin McGurran’s beautiful starter makes a sublime dinner party dish – a stunning medley of creamy celeriac purée, crispy puffed wild rice, pork scratching and garlic crumb, and gloriously smoky Morteau sausage.

Ingredients:

CELERIAC CRISPS

  • 1 celeriac
  • oil
  • salt

CELERIAC PURÉE

  • 1 celeriac
  • 3 1/2 oz of butter
  • 1/2 pint of milk
  • 1/2 pint of dashi

WILD RICE CRUMB

  • 1 handful of wild rice
  • 4 slices of wholemeal bread
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • milk, to blanch the garlic
  • 1 handful of pork scratchings, chopped
  • vegetable oil, for deep-frying

MORTEAU SAUSAGE

  • 1 Morteau sausage

FRIED EGGS

  • 4 small eggs, preferably bantam eggs
  • oil, for frying

TO SERVE

  • micro red mustard frills

Method:

To make the celeriac crisps, peel the celeriac, then use a peeler to slice into long sheets. Add a dash of oil to a hot pan, add the celeriac sheets, then season with salt and push flat with a fish slice

  • 1 celeriac
  • oil
  • salt

Cook until dark brown, then place in a dehydrator or oven and leave to cook at 70°C overnight

To make the celeriac purée, peel and dice the celeriac and place in a pan with the butter. Cook on a medium heat until the celeriac is a dark golden colour, then add the milk and dashi stock

  • 1 celeriac
  • 3 1/2 oz of butter
  • 1/2 pint of dashi
  • 1/2 pint of milk

Cover with a cartouche and cook until the celeriac is very soft. Transfer the contents of the pan to a jug blender, blitz until smooth then pass through a sieve

For the wild rice crumb, preheat a deep pan of vegetable oil to 200°C. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4

vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Add the wild rice to the hot oil. As soon as it puffs up, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Remove the pan from the heat, allowing the oil to reduce in temperature to 120°C, then sustain that temperature to cook the garlic crisps

  • 1 handful of wild rice

Slice the bread into a 1cm dice and bake in the oven for 4 minutes, until crisp

  • 4 slices of wholemeal bread

For the garlic crisps, preheat the reserved vegetable oil to 120°C

Thinly slice the garlic and blanch in milk. Pat dry, then fry in the vegetable oil until crisp

  • milk, to blanch the garlic
  • 4 garlic cloves

Drain on kitchen paper, then mix the garlic with the breadcrumbs, wild rice and chopped pork scratchings

  • 1 handful of pork scratchings, chopped

When ready to serve, cut the Morteuax sausage into a 1cm dice. Place on a tray then warm under the grill

  • 1 Morteau sausage

To serve, gently warm through the celeriac purée and spoon some into the centre of each bowl. Fry the bantam eggs, place on top of the purée then scatter the sausage around the egg

  • oil, for frying
  • 4 small eggs, preferably bantam eggs

Scatter the crumb mix over the dish and garnish with celeriac crisps and micro red mustard frills

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