White Bean Stew with Crusty Parmesan Toast and Fifth-Try Poached Egg

I ate my first egg about a year and a half ago.  For awhile after that I still found eggs intensely creepy and could only eat them in certain contexts.  But lately I’ve been chowing down on them all over town, and also incorporating them into my own cooking (although I have yet to sample the most dreaded of egg varieties — i.e. hard-boiled and/or in “salad” form).

I’d been playing around with a recipe idea in my head that involved a perfect poached egg perched atop a crusty parmesan toast swimming in a big bowl of rustic white bean stew. 

Tim and I got home from a busy weekend visit to Toronto late yesterday afternoon and were both craving something warm and comforting to stave off the oh-god-work-tomorrow blues.  So it was a perfect opportunity to test out my recipe brain child. 

Before getting straight into the recipe, can we talk about how freaking hard it is to poach a simple egg?  It took me four tries to get a halfway decent one.

After multiple attempts, and with the help of various internet articles/tutorials, I pretty much figured out a foolproof method:

How to Poach an Egg:

1.  Bring water to a boil.  Add a good sprinkle of salt, as well as (this is important) about a teaspoon of vinegar.  For some reason, the vinegar helps the egg to stick together in a little ball instead of exploding all over the place.  

2.  Reduce the heat slightly so that the water stops boiling.  This is important too.  You want to slip the egg into almost boiling water.  If the water’s actually boiling, it’ll tear the egg apart. 

3.  Break the egg into a small dish.  It’s easier to slip the egg into the water from a dish than it is to crack the egg straight into the water.

4.  Using a spoon or spatula, stir the water in a circle, creating a whirlpool effect.  You don’t have to do this too vigorously – just get the water moving.

5.  Stop stirring.  Then slip the egg out of the dish and into the very center of the water.  When the egg’s in there, just leave it alone.  After the whirlpool move, your work is pretty much over.  This was the part I really didn’t get – I thought I was supposed to keep making the whirlpool while the egg was in there.  Not so!  Just slip it in and let it be.

6.  After about 3 minutes, remove the egg with a slotted spoon and set it on some paper towel to drain.  Now you have an adorable little poached egg.

Back to the recipe!

White Bean Stew with Crusty Parmesan Toast, Poached Egg and Chili-Basil Oil

And a couple guys I forgot: 

And two more guys I forgot to even forget about: BASIL! and TOMATO PASTE!!

 Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup pancetta, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, small dice
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 15.5 oz cans cannellini beans
• 3 medium-sized tomatoes
• 1/4 cup orzo
• 1 bag baby spinach (approx. 5 cups)
• Rind of parmesan + 3/4 cup grated
• 1 country loaf, sliced
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 hot red peppers
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

For stew, cook pancetta in a large pot until fat has mostly rendered and meat is beginning to brown.  Add shallot, garlic and thyme.  Cook, stirring, 3-4 minutes or until shallot is soft (add tbsp if olive oil if necessary to prevent sticking).  Add sherry and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping to remove any brown bits from the bottom of the pot.  

When alcohol has mostly evaporated, stir in tomato paste.  Cook for 1 minute, stirring, then add chicken stock, white beans, chopped tomato, orzo, and the rind from a piece of parmesan cheese (this is super-important — the rind gives so much flavor to the stew.  I always save leftover parmesan rinds in the freezer to throw into soups and stews).  

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes, or until orzo is tender and flavors have melded.  Add spinach and continue cooking 1-2 minutes or until spinach has wilted.  Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper (I like it super-peppery).

For parmesan toasts, cut country loaf into thick slices.  Toast bread lightly, then cut a piece of garlic in half and rub the cut side against both sides of the toast.  Sprinkle each toast with 2-3 tbsp parmesan and broil until melted. 

For eggs, poach eggs according to instructions above. 

For chili-basil oil, heat 1/2 cup olive oil over low heat in a small saucepan.  Add 3 hot peppers, sliced (I didn’t use the seeds because the peppers I used were pretty spicy).  Cook for 1 minute.  Remove oil from heat and add basil.  Let basil and peppers steep in hot oil for 10-15 minutes, then drain. 

To serve, Spoon about a cup and a half of stew into each bowl.  Top with a crusty parmesan toast and poached egg.  Spinkle generously with salt and fresh ground black pepper.  Top with a drizzle of chili-basil oil and an extra sprinkle of parmesan.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but this was pretty insanely delicious.  I’m also officially a poached-egg convert, from both an eating and cooking standpoint.  I like my food to be cute and fun to eat whenever possible, and l’il poachers definitely fit the bill.

While I was rushing around the kitchen getting the meal together, Tim took some spooky action shots: 

My apron was a Christmas gift from my mom – whenever I wear it I feel like a 1950s housewife, but in a good way.

In other news – stay tuned for pictures and stories from Toronto (including a sweet ride in Toronto’s famous Cosmic Cab, which I thought was pretty much an urban legend until we accidentally flagged it down on Saturday night).  And later this week – the Healthy Big Mac Challenge!!  Pretty exciting stuff.