Breakfast Salad with Poached Egg and Prosciutto

Breakfast Salad with Poached Egg and Prosciutto

I’m at that place I’m so familiar with–the place where it seems as if I’m floating on a river lazily making its way to a point in the distance.  I could swim and get to wherever there is more quickly, or I can do what I’m doing–floating.  Knowing time will pass,  I’ll get there.

And then I snap out of it.  Like this morning.

Eight days before we leave for the UK.  Eight. After months and months of planning every single tiny detail, eight days will fly by and as much as I’ve questioned and searched and adjusted to make sure everything is perfect, I swear I’ve forgotten something.  My husband has indulged my sometimes nightly litany of hairsplitting with gentle logic and comments of support.

I’m sure everything will be fine, he tells me.  The other vacations you’ve planned have been great.

Yes, but…

…but.

I suppose I have to have something to worry about.  The one thing that hasn’t been a worry is thinking about what we’ll eat.  That may be a surprise considering I think about food all day, and given any opportunity to explore something food related, I will roll up my sleeves and get busy.  But when we travel, we’re more involved in the place we’re visiting–the history, the countryside, and the towns.  Of course, we eat, but there isn’t a lot of planning around making it to one particular restaurant or another, and I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m traveling for the sake of food.  I know.

Heresy.

For this trip, I have planned to visit certain old tearooms along our route, using Great Tea Rooms of Britain, a book I’ve had for years.  And with the help of Google Maps Street View, I’ve been able to see where each of them is, and bookmark a website for a few, like The Swan’s tearoom in Lavenham, Suffolk near Cambridge, or Little Betty’s in York.

Of course, we’ll frequent the pubs as we go, trying hard to avoid any kind of a crawl for dignity’s sake.  I’ve researched those as well, finding information from locals about what’s good and what isn’t.  Or what might live up to our expectations of an old English pub, like The Falkland Arms in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire,  or The Shaven Crown in Shipton-under0Wychwood, also near Chipping Norton.  We might as well get some history with our pint of bitters, right?  They don’t just serve “pub grub” any longer, as many are proud to inform potential customers that only locally produced food is served.

As for the traditional English breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, tomatoes, and beans we’ll be offered at many of the B&Bs where we’ll stay, I’ll deal with that one with a great amount of restraint.  We’ve gotten away from eating a full breakfast, even on weekends, thinking we don’t need anything sticking to our ribs for an entire day, no matter how busy our agenda is.

Image courtesy Google Streetview

We are staying in the northern stretches of the Cotswolds for a few days at the house above and will have use of a kitchen, so expect to make a couple of breakfasts with something lighter on our plates, and quite a bit more “green.”  Our day trips out and about through the old market towns are bound to turn up some fresh, local ingredients we can enjoy.

Breakfast, or brunch?

Don’t forget your toast points.

Breakfast Salad

Breakfast Salad with Poached Egg and Prosciutto

Ingredients

The following quantities are for each person served…

1 hand full tender greens, such as maiche, butter lettuce, or baby spinach

1-2 eggs, poached

2 thin slices prosciutto

1/4 sliced avocado

slice of goat cheese, crumbled

1/2 c. small tomatoes, halved

a few pinches of sliced green onions

fresh lemon juice

extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large bowl, put the amount of greens you need for all servings.  For us, it was two good-sized handfuls.  Squeeze a half lemon over the greens, then drizzle on a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Toss lightly to mix the lemon and oil.  Divide the greens evenly between the plates.  Add the tomatoes and the avocado slices, then layer on the prosciutto.

To poach the eggs, heat 3-inches of water in a large lidded skillet over high heat.  While the water is heating, crack each egg into a small ramekin or tea cup and set them next to the pan of water.  When the water boils, add 1 T of white vinegar (to help keep the whites together) and a pinch of salt.

Carefully slide each egg into the water by lowering the ramekin slightly into the water being careful not to burn yourself.  Put the lid on the pan, turn off the heat, and set a timer for 3 minutes.

When the time is up, gently remove each egg with a slotted spoon, allowing it to drain a bit before placing it on the salad.  Crumble over some of the goat cheese, a few green onions, and season with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately, and enjoy by cutting into that egg and mixing all the great flavors together.

Breakfast Salad with Poached Egg and Prosciutto
 
One of my favorites -- perfect if you've never thought of salad for breakfast before!
Author:
Recipe type: Salad, Gluten-free
Serves: flexible
Ingredients
  • The following quantities are for each person served...
  • 1 hand full tender greens, such as maiche, butter lettuce, or baby spinach
  • 1-2 eggs, poached
  • 2 thin slices prosciutto
  • ¼ sliced avocado
  • slice of goat cheese, crumbled
  • ½ c. small tomatoes, halved
  • a few pinches of sliced green onions
  • fresh lemon juice
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, put the amount of greens you need for all servings. For us, it was two good-sized handfuls.
  2. Squeeze a half lemon over the greens, then drizzle on a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Toss lightly to mix the lemon and oil.
  3. Divide the greens evenly between the plates.
  4. Add the tomatoes and the avocado slices, then layer on the prosciutto.
  5. To poach the eggs, heat 3-inches of water in a large lidded skillet over high heat. While the water is heating, crack each egg into a small ramekin or tea cup and set them next to the pan of water.
  6. When the water boils, add 1 T of white vinegar (to help keep the whites together) and a pinch of salt.
  7. Carefully slide each egg into the water by lowering the ramekin slightly into the water being careful not to burn yourself.
  8. Put the lid on the pan, turn off the heat, and set a timer for 3 minutes.
  9. When the time is up, gently remove each egg with a slotted spoon, allowing it to drain a bit before placing it on the salad.
  10. Crumble over some of the goat cheese, a few green onions, and season with salt and pepper.
  11. Serve immediately, and enjoy by cutting into that egg and mixing all the great flavors together.

 

Recipe Notes

  • A far cry from a traditional “full” English breakfast, but in my fascination with British food, I have seen eggs over many dishes, so maybe it’s not too far off.  In fact Jamie Oliver makes a similar salad that is one of my all time favorites, and it has a poached egg over it with garlic croutons as well.
  • We enjoyed this on a quiet Sunday morning and loved every bit of it.  All that delicious warm yolk oozes into the greens, and creates an amazing blend of flavors with the lemon, avocado, and tomato.  Oh.  My.  We agreed it would be great for dinner as well.  It’s light, and not nearly as calorie laden as an average Sunday breakfast.
  • Have fun mixing your favorite greens.  I love arugula so know that would taste very good, but the baby spinach we used was perfect.
  • Instead of prosciutto, use pancetta, good old bacon, or ham.  Or if leave the meat out.  The salad would still be delicious.
  • The tomatoes I used for this (Violet Jaspar Cherry) were the last of my meager harvest, this second year of experimenting with growing them in pots.  Just wait until next year!
  • Freshly shaved Parmesan would be tasty on this salad instead of the goat cheese, but Feta would be delicious.
  • Next time, perhaps a few artichoke hearts would be nice in the mix, and a few sun-dried tomatoes instead of fresh.
  • Sauteed mushrooms?  Mmm…

Breakfast Salad