Easy Food Recipes and Cooking - Skordalia Soup, Poached Apple Egg
Serves 4
1 garlic head, pureed
3 golden shallots
50g unsalted butter
1 litre chicken stock
125ml cream
4 Granny smith apples
Chervil, red kahel and mache, to garnish (or other salad greens of your choice)
FOR POACHED APPLE EGG
500ml apple juice
2½g calcium chloride, 2g sodium alginate (available online or in specialty stores)
500ml water
Wrap garlic head in foil and bake in a moderate oven at 180C, until soft (between 45 minutes to an hour). Let cool at room temperature and then squeeze roasted garlic from its skin.
Slice shallots and in a medium sized pan, gently sweat in butter until translucent. Add garlic puree to shallots and cook gently until well mixed. Pour in the chicken stock and reduce by half to approx two cups. Add the cream and bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from the heat and blend in a food processor until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine chinios and season to taste.
To make the poached apple egg, dissolve the calcium chloride in a bowl of water and set aside in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
In a jug, combine apple juice and sodium alginate using a hand held blender.
Measure 1¼ tablespoons of the apple juice solution into a half-round measuring spoon and sub-merge into the calcium chloride solution slowly. Once the juice has been tipped from the spoon, take the spoon out and repeat. Allow the chemical reaction to occur for about 5 mins, or until a skin forms around the apple juice. Once the skin has formed around the juice, remove gently using a tablespoon and place in plain water in the refrigerator until needed (this tops the cooking process).
Using a mandolin, slice 1 apple to 2mm thick, avoiding the core (there is no need to peel the apple). Then finely slice to resemble matchsticks.
To finish skordalia soup, bring to the boil and aerate it using a hand blender to make it light and fluffy.
To serve, scatter apple matchsticks in the bowl, then, very carefully, add 1 poached apple egg on top and finally pour the soup carefully around the poached apple egg.