I'm not sure exactly where this one came from. Perhaps from my cookbook Eggs by Michel Roux which features poached egg on creamy mashed potatoes. Except we had sweet potatoes on hand. And Miso paste, and I figured, why not try that out to balance out the sweetness of the sweet potatoes? With crispy garlic and onion for texture, and spring onions for crunch? And maybe some rice, to round it all out? And, well, in case it isn't green enough, how about some roast fennel? Somehow, all these random bits came together into a tasty meal despite coming together piecemeal and not being born of one inspiration. Here it is.
Ingredients:
About 250g wild rice
3-4 sweet potatoes, chopped
1 1/2 - 2 tsp miso paste
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 head garlic, crushed
8 cm ginger, minced
2 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 head fennel, sliced
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp black sesame seeds
Spring onions, sliced
Eggs, 1 per person
Sesame oil
1) Slice up the fennel, drizzle with oil and soy sauce, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place in an oven-proof dish and roast at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes until cooked.
2) Cook rice as per instructions. Boil sweet potatoes until soft enough to mash. Drain and stir in miso paste, mashing as you go.
3) In a small frying pan over medium heat, heat the oil and add garlic and ginger. Fry until crispy, stirring regularly. Set aside.
4) Poach eggs to desired doneness. Plate up, layering rice, mash, egg, sprinkled garlic and ginger crumbs, sliced spring onion and a drizzle of sesame oil. Add a couple of wedges of fennel on the side and serve.
This came out surprisingly well. I made a silly and added the miso before draining the sweet potatoes, which made them take rather longer than planned as I had to cook off the water so as not to drain the miso (recipe amended accordingly. Learning from mistakes! Woo!). Other than this, it all came together nicely. There are a number of bits to have on the go at once, which was a bit of a challenge with Little Bit under foot, but that is par for the course these days unless it's just cornflakes for dinner. Let me know what you think if you try this!