Head Chef Mark Pearson cooks up an elegant seasonal starter at the Starr, Great Dunmow in north Essex.
Crisp Fried Duck Egg with Essex Asparagus (serves 4 people as a starter)
INGREDIENTS
4 duck eggs
20 asparagus spears freshly picked
200g white breadcrumbs
2 egg whites
50g plain flour
100ml extra virgin rapeseed oil
25ml white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
Chopped chives
6 slices of brioche
Butter
4 slices black truffle (optional)
1/2 tsp white truffle oil (optional)
1 tsp chopped black truffle (optional)
METHOD
Remove eggs from the fridge for one hour. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Carefully put in eggs and simmer for 6 minutes. Meanwhile prepare bowl of iced water. Once cooked carefully drain eggs and put into iced water quickly. Once cool, peel and set aside.
Simmer asparagus in boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes depending on size, drain and again quickly refresh in iced water.
Prepare three shallow storage containers, one each for the flour, egg white and breadcrumbs. Dry the eggs on kitchen paper.
Roll the first egg in the flour, then in the egg white, then in the crumbs, back into the egg white and back into the crumbs. Set to one side. Repeat with other three eggs. Carefully shape eggs well once all four eggs are double breadcrumbed.
Whisk up dressing by mixing vinegar, mustard, rapeseed oil and white truffle oil if using. Season to taste. Stir in chopped chives and chopped truffles if using.
Warm four large starter plates. Bring pan of salted boiling water to a simmer. Toast brioche and keep hot.
Pre-heat electric deep fat fryer on its hottest setting, lower eggs carefully into the oil and cook until golden brown.
Meanwhile put asparagus into the pan of water and reheat for 30 seconds. Drain and keep warm. Butter brioche toast and cut into soldiers.
Remove eggs once browned, drain on kitchen paper and carefully cut off a small slice from top and bottom.
On each plate stand an egg, five spears of asparagus alongside, top with a slice of truffle if using. Drizzle with dressing. Serve soldiers alongside. Enjoy!
CHEFS TIP
Religiously use one hand for dry parts and one hand just for egg whites.
CHEFS TIP
Eats well also as a light lunch with the addition of peas, broad beans and baby salad leaves.
THE STARR, GREAT DUNMOW
The Starr has been a stalwart of the restaurant scene in these well-to-do parts of North West Essex for over 25 years. Standing just off the main street, it stands a soothing oasis from the hustle and bustle of this atmospheric market town. Impassioned owners Terry and Louise George are very hands on with the business; having bought it five years ago they have certainly put their stamp on it but cleverly retained the essence of the successful formula they helped the previous owner build up. Their team of polished mostly continental staff add a formal yet charming air to the proceedings.
Dating back to the 1500s, the beautiful peppermint green hued building would originally have been a coaching inn and one cannot fail to admire its timber framed antiquity; inside it abounds with beams and all the expected olde worlde charm. The rich sumptuous fabrics in the furnishings and the deep yellow shades on the walls in the restaurant add to a classic ‘fine dining’ feel, both in the light airy conservatory and in the older original part to the street side.
Chef Mark Pearson certainly puts on a show to match but distinctly avant-garde in contrast to the setting, this is 21st century inventive cooking with ambition. His travels around the world, working in luxury hotels in South Africa and Canada have given his cuisine a worldly forward thinking edge. A sample meal might encompass smoked eel and Priors Hall pork belly with jelly and puree of apple, cider vinaigrette and celery cress; Bigods Farm loin of venison and English snails with puy lentils, wild garlic puree and parsley butter; ginger baba with yoghurt sorbet and vanilla poached rhubarb.
Monthly cookery demonstrations let Mark share a little of his repertoire with his diners, eager to replicate some of the wow factor in their kitchens. Outside the converted stable block a short walk from the conservatory side of the restaurant features eight well appointed bedrooms, letting diners relax in comfort.
The Starr Restaurant-with-Rooms Market Place, Great Dunmow, Essex T: 01371 874321 W: the-starr.co.uk
