This dish is based on one create by Tony Fleming at Axis. Lovely dish, packed full of flavour! In an ideal world you’d have a truffle around which you can finely shave over the finished product, but here you can achieve a pretty good effect with more accessible truffle products :0) Now the point of a tribute dish is to try to achieve a similar effect using normal home tools – we’re not going to make our own stock – it’s not to do a perfect dish – it’s supposed to be fun! Don’t get too hung-up on the finesse of the thing, cook it – eat it!
Sauces
Onion jam: cook sliced red onions in a little bit of olive oil on a low heat for at least 30 minutes. Once they have reduced to almost nothing, add a small amount of good chicken stock. Reduce again until the onion mixture has a jammy consistency. I added a tiny bit of red wine vinegar just to offset the sweetness of the onion jam. Set aside until you’re ready.
Chicken jus: reduce chicken stock until it has a demi-glace like sheen. I like to put a drop of Madeira into mine. You can add little butter just at the end to increase the glossiness of the sauce, but save that for the final reheat.
Truffled Brioche Soliders
Mushroom duxelle : chop two large field mushrooms into fine dice and sweat with a tiny bit of olive oil and butter under fully coloured, but not crisp. I added the tiniest pinch of truffle salt, and a small drizzle of truffle oil at the end. Set aside.
Brioche soldiers : make your brioche according to your favourite brioche recipe (or buy a brioche loaf!). When it has cooled, cut into large rectangles. Melt a little clarified butter in a frying pan and when hot, cook the rectangles in the butter, but do not crisp and do not swamp with butter. Set aside in a warm place.
Plating Up
Put a circle of the onion jam into the centre of the plate (I used a ring to get the disc the right size). Scatter a few warmed mushrooms around the outside edge of the plate in a circle. Put a little warmed duxelle onto the top of the brioche soldiers on a separate plate, with a little napkin under it to stop the moisture from making the brioche soggy. Put the fried duck egg on top of the onion jam (I cut my duck egg with a ring to the same size), and drizzle a little of the reduced jus around the plate. Serve immediately.
Here is Tony’s much finer version, with truffles :0)
