Garlic mushrooms on toast with poached eggs
20 min · 30 g protein · 423 cals / serving
A British café favourite: chestnut mushrooms fried hard until browned and meaty, then tossed with garlic, thyme, a handful of spinach and a spoon of crème fraîche into a glossy, peppery sauce, piled on wholemeal toast and topped with two soft poached eggs that run into it all, with sweet grilled tomato halves on the side.
Ingredients
- 2 medium tomatoes, halved
- a small knob (1 1/4 tsp) butter
- 600 g crimini mushroom, chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- a few sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
- 1 heaped tbsp half fat creme fraiche
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 4 large handfuls baby spinach
- 1/4 tsp salt
- plenty black pepper
- 4 large eggs
- 2 slices whole wheat bread, wholemeal
To serve
- a small handful fresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- Heat the grill (broiler) to high. Lay the tomato halves cut side up on a small tray, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and grill 8–10 minutes, until soft and charred at the edges, while you cook the rest.
- Heat the butter in your largest non-stick frying pan over a high heat until foaming. Add the mushrooms in one layer (in two batches if they do not fit) and leave them alone for 3 minutes, then toss and cook 5–6 minutes more, until the liquid has gone and they are browned and squeaky.
- Turn the heat down, add the garlic and thyme and stir for 1 minute until fragrant. Stir in the crème fraîche, lemon juice, salt and lots of pepper, then the spinach, and let it bubble for a minute until the spinach wilts into a glossy sauce. Keep warm.
- Meanwhile bring a wide pan of water to a bare simmer with a splash of vinegar. Crack each egg into a cup, swirl the water and slide them in. Poach 3–4 minutes for runny yolks, until the whites are completely set, or 5–6 minutes, to 160°F, for firm yolks. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper.
- Toast the bread, pile on the mushrooms and their sauce, top each with two eggs and scatter with parsley and more black pepper. Serve the grilled tomatoes alongside.
Good to know
Why won't my mushrooms brown?
A crowded or cool pan steams them. Use your biggest pan, get it properly hot, and do not salt or stir them for the first few minutes; salt pulls the water out too early.
Without the crème fraîche?
A splash of Worcestershire sauce and a squeeze of lemon make a sharper, darker version with no cream at all, and it scores a little higher.
Which mushrooms?
Chestnut mushrooms have more flavour than white ones; a few sliced portobellos or a handful of oyster mushrooms make it feel like a weekend breakfast.
Per
- Calories
- 91
- Protein
- (30%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (37%)
- 4 g
- Carbohydrates
- (33%)
- 8 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 158 mg
More breakfast
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 845 kcal goes into the pot and 1277 g of ingredients comes out as about 925 g of food: 91 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.