Chef Pano Karatassos puts a spin on a popular Greek recipe for fried eggs with wild asparagus by swapping in mushrooms and showering them with shaved truffles. Chef Pano is the executive chef of Kyma in Atlanta and corporate executive chef of the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, which operates several restaurants in Atlanta and Florida. In addition, he beat Bobby Flay in the popular television show with his signature dish, lamb pie. This recipe is taken from his cookbook, Modern Greek Cooking. This recipe is taken from this cookbook, as well as the full recipe for Wild Mushrooms “à la Grecque”.
4 Servings
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
4 large eggs
1⁄4 cup Wild Mushrooms “à la Grecque”
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
White truffle oil, for drizzling, optional Thinly sliced chives and fleur de sel, for garnish
1⁄4 ounce black truffle
Heat the broiler on high. Warm the olive oil in a heatproof baking pan. Crack the eggs
into the pan and cook over medium-low heat until the whites are set, 1 to 2 minutes.
Sprinkle the mushrooms around the yolks, transfer the pan to the broiler, and cook to the desired doneness, about 30 seconds for yolks that are slightly set but still soft. Remove the pan from the broiler and season the eggs with kosher salt and pepper. Drizzle with truffle oil, if desired, and garnish with chives and fleur de sel. Shave the truffle on top and serve.
NOTES: While Chef Pano imports truffles from Greece—yes, there are Greek truffles—black truffles and white truffle oil from France and Italy are available at specialty food shops.
As an alternative to the black truffles and fleur de sel, black truffle sea salt is available at specialty food shops.
Instead of 1 larger heatproof baking pan, you can use two 6-inch (15 cm) shirred-egg pans or heatproof baking pans.
Wild Mushrooms à la Grecque is made by cooking mushrooms in olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice. He usually starts with shiitake and oyster mushrooms as a base and adds seasonal mushrooms such asa chanterelle, morel or black trumpet.
VARIATION: In the spring, try replacing the mushrooms with fava beans or asparagus, especially the wild variety.
Chef Pano suggests serving this with a light red with earthy aromas, such as a Kotsifali-Mandilaria blend; Syrah from Crete; or Limnio from Halkidiki.
