Pour le brunch du dimanche…ou pas – mouillettes avec salade de tomates, roquette, et carottes jaunes roulées à la pancetta

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In France we don’t have something called brunch, we either have breakfast or lunch. Brunch is an Anglo-saxon concept, and I like it.

There is a restaurant in Sausalito (San Francisco North Bay), called Le Garage where I really like to have my brunches on Sunday, it’s facing the marina and has a huge outside patio, they serve really good mouillettes with prosciutto and asparagus.

Mouillette in French means a small and long piece of bread you dip in oeuf à la coque. Oeuf à la coque literally means Egg in its shell, implying with soft yolk. If the yolk is hard, then it becomes oeuf dur (hard egg). The English translation I found for oeuf à la coque is boiled egg, but I don’t think it’s really that accurate. Oeuf à la coque is a part of every French kid childhood and I remember mine with those two eggs waiting for me on the kitchen table before I would leave for school in the morning.

What’s great about mouillettes is that you can add any side dish you like and make a great brunch with all kinds of combination you like.

I found the cutest mini yellow carrots at the Berkeley Bowl and had to buy them, so then ended up wrapped in pancetta, not a bad way to end. You can also use asparagus instead of carrots, they’re great too, or serve it with thinly sliced prosciutto, you can use your imagination and combine ingredients you like.

Ingredients for 2

  • 4 eggs
  • 2 heirloom tomato
  • 2 cups rucola
  • 6 small yellow carrots
  • 6 slices pancetta
  • rock salt
  • Kosher salt and pepper
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • parmigiano reggiano shaved
  • Grilled baguette cut in  3 inches long sticks

Preparation

For the eggs

Place eggs in a pot of water, start counting 3 minutes from the time the water starts boiling. Remove from pot (it’s better to cook the eggs at the end).

For the carrots

Boil carrots in water, when cooked wrap one slice of pancetta around, add pepper and place under broiler until all sides are grilled.

For the tomatoes

Cut tomatoes in small cubes, add olive oil, toss and sprinkle with rock salt and pepper

For the salad

Sprinkle rucola with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a little salt, and shave some parmesan on top.

Serve each item in a large plate, dip your mouillettes in the egg and enjoy!