Recipe no. 44 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 30.
Ingredients
- a sliced leek
- a sliced onion
- a few tablespoons of oil
- a chopped tomato or a spoonful of coulis
- 3 or 4 crushed cloves of garlic
- a sprig of fennel
- a strong bouquet garni
- a piece of orange peel
- a litre of water
- a pinch of saffron
- about half a kilo of yellow potatoes cut into slices half a centimetre thick
- 5 or 6 fresh eggs
- slices of bread a centimetre thick
- chopped parsley
Preparation
- BrowningSlice the leek and onion, brown them for a moment in the oil.
- Moistening and seasoningAdd the tomato or coulis, garlic, fennel, bouquet garni and orange peel, moisten with the water, season highly and add the saffron.
- Cooking the potatoesAdd the sliced yellow potatoes and let boil briskly until tender.
- Poaching the eggsBreak the eggs one by one into the broth, dropping them in skilfully so as not to mix them, and let them poach.
- DressingPour the broth over the bread slices, remove the aromatics, dress the potatoes on a dish with the eggs on top, sprinkle with chopped parsley and send to table.
Reboul's text
Slice a leek and an onion, put them into a saucepan with a few tablespoons of oil, brown for a moment, add a chopped tomato or a spoonful of coulis, 3 or 4 crushed cloves of garlic, a sprig of fennel, a strong bouquet garni and a piece of orange peel, moisten with a litre of water, season highly, add a pinch of saffron and about half a kilo of potatoes cut into slices about half a centimetre thick. Take yellow potatoes by preference, which do not fall apart in the cooking. Let boil briskly until they are tender. At this point, break in 5 or 6 fresh eggs, one after the other, dropping them in skilfully so as not to mix them; let them poach. Then pour the broth over slices of bread a centimetre thick arranged on a dish, take out the aromatics, dress the potatoes on another dish, the eggs on top, sprinkle the whole with chopped parsley and send to table.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul himself gives certain Provençal names in this recipe: Aïgo-saou d’uou (“brine” in the dictionary). The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the other words used, in mistralian spelling: each of these forms is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary, and the link opens the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| pòrri | leek |
| coulis | coulis |
| amaneu | bouquet garni |
| rusco | orange peel |
| safran | saffron |
| poumo | yellow potato |
| enlugra | to poach |
| iòu | egg |
| juvert | chopped parsley |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 44, page 30. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.