Rösti with poached egg and gray shrimp
Nothing beats fresh gray shrimp. Add a poached egg and delicious potato rösti for a dish that'll delight your tastebuds. Use the shrimp shells as the base for a finger-licking sauce. I'll also share tips and tricks for a blissfully crispy rösti. Let's get cooking!
How do you know if shrimp are fresh?
When buying shrimp, it's important to make sure they're fresh. It's best to buy them in bulk from your fishmonger and not pre-packaged. The shell of a cooked shrimp isn’t shiny. It should feel firm, not smell of ammonia, and not feel sticky. Once you've peeled the shrimp, you'll be left with about a third of the original weight. Don't throw away the shells—you can make a delicious base for a sauce from them.
De Vistrap
You won't find fresher gray shrimp than at the Vistrap in Ostend. This open-air fish market is the only place in Belgium where you can buy gray shrimp (also called brown shrimp in the UK) straight from the fishermen. Unlike other shrimp, these don't end up in the fish mine, where they're coated in preservatives before going to wholesale distribution. The Vistrap is open daily, except when it's stormy. You'll find mainly grey shrimp on the market, but also flatfish like sole in summer, and cod and whiting in winter.
How to peel shrimp
Peeling shrimp takes some dedication and patience, but it is worth the effort. According to the rules, you start peeling from the tail. I always do it the other way around and start from the head.
Take the tail and the head of the shrimp between the thumb and the index finger of each hand and pull the shrimp straight out. With a light twisting motion, break the shell at the level of two rings behind the head. Pull off the head. Gently pinch the piece of tail between your fingers and pull the shell away from the tail. In this way, you can peel the shrimp in as few as two moves.
Making rösti: tips and tricks
Rösti is a crispy potato pancake that you can make in no time. All you have to do is follow a few simple steps.
- - Use only floury potatoes.
- - Do not wash the grated potatoes. You need the starch to keep everything together.
- - Squeeze the grated potatoes well to remove as much moisture as possible.
- - Flipping your Rösti is a bit tricky. It's best to use a plate to do this.
- - Rösti should be crispy but also cooked through. You can cover the pan to speed up cooking, but remove it 5 minutes before done.
- - For evenly sized rösti, it is best to use cooking rings.
- - For best results, use a cast-iron pan, but you can also use a non-stick pan or make rösti in the oven.
- - For oven cooking, allow 25 minutes at 180°C. If preparing rösti in a pan, allow 12-15 minutes per side.
Recipe: Rösti with poached egg and gray shrimp
This recipe serves 4 people.
Ingredients:
- 750 g unpeeled shrimp
- 4 very fresh eggs
- 12 cherry tomatoes
- A few sprigs of samphire
For the rösti:
- 400 g floury potatoes
- 1 tablespoon of chopped chives
- Sea salt
- Pepper
- 2 tablespoons grape seed oil
For the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 25 ml cognac
- 750 ml fish stock
- 1 sprig of lemon thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 fennel stalks (optional)
- ½ teaspoon kari gosse (or Hungarian paprika)
- Pepper
- Sea salt
- Knob of butter
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Step 1: Peel the shrimp
Peel the shrimp using the technique above and save the shells. There is no need to rinse them.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and finely chop the samphire.
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Step 2: make rösti
Peel and grate the potatoes with a coarse grater. Squeeze out any excess moisture. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and stir in the chives. Heat a frying pan with oil. Use a cooking ring to make 4 equal rounds of potato. Fry the rösti for 12 to 15 minutes and turn them over with a plate. Continue to fry until the potatoes are cooked through and the outside is crisp and golden brown.
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Step 3: prepare the sauce
While the rösti is baking, start to prepare the sauce.
You can chop the heads and shells first or even blend them in a blender to get as much flavor out of the shells as possible. Sauté the heads and shells with the butter in a saucepan.
Chop the onion and celery and add them to the pan with the shells, along with the tomato paste. Flambé with cognac. Now take a pestle and continue to crush the shells to release the maximum amount of flavor.
Add the fish stock, thyme, bay leaf, fennel stalks and kari gosse and reduce by half. Strain through a fine sieve and season with salt and pepper. Thicken the sauce with a little butter.
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Step 4: poach the eggs
Bring a bowl of water with a splash of vinegar to just below boiling. Break the eggs into 4 separate bowls. Use a spoon to make a swirling motion in the water and then pour an egg into it. Do this with all four eggs. You can also use handy poaching cups for a guaranteed good result. Poach the eggs for three minutes. Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
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Step 4: present the plate
Place a rösti on each plate. Place a poached egg in the center, sprinkle with gray shrimp and pour shrimp sauce around the rösti. Top with cherry tomatoes and garnish with samphire.
Gratin dauphinois is another tasty potato dish. I'm sure you'll love my recipe for this classic French dish.