Lully Eggs

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •10-inch (25 cm) omelet pan or nonstick skillet
• •3-inch (7.5 cm) round biscuit cutter
• •3-quart (2.8 L) saucepan
• •8-inch (20 cm) sauté pan
• •12-inch (30 cm) oven-safe round serving platter
• •Thin flexible spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut matching rounds

   Heat the oven to 200°F (95°C) and warm an oven-safe serving platter inside. With a 3-inch (7.5 cm) round cutter, stamp four rounds from the bread and four matching rounds from the ham. Keep the ham chilled while you begin the tomatoes. Bring the water and 3 teaspoons of the salt to a boil for the macaroni. The matching circles are part of the composition, but the source's ornamental fancy-cutter is brigade scaffolding; an ordinary biscuit cutter, or an inverted bowl and a sharp knife, does the same work honestly.

   Save the bread trimmings for breadcrumbs or croûtons. Cooking well is not cooking wastefully.
2. 2

   Stew the concassées

   Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a small sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the concassées, ½ teaspoon of the salt, and a pinch of white pepper. Cook uncovered for 12 to 18 minutes, stirring more often as the liquid disappears, until the tomatoes darken slightly and a spoon drawn through them leaves a clean trail. This reduction is the foundation: watery tomatoes slide away from the macaroni instead of binding it. If they catch before reducing, lower the heat and add a tablespoon of the pasta water. If the butter beads at the edges, stir in a teaspoon of starchy water until the mixture turns glossy again. Ça se rattrape.

3. 3

   Bind the macaroni

   Boil the macaroni until tender throughout but still holding its shape, usually 7 to 9 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the macaroni thoroughly. Fold it into the reduced tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes over low heat, stirring until the tomato and butter cling to every curve. The mixture should mound softly rather than run. If it looks dry, loosen it one spoonful at a time with the reserved water; if liquid gathers underneath, keep it over the heat until that moisture cooks away. Cover and hold off the heat for no longer than 10 minutes.

4. 4

   Toast and fry

   Melt 1½ tablespoons of the butter in a 10-inch (25 cm) omelet pan over medium heat. Fry the bread rounds until crisp and evenly golden, about 2 minutes per side, then place them on the warmed platter. Melt another 1½ tablespoons of butter in the same pan and fry the ham rounds briefly, about 15 to 30 seconds per side, just until their edges ripple and the fat turns glossy. Cured ham toughens if treated like bacon, so keep this quick. Set one ham round on each toast and return the platter to the low oven for no more than 5 minutes.

5. 5

   Cook and stamp eggs

   Wipe any dark crumbs from the omelet pan and lower the heat to medium-low. Melt 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter, slide in 2 eggs, and season lightly with salt and white pepper. Cook until the whites are fully opaque and barely golden underneath while the yolks still tremble, spooning foaming butter over any translucent white but not over the yolks. Slide the eggs onto a flat plate and stamp each into a neat round with the same cutter, centering the yolk and pressing straight down without twisting. If an egg sticks, take the pan off the heat for 20 seconds before easing a thin spatula beneath it; if the white tears, tuck that edge beneath the ham when you stack it. Ça se rattrape. Repeat with the final tablespoon of butter and the remaining eggs.

6. 6

   Compose the platter

   Taste the macaroni and correct the salt and white pepper. If it tightened while waiting, loosen it with one spoonful of reserved cooking water over low heat. Mound it generously in the center of the warm platter. Arrange the four toast-and-ham rounds evenly around it, then place one stamped egg on each. The toast must remain crisp, the ham glossy, the macaroni properly bound, and the yolks soft, so bring the platter to the table immediately. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose jambon cru or another unsmoked dry-cured ham with enough thickness to survive a quick turn in butter. Paper-thin ham can be fried on one side for only a few seconds; longer cooking makes it salty and leathery.
• •When fresh tomatoes are pale or mealy, use good canned whole tomatoes. Drain them well and chop them roughly. The classical pantry solved the season long ago, and a ripe preserved tomato is better than a sad fresh one.
• •Do not add cheese, cream, garlic, or herbs to the macaroni. The source binds it with reduced tomato and real butter, and that clean red-gold flavor is what belongs at the center of Œufs Lully.
• •Use pasteurized eggs if serving soft yolks to anyone who needs to avoid undercooked egg. Otherwise, cook the yolks until firm while keeping the heat low enough that the whites remain tender.
• •A dry sparkling wine or a brisk Loire white suits the butter, cured ham, and tomato without overwhelming the eggs. Serve the platter alone for brunch or after a small first course at supper.
• •Finished egg stacks do not reheat gracefully. Refrigerate leftover tomato macaroni and ham separately for up to 2 days, warm them gently with a spoonful of water, and cook fresh eggs when you serve again.

Advance Preparation

• •The concassées can be stewed in butter 1 day ahead, covered, and chilled. Reheat them gently before folding in the macaroni, adding a spoonful of water if the butter has set firmly.
• •Cut the bread and ham rounds up to 4 hours ahead. Keep the bread covered at room temperature and the ham wrapped in the refrigerator.
• •The tomato macaroni may wait, covered and off the heat, for about 10 minutes. Toast and ham can wait in the low oven for 5 minutes. The eggs wait for no one and should always be cooked last.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)