We had friends over for brunch last weekend, so I pulled out an old standby: brioche with a 64°C egg, maple syrup, pancetta and pea butter. It’s my version of French toast, you know, because of the toast part. I’m not trying to sound snooty when I say this is “as simple as can be” because you do need a sous vide machine and a centrifuge to make it. However, provided you have those tools, the recipe brain-dead easy. When I was growing up, we used to go for brunch at a diner that made “sweet pea guacamole” served alongside a Tex-Mex omelet. I loved the notion of having peas with breakfast, and once I discovered centrifuged pea butter, that was even more reason to work it into the dish. I’m sure there’s a “green eggs and ham” permutation of these ingredients, too; if you find it, please share.
Total kitchen time: 10 minutes + 3 hours centrifuge time + 1 hour sous vide time
Makes: 4 servings
- Make pea butter by blending 4lbs of thawed peas until smooth, then centrifuging at 1500 RPMs for 2-3 hours.
- Cook 4 eggs sous vide at 64°C for one hour.
- Meanwhile. cut 4 slices of brioche, about 1” thick. Toast on a flat-top grill with copious amounts of melted butter.
- Fry up 8-12 slices of pancetta. Pro tip: frying pancetta in a waffle cone maker keeps it from curling up.
To assemble, top the toasted brioche with an egg. Pour over pea butter and warmed maple syrup. Finish with slices of fried pancetta.
[Thanks to the Estevez family and my wife Rachel for helping me make a mess in the photo above]
