Hangover breakfast

by Jim (a.k.a. Biscuit Boy)
No, we're not hungover. This dish, however, may be the ultimate hangover breakfast food ever. Backstory is that a few years ago we were out sampling various tapas places, planning one for dinner and one for brunch the next day. Well, the one for dinner was near an Irish pub, and after sangria with dinner, a cocktail, then several beers at the Irish pub, I was drunk. How drunk? Well, not so bad that night, but the next morning I had a raging hangover.

However, being game, I decided we'd go ahead and hit the Spanish tapas place, Jaleo, for brunch. The best dish I had that day was a combination of Spanish chorizo, fried potatoes, and a poached egg on top. Ah, comfort food I can keep down.

I kept meaning to try to make it at home, but we had not had luck with the chorizo I had found previously, and then forgot about it until I found some small chorizos at a gourmet market a few weeks ago. Getting the potatoes ready for frying was easy, a quick dice, then boil until done. Drain, then into the skillet with hot olive oil. A mistake was putting the chorizo in then as well. While it rendered out its reddish fat, making the potatoes nice and red, it also cooked too long and too hot, making it crunchy. Barbara liked it, but then she likes crispy bacon too. Otherwise, it was tasty.

Topping it is a couple of poached eggs. The first egg was a disaster. The water was boiling, it had been vinegared to set the whites, but we thought we were supposed to get the water swirling to hold the egg together. I had it swirling so fast that we ended up with the white of the egg being shredded by the water, and got something that looked like egg drop soup. Second try, without swirling, was a success. Here's a good description from Jaques Pepin. Since we are going to eat them now, ignore the part about icewater, and instead place the eggs onto a plate with a paper towel to blot off the excess water. They were cooked a little too long but were very tasty and still somewhat runny. Next time I'll only cook the eggs for 3 minutes, not 4-5 minutes.

Huevos, papas, y chorizo

2 potatoes

1 1/2 oz. Spanish chorizo (a small link)

4 eggs for poaching

Olive oil for pan frying