Girolles, chanterelles, brambles & egg

Ingredients

• 8 onions
• 3kg chicken wings
• 50g dried mushrooms
• 30g kombu (dried seaweed)
• 6 eggs
• 300g cider vinegar
• 200g demerara sugar
• 100g wild blackberries
• 1 bunch of tarragon, leaves picked
• 360g girolles (plus a few extra in case of wastage)
• 240g chanterelles (plus a few extra in case of wastage)
• 50g butter

Method

To make the chicken broth, chop 4 of the onions into 8 wedges and put on an oven tray. Place half the chicken wings on a separate tray and put both in the oven at 170C.

Keep checking the onions, moving them around and flipping them to stop them burning. After 1 hour, turn the wings and continue cooking for 30 mins – if you’ve a fan assisted oven, they may cook quicker. You want the wings to have rendered their fat and released all their liquid – ideally you are looking for the colour of the most perfect roast chicken you can imagine. The onions are ready when they too have coloured all over and softened completely.

Put the roast onions and chicken wings into a pan or tray, cover with filtered water and bring to a simmer. Cover, then place in an oven for 8 hours (or overnight) at 90C. Leave to cool, pass off the liquid and discard the wings (or use them for a pie mix!)

Now roast the other half of the wings and the onions in exactly the same way. This time, instead of covering them with water after they’ve cooked, cover them with the chicken stock you made the first time. Bring to simmer and cook for 8 hours, again at 90C. In the morning, add the dried mushrooms and konbu and leave to stand for 1 hour. Pass off the broth and chill.

Cook the eggs at 63C in a water bath for 1 hour. This can be done ahead of time if you chill down the egg after cooking.

Bring the vinegar and sugar to the boil, drop in the berries and leave to cool.

Now prepare the mushrooms. Remove any soil and leaves by either rubbing with a damp cloth or cutting away. Scrape the stems of the girolles with a small paring knife.

Use a pan that will fit the girolles snugly in one layer. Put the girolles in the pan with 50g butter and some salt, place on a high heat and cover with a lid.

After 2 mins you will notice that the mushrooms have released liquid through cooking. Turn the heat down, stir, test the seasoning, and add the chanterelles. Cook the mushrooms together for 10 secs, then take off the heat. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary. The mushrooms should have a glossy liquid surrounding them all.

To serve, reheat the eggs if cooked in advance and heat up 600ml of the broth. Crack the eggs, remove the whites, then carefully place a yolk into the centre of each bowl. Place the mushrooms around, drop in 4 or 5 berries, add some tarragon leaves, then pour the broth in carefully. 

Images: John Holdship