Scottish girolles are at their very best right now: golden in colour, firm and full of flavour. It is such a positive to now be able to get such ingredients delivered to your door to be cooked and eaten at home, rather than them being solely experienced in posh restaurants. Good ingredients should be accessible to everyone, even if certain restaurants are not. If the girolles are free from soil and debris, only give the briefest of washes. As they cook, they release a lot of liquid, which will emulsify with the butter so there is no need to add any cream here; further richness will come from the egg yolk. This is more gently stewing than frying or browning. The parsley should just be roughly chopped; you will notice its grassy burst more this way. Finally: a note on a fried egg… This should be cooked gently over no more than a medium heat. It shouldn’t bubble or fry aggressively, and there should be no colour on the underside. The yolk should be warm but liquid by the time the white has set.
75g Salted butter
250g Girolles
1 Garlic clove, crushed
⅛th Lemon, juice of
4 tbsp Water
2 tbsp Parsley, roughly chopped
4 Eggs
1 tbsp Salted butter
4 slices Wholemeal bread, toasted
- Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat, add the mushrooms and garlic and season lightly. Cover with a lid and cook until just wilted, 2–3 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice and water and mix well to make an emulsion with the butter in the pan, then remove from the heat and add the chopped parsley.
- Fry the eggs gently in the salted butter in a small pan, finishing them under the grill just to set the yolk if needed. Season with Maldon salt and black pepper.
- Place the toast on the plate and spoon over the mushrooms and the juice from the pan. Top with the fried egg then scatter over a few peashoots or watercress leaves if you wish.