Eggs à la Rubens (Cold)

Ingredients

• hop shoots (jets de houblon), blanched and chilled
• salt
• ground pepper
• parsley, chopped
• chervil, chopped
• tomato purée, cooked plain
• aspic (gelée fondue), cold
• poached eggs, chilled and well-blotted
• Chaud-froid blonde sauce (blond chaud-froid)
• tarragon leaf details (for decoration)
• clear aspic (gelée bien clair)
• chopped aspic (gelée hachée)

Instructions

1. Season the chilled blanched hop shoots with salt and freshly ground pepper at the moment of assembly.
2. Fold in the chopped parsley, chopped chervil, plain-cooked tomato purée, and just enough cold aspic (gelée fondue) to ensure the mixture will set.
3. Mold the mixture in oiled tartlet molds and refrigerate until firm.
4. Coat the chilled, well-blotted poached eggs with blond Chaud-froid sauce (a cold cream sauce bound with aspic). Decorate the coated eggs with tarragon leaf details and glaze with clear aspic.
5. Unmold the tartlets and place one egg on each. Arrange them in a circle on the serving platter, spacing them evenly. Between each egg, position a piece of clear aspic cut into a crête (crest) shape.
6. Fill the center of the arrangement with chopped aspic.