I was fortunate to receive an entire tin of Browne Trading Company ‘s American White Sturgeon Caviar as a bit fo a giveaway from my more than generous boss. After a breakfast of scrambled eggs and caviar, I decided to have some fun with the caviar as it was the kind of opportunity I would probably not be given again. So with the assistance of Josh and Danny we set to do some caviar indulgence using only what we had in my kitchen.
I happened to have a few North Haven oysters in my fridge and Danny happened to bring over a bottle of champagne. A little minced shallot and black pepper into some champagne and a table spoon of that mixture on top of each oyster followed by some caviar. It taste like a mouthful of expensive ocean water. Salty, briny, great fish essence and the dry champagne to balance it all.
I had some beautiful fingerling potatoes, I simply roasted until soft and then scooped out the inside, leaving about 1/4 inch of potato with skin intact. I hard boiled 2 eggs (placed them in boiling water for 8 minutes) and then separated the whites from the yolks. I mixed the yolks with black pepper and sour cream and spread that inside the potato skin. I then shredded the whites thru a zyliss cheese grater. (this could be achieved by using a microplane or the smallest side of a box grater) I then placed the shredded white on top followed by a generous spoonful of caviar and a few scallions to finish. Not your average potato skins, but simply delicious.
For the final caviar dish of the evening Danny set on making a potato rosti (think big potato pancake with a bit more texture) adding some grated onion and fennel. I placed 3 eggs in boiling water for 5 minutes and 10 seconds, then immediately shocked them in an ice bath until cool. I peeled them and then held them in the fridge until ready to serve. Once the rosti was done, we dolloped it with sour cream. pour some hot water over the eggs to get them back to room temp (even a little warmer, think activate gooey egg yolk)placed the eggs half on the rosti and made a slit in the top to release the perfectly “cooked” yolk and then topped it off with a generous spoonful of caviar and some minced scallion. In all my years of friend potato eating never have I had an experience so decadent. The saltiness of the caviar was a perfect balance for the sweet creamy yolk and also paired nicely with the sweetness of the potato and fennel in the rosti. Perhaps we will have to rethink Hannukah next year!.
