I was going to eat leftovers for dinner last night.  When I got back from the farmer’s market with some baby potatoes and a basket of cherry tomatoes, I changed my mind and threw together a composite of roasted vegetables and fried eggs.  I had a couple of bulbs of kohlrabi ready in the garden, so I sliced them up, as well as a red onion.  Everything got tossed in olive oil and chopped chervil and landed on parchment paper.

Weeknight home cooking meet Ferran Adrià, head chef of El Bulli, and creator of  “culinary foam” amongst other deconstructionist (some say molecular gastronomic) applications.

When I read in a Penelope Casas cookbook that Ferran Adrià  separates the yolk from the white so that each one can be cooked to perfection, I thought, “I’m a home cook, but I can handle that.”

I don’t expect to eat at El Bulli, or any other restaurant that has made the world’s 50 best list under it, but thank you, Ferran Adrià for thinking of everything.  The egg whites were angelic and the yolks extraordinary.

chervil-roasted vegetables with separated fried eggs

This is a loose recipe.  Feel free to experiment and use other vegetables or herbs (parsley or tarragon would be nice), just consider cooking times and flavor profiles and make adjustments.

1 quart baby potatoes, whole or larger waxy potatoes, chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red onion, sliced
2 baseball-size (or a little smaller) heads or of kohlrabi, peeled and sliced into rounds or half rounds
olive oil for coating the vegetables and frying the egg
salt, to taste
5 tablespoons chopped chervil
6 eggs
Sherry, balsamic or tarragon vinegar and freshly ground black pepper, to serve

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.  Pour some olive oil in a bowl and toss the potatoes.  Arrange them on the baking sheet so that they are in one layer and cover half of the sheet.  Sprinkle with salt.  Repeat with the kohlrabi, arranging slightly overlapped if needed on one quarter of the sheet.  Repeat with the onions, omitting the salt, and arranging them on top of the kohlrabi.  Arrange the tomatoes cut-side up on the last quarter of the sheet.  Drizzle with a little of the oil, and sprinkle salt and brown sugar.  Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the chervil over the entire pan.

Bake for 55 minutes, basting once.  Move the onions off of the kohlrabi.  Turn the heat up to 475 and continue cooking for 20 minutes more.

Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Separate the eggs, cooking the yolks immediately and saving the whites in a bowl.  When the yolks are cooked as you like them, remove them to a plate.  Cook the egg whites all at once, stirring them gently once or twice after they have begun to set.  Remove when they are just cooked through and are still very tender.

Pile the vegetables in bowl, top with an egg yolk and some of the egg white.  Finish with a big pinch of the remaining chervil, a drizzle of vinegar and plenty of black pepper.