Egg Benedict Italian style with Andy Luotto
Andy Luotto is an old friend from Rome. Since his restaurants in the eternal city are closed during the pandemic, he took the time to write down some of his recipes for me. Like me, Andy is half American, born in New York, but he became even more of a celebrity as a TV chef in Italy. Egg Benedict is, of course, originally a New Orleans dish, but Andy made an Italian variation of it that wouldn't look out of place on a festive breakfast table.
- Ingredients:
- 1 white bread roll
- 2 eggs
- 70 ml clarified butter
- Saffron
- Lemon juice
- Breadcrumbs
- Oil for deep frying
- Thinly sliced salmon
- Chopped flat leaf parsley
- Recipe steps:
- Cut the roll in half then toast it in or on top of the toaster, and brush with a little butter.
- Poach 1 egg in water with some lemon juice, after three minutes remove from hot water and then scald briefly in cold water. Drain the poached egg.
- Make a zabaione au bain-marie from the yolk of the second egg, 70 ml clarified butter, a little water and a few strands of saffron that you previously soaked in a few drops of lemon juice.
- Whip the egg white from the second egg and brush over the poached egg and cover it with breadcrumbs. Be careful not to break the egg yolk, because it is not set yet and if it breaks you will have to start over.
- Deepfry the poached egg at 160 degrees for about 1½ minutes.
- Put a little of the zabaione on the toasted bun and then cover it with salmon strips about 2-3 mm thick.
- Place the fried egg on top of the salmon and top with another layer of zabaione.
- Garnish with a few soaked threads of saffron and a little chopped parsley.
- You can add some salt, but you'll find that it's hardly necessary.
- Details
- Written by Andy Luotto from Rome (RM) (Lazio Italy)
André Paul "Andy" Luotto (born 30 July 1950) is an American actor, comedian, musician, chef, and restaurateur. He has resided in Italy since the mid-1970s, where he is a prolific television personality, and is the owner and operator of the Lá restaurant in Rome's Piazza Venezia. Born as André Paul Luotto in New York, Luotto graduated in cinematography at the Boston University in 1969, then started working as dubbing voice for Italian films released in United States. Later Luotto moved to Rome where in 1978 obtained a great success as "fantasista" in the Renzo Arbore's TV-show L'altra domenica. In 1979 he made his film debut as lead actor of SuperAndy, a bizarre parody of Superman, then started a quite regular career as character actor. In 1983 he wrote, directed and starred Grunt, a film parody of Jean-Jacques Annaud's Quest for Fire. Visit my website