Poached egg on toast with tomatoes

INGREDIENTS:

Day-old French loaf, ciabatta bread or sourdough loaf, roughly ½ loaf

Approximately 600g cocktail tomatoes, halved Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

6 tbs (90ml) olive oil

4 tbs (60ml) red wine vinegar

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbs capers, rinsed and roughly chopped (optional)

1 lemon, juiced

6 large fresh eggs

10g fresh basil leaves, chopped

Handful baby spinach leaves or micro salad greens to serve

Parmesan shavings to garnish.

Basil pesto to drizzle on eggs (optional)

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Tear the bread into chunks, drizzle with two tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle with a few pinches of salt and a grinding of black pepper, and toss with the tomatoes. Place the bread and tomatoes on a baking tray and drizzle over remaining four tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 35 minutes until the bread is golden.

For the dressing: Whisk the vinegar, garlic, capers and lemon juice together. In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes and bread with the dressing mixture. Poach the eggs to your liking.

To serve: Arrange the spinach leaves or micro greens on a pla er, sca er the basil leaves on top, layer with the roast tomatoes and croutons, top with poached eggs and drizzle with pesto. Sca er parmesan shavings and serve straightaway, while warm.

Tip: When poaching eggs, add a tablespoon of white vinegar to the boiling water. Eggs love vinegar, as it helps to bind the protein in the egg. The same applies to boiled eggs – adding a teaspoon of vinegar to the water prevents the shells from cracking.