Serves: As many as you want

Nat is on an absolute bread and pasta tear and so when we nominated this as our starter for a Saturday night Italian meal, she immediately set about on an incredible artisan loaf.

Though hats off to this recipe, the bread was just the start of something really memorable.

This is an absolutely 1-hat starter. Incredible.

The anchovy butter is magic. And then add that soft-poached egg.

I should have sprinkled some chopped parsley or chives, though plenty of time for that. We now have the butter frozen in the freezer for next time.

As long as you have a crusty bread, this is a phenomenal dish. Breakfast, evening starter, it is special either way

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
Tin of anchovies
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 – 3 pinches of paprika
Juice of half a small lemon
Pepper
Soft poached eggs to serve
Toasted, crusty slices of artisan bread to serve
Finely sliced chives or parsley to serve

Method

1. Drain the anchovies, rinse and pound in a mortar and pestle.
2. Combine the anchovies with the remaining ingredients.
3. Toast your bread, butter liberally and place a poached egg on top. Sprinkle over chives or parsley and serve warm.