mushroom, parmesan + lamb's lettuce salad, with black pudding, poached egg and pancetta

I can't tell you what a buzz it is to be back in the kitchen and rattlin' those pots and pans again. This would make a great brunch, although I had it for my tea this evening.

I bought one of those Bury Black Pudding Co. packets of four slices from the supermarket for £1.25 - ideal for this recipe.

serves two

for the salad:
2 tbsps olive oil
200g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
1 garlic clove, crushed
a good pinch of thyme leaves
3 spring onions, finely sliced
2 handfuls lamb's lettuce
1 dsp red wine vinegar
a few shavings of parmesan

for the black pudding:
100g taleggio
4 x 75ml rounds of black pudding

8 rashers pancetta
2 poached eggs
salt + black pepper

Poach the eggs beforehand, as per the instructions on this page, so you only have to warm them up briefly when assembling the dish.

Likewise, prepare the salad in advance: heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the mushrooms with the garlic and thyme. Season, leave in the pan and allow to cool completely.

Divide the taleggio into four and form into flat patties roughly the same diameter as the black pudding slices.

Heat your grill, and grill the black pudding slices for a couple of minutes a side. Grill the pancetta at the same time. When the pudding is cooked through, lay a taleggio patty on top of each pudding slice and allow to melt under the grill. Now make two 'sandwiches' of the black pudding.

Finish off the salad while you warm up the eggs: add the spring onion and lettuce to the frying pan, toss with the mushrooms and drizzle over the red wine vinegar. Add some parmesan shaving and toss again, briefly. Pile the salad onto two plates. Place a black pudding 'sandwich' in the centre of each pile of salad, then top these with the (well drained) eggs. Season. Add the grilled pancetta to the plates and serve.