My sister and husband have a house in the Languedoc region of Southern France that they go to every year. For a little “jet lag” break, they fly in to Nice and enjoy that beautiful city for a few days. And of course they have favorite restaurants that they frequent annually. Like a good sister, she sends me photos of menus and the dishes they order.

Most recently, she sent me these two photos of an appetizer consisting of squash soup served with deep-fried eggs.

I was so enamored with the idea of this dish and couldn’t wait to attempt it. I decided to make a pumpkin and white bean soup, and deep-fry a soft-boiled egg.

I googled just to see if I could find anything similar, and I only found a Chinese recipe of a zucchini soup with a poached egg. My sister did feel that this was a specialty of the restaurant, and she’s probably right!

If anyone happens to be in Nice and wants a wonderful dining experience, my sister would definitely recommend the restaurant where she enjoyed the unique appetizer and other great dishes – Bistrot Marin.

Pumpkin Soup with Deep-Fried Eggs

Soup:
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 – 15 ounce can pumpkin purée
1 – 15.8 ounce can Great Northern beans, well drained
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/3 cup heavy cream

Eggs:
2 eggs
Small amount of oil
Fine cornmeal or flour

For garnish: Some parsley sprigs

For the soup, heat the butter in a medium saucepan until lightly browned. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until soft, about 6 minutes. Then add the broth, purée, beans, and seasoning.

Heat the soup mixture until it just simmers, then set aside to cool slightly. Pour the soup mixture into a blender jar, add the cream, and blend until smooth. It’s your choice how creamy you want your soup.

Return to the saucepan and set over the lowest heat to stay warm.

For the eggs, boil the eggs until they are soft-boiled, no more than 5 minutes, or use an electric egg cooker. When cooked, plunge them into some icy water. After about 5 minutes, remove them from the water and peel gently.

Bring a small saucepan of oil to a simmer on the stove, at about 375 degrees, deep enough for both eggs.

Lightly oil the eggs, then place them in a bowl of cornmeal. Gently coat the eggs as even as possible. I used a very finely ground cornmeal called Fubá.

Add the eggs carefully to the oil and cook, submerged, for no more than 30 seconds. Place on a paper towel.

Ladle the soup into 2 serving bowls. Place an egg in each bowl and slice through both eggs to open.

Garnish the soup with the parsley sprigs.

This soup with the deep-fried egg was outstanding. All of the flavors were subtle, but they all worked well together. You could definitely taste the egg.