Potato pancakes, smoked eel, poached eggs and horseradish

Instructions

1. Step 1

   Peel the potatoes, rinse well and cut into even-sized pieces. Place these in a steamer over a gentle heat until fully cooked. Put the potatoes, hot from the steamer, into a food processor with the flour, cream, milk, a pinch of salt and black pepper, 3 whole eggs and 2 egg whites and beat vigorously until smooth. Decant the batter into a container, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour

2. Step 2

   Cut the fillet of eel into 1cm-thick slices and sit them on a plate to one side

3. Step 3

   While the batter chills, heat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. Lay the rashers of bacon on a wire rack over a baking tray (or in a grill tray) and bake in the oven until crisp, roughly 12 minutes. Lower the oven to 120°C/gas mark 1/2 to keep the bacon warm

4. Step 4

   Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add a pinch of salt and gently poach the remaining 2 eggs for 3–4 minutes, until the white is firm and the yolk runny. Place these in a dish and keep warm in the oven

5. Step 5

   Heat a non-stick frying pan roughly 19cm in diameter over a moderate heat. Lightly oil the pan, then pour in a large ladle of batter and cook for around 2 minutes, until puffed at the edges. Carefully flip and cook on the other side until brown. Remove to a warm dish in the oven and repeat for the other pancake

6. Step 6

   Place each pancake on a plate, lay on the pieces of smoked eel and add a spoonful of horseradish cream. On this sit a warm poached egg, the rashers of bacon and finally a scattering of chives