Alheira de Mirandela com Ovo Estrelado

Ingredients

• 4 alheiras de Mirandela (about 150 g each)
• 4 eggs
• 800 g floury potatoes
• 400 g turnip tops (grelos) or purple sprouting broccoli
• 3 garlic cloves
• 4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for the eggs
• 800 ml sunflower oil, for the chips
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Before you cook

• Peel the potatoes and cut them into chips about 1 cm thick.
• Rinse the chips in cold water until it runs clear, then dry them thoroughly on a tea towel.
• Trim the tough ends off the turnip tops and wash them well.
• Slice the garlic cloves thinly.
• Score each alheira lengthways through the skin only, in three places, so it does not burst in the pan.

Steps

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil.
2. Drop in the turnip tops and boil them uncovered for four minutes, until the stalks are just tender.
3. Drain the greens and press the water out of them with the back of a spoon.
4. Heat the sunflower oil in a deep pan to 150C.
5. Fry the chips for six minutes without letting them take on colour, then lift them out to drain.
6. Turn the oil up to 190C.
7. Return the chips to the oil and fry them for three minutes more, until crisp and deep gold.
8. Drain the chips on kitchen paper and salt them straight away.
9. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
10. Lay the alheiras in the pan and fry them for eight to ten minutes, turning every couple of minutes, until the skin is blistered and dark in patches and the filling is piping hot.
11. Move the alheiras to a warm plate.
12. Add the remaining olive oil and the sliced garlic to the same pan and cook for thirty seconds.
13. Tip in the drained greens and toss them over high heat for three minutes.
14. Season the greens with salt and pepper and move them to a serving dish.
15. Wipe the pan out, add a film of olive oil, and set it over medium heat.
16. Crack in the eggs and fry them for two to three minutes, spooning the hot oil over the whites until they set while the yolks stay liquid.
17. Put an alheira, an egg, a pile of chips and a spoonful of greens on each plate.
18. Serve with lemon wedges and let everyone break the yolk over the sausage.