For ➋ 4 fresh eggs
125 g North Sea grey shrimps, peeled
10 cl fresh cream
25 g grated cheese (Emmenthaler or Gruyère)
20 g butter
25 cl white beer of Hoegaarden
1 tbs Ghent mustard *
1 tbs chervil
salt & black pepper
Butter 2 small gratin dishes.
Slightly heat the beer to let evaporate the alcohol. Add shrimps and let stand for 1 h. Separate beer and shrimps.
Bring water to the boil and cook 3 eggs for 7 m. Meanwhile, separate yolk from the other egg and beat it.
Cool the boiled eggs with water and peel them. Slice them into delicate rounds.
Meanwhile, heat the butter. Add the beer, the cream and the yolk. Mix well. Add mustard and chervil. Add salt & pepper.
Preheat the grill to maximum heat.
Spread the shrimps in the dishes. Cover with sliced eggs, pour sauce over them, cover with grated cheese and a few pieces of butter.
Grill for 10 m.
Serve with some rye bread, a small salad and a wine vinegar vinaigrette.
Father and son Meulemeester are characters from an immensely popular Brussels' theatre comedy Le Mariage de Mademoiselle Beulemans (Young Lady Beulemans' marriage). Her parents are wealthy Brussels' brewers, hence the beer reference, and she falls in love with the wrong (French) man instead of the young Meulemeester. From its start around the Brussels World Exposition of 1910, the play in authentic Brussels' dialect, mixing French and Flemish, stayed popular into the 60's, when it was still performed at the Brussels' Théâtre des Galéries and was made into a popular movie several times. (The picture shows a fragment of the 1960's version poster.)
The name could also be derived from a Flemish dish in the Bruges' countryside, near the port of Zeebrugge, where it is still served today in several variations, then meaning eggs in the miller way.
Read more North Sea grey shrimps dishes: baked endives with shrimps, tomate crevettes, kerremelksmeus.
