Not much to say about this one, but I had to snap the most perfect and symmetrical poached egg I’ve ever done!
(For those that aren’t aware, eggs benedict is a poached egg (3 minutes for me), with smoked ham, a toasted muffin and Hollandaise sauce).
Category: egg
I’ve been absorbed by the always-absurd Masterchef: The Professionals. Current professional chefs take part in elimination challenges under the bellow of Gregg Wallace and the bird-like gaze of Michel Roux Jr. It really only needs the super-intelligent yet engaging Michel, Gregg only serves to bark out a repeat of what the other guy just said.
One of the challenges for the wannabe Micheliners is to reproduce a ‘classic’ recipe under a time limit to test their skills. This week Michel announced that they would be making a ‘far breton’ or Brittany Cake. I’d never heard of this but it sounded delicious, so I set Google Chrome to work to find me a recipe. I devoured half a dozen or so to get the gist and then thought about how to make it my own. It’s a kind of yorkshire-puddingy type dessert with fruit in. I decided on mixed dried fruit (as I had it to hand) and ditched the prunes (as not enjoyed in my house) and substituted apples.
The result was very tasty, but already I’m planning my next one. It didn’t quite rise enough so I’ll return to my standard yorkie recipe, and try a different pan – my mix started to leak underneath and make battery tentacles on the baking tray! Still, nice and sweet and just right for this time of year.
Far Breton:
35g butter
70g caster sugar
Few drops vanilla essence
2 eggs
35g plain flour
Pinch of salt
Handful dried mixed fruit (raisins, sultanas etc.)
1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and diced
3 tablespoons marsala wine
- Cream the butter and half the sugar together. Add in the flour, vanilla essence, eggs and salt and mix to a smooth batter. Refrigerate while you get on with everything else.
- Soak the mixed fruit in water for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 200C. Fry the apples in a dry pan with the rest of the sugar until they start to become tender. Add the fruit and their water and bubble until the liquid is reduced.
- Add the marsala wine and bubble fast until almost dry. Leave to one side to cool.
- Mix the fruit in with the batter and pour into a greased baking dish. Bake until browned and a skewer comes out of the cake clean (about 45 mins).
- Serve dusted with icing sugar. Good with custard too!
This is the first recipe I’ve tried from Jamie’s America
I start by frying a sliced onion with some bacon, then adding red potatoes that have been sliced on the ‘wide’ bit of a box grater. I continued frying these until soft and then seasoned. Then I chucked in some beaten eggs mixed with a little cayenne pepper, and once the eggs had set oozed the lot on to some toast. Not quite content with my cardiac state I added a little grated cheese on top. Totally satisfying and very tasty, this will come round again another breakfast time!
A quick and easy dinner, colourful and tasty. An a darned good excuse to try out my new knife! Tender egg, fresh parsley, meaty chorizo and sweet onion in one parcel. Partnered with a rocket and chard salad, drizzled with a brisk dressing inspired by Wagamama this is great meal for a dinner in a rush.
Chorizo omelette (serves 2):
4 eggs, beaten and seasoned
2 tablespoons parsley
100g chorizo, chopped
1/2 onion, diced
For the salad:
Mixed leaves (I used rocket and red chard)
For the salad dressing:
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- Fry the onion in a little butter and oil until soft.
- Add the chorizo and continue frying until it releases it’s orangey juices. Remove the chorizo and onion from the pan to one side.
- In the same pan add the eggs and 1 tablespoon of parsley. Heat until the bottom starts to set and add the chorizo and onion back to the pan.
- Fold in half and allow to cook for a minute more or until done how you like it. Sprinkle the remaining parsley over.
- For the salad dressing, whisk it all together until lightly emulsified and drizzle over the leaves.