Showing posts with label eggs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eggs. Show all posts

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Zucchini waffles and the gentrification of the zucchini fritter


A couple of weekends ago I pulled out the last of the zucchini plants as winter has definitely arrived.

 I thought I should have done this a couple of weeks earlier but to my surprise I still had a couple of zucchini wilfully hanging onto their glorious summer.
May 2017

While many talk about a zucchini glut, an abundance of zucchinis should really be thought of as a privilege. Earlier this year there was a shortage of zucchinis (courgettes) in the UK sparking the #courgettecrisis. I suspect this was heavily due to it being winter and another reminder that natural champions seasonal eating.

 The zucchini is a powerhouse of versatility and adds a beautiful moistness to these waffles, aka gentrified zucchini fritters.

 Seriously there is nothing hipsters love more than an appliance based food item with a craft beer delivered by drone, lamington jaffle anyone?

Zucchini waffles
Ingredients - make about 2 large waffles
  • 1 medium zucchini 200g
  • 1 small red onion finely diced
  • 85g self raising flour
  • 125ml milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 50g feta, crumbled
  • 50g cheddar, crumbled 
  • 2 tbsp chopped mint
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Method
  • Grate the zucchini into a bowl lined with a clean tea towel
  • Gather up the edges of the tea towel and squeeze out excess liquid
  • Add all ingredient to a mixing bowl and combine
  • Heat waffle iron and spray with oil
  • Spoon half the mix into the waffle iron  (depending on the size of your waffle maker)
  • Cook for about 6 minutes (always wise to check out your own machine's instructions)
Optional serve with poached eggs and garnish with thinly sliced red onions, basil, parsley, mint and more fetta. My secret weapon is a drizzle of agrumato a lime olive oil.
Home grown beauties
Fine dice of red onion and reserve some for garnish 
Love a good all in one recipe
You don't want to over fill it....
These are a moist waffle not dry and crisp
I took inspiration from My Year without Meat by Richard Cornish after seeing the zucchini fritter recipe. 
I recommend everyone give this book a read for more insight into where our food comes from. 
Who doesn't love egg porn???


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Saturday, May 14, 2016

Chow Down to Eurovision 2016 Good Morning Australia

With the incredible performance of Dami Im last night in Semi Final 2 it makes perfect sense to have an Australian focus on the Chow Down to Eurovision....Breakfast!

 Apart from crazed screaming it is difficult to put into words the feeling of being in the Globen arena and witnessing the response to Dami's performance. People jumped to their feet applauding in the biggest reaction of any song for the night. 

 I could not be prouder of Dami representing our country to show the amazing talent and diversity that makes us a great and potential Eurovision winning nation? (I know better not put the mockers on it)

So for everyone back in Australia getting up at 5am to cheer Dami on you are going to need a good hearty breakfast......which would also work in Stockholm after leaving Euroclub in time for breakfast! (yet to find a kebab van) 


I have kept the Eurovision flavour drawing from Spain with a simple hot breakfast you can just pop in the oven.
You can make the sauce ahead and just put it together at 4.30am so its ready for when the Eurovision theme tune rings out at 5am!

Spanish baked eggs
Ingredients
  • 1 large brown onion diced
  • 4 large roma tomatoes chopped
  • 1 red capsicum de-seeded and chopped
  • Olive oil
  • 4-5 large potatoes cooked
  • 1 large red onion
  • 2 chorizo
  • 100g pancetta
  • 4 tomatoes
  • 3 red capsicums
  • 6 eggs
  • Chilli optional
    Method
    • Sauce: Add a large splash of olive oil to a heavy based saucepan
    • On a very low heat add diced onions and simmer for about five minutes
    • Add the chopped tomatoes and capsicum and simmer on low for about 20-30 minutes
    • Blend
    • Roughly chop the cooked potatoes
    • Slice the chorizo and pancetta 
    • Roughly chop red onion, capsicums and tomatoes
    • In a large pan add more olive oil
    • Lightly fry chorizo, pancetta and red onion
    • Add potato, tomato and capsicum 
    • Add sauce and stir to combine
    • Make indents with the back of  ladle and crack in the eggs
    • Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes (15 if you like a runny egg)


    You can add more eggs if required....just squeeze them in
    Top with some sliced chilli to give you that extra wake up call

    Some previous Chow Down to Eurovision breakfast dishes:
    2014 Israel Apples in Pyjamas

    2014 Germany Farmers Breakfast 

    2013 Bulgaria Panagyurski Eggs

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    Sunday, October 25, 2015

    Let's Get Technical - Great British Bake Off 2015 Dessert Week

    Week 4 in the tent, dessert week saw our remaining baker Jason tackle a Spanische Windtorte.

     While the name suggests the result of a big night on the chorizo and bean tapas it is actually the drag queen equivalent of a pavlova. 

     Not originating in Spain or even Australia the Spanische Windtorte comes from Austria...do we already have our entrant for Chow Down to Eurovision 2016??











    The baking on the serving dish makes no sense to me as it is glued onto the base like cement! 
    You can image how this helps with the ease of cutting and serving??






    I did think during this challenge that I would never make one again but as the weeks have gone on the idea of a Christmas windtorte doesn't sound completely silly.

     Would you make a spanische windtorte or stick to the good old Aussie/Kiwi pav?

     What is your favourite pavlova topping? 

     I don't mind a spoonful of kiwi fruit with the beautiful marriage of tart passion fruit and cream cocooned pav. 
      
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    Saturday, July 25, 2015

    Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 - Norway













    Good evening from Norway, winners of the first Chow Down to Eurovision in 2013.

    Today's recipe is from the land of culinary past that I'm sure we all had in our early youth but it certainly isn't terrible.

    It should be enjoyed with some retro Eurovision such as the Bendik Singer from 1973 with It's Just a Game.....I hope they aren't referring to a game of the era where car keys were placed in a bowl?






    Smoked Salmon Eggs
    Ingredients
    • 6 eggs
    • 150g smoked salmon
    • 50g sour cream
    • 10g capers
    • Juice of 1/2 lemon
    Method
    • Boil the eggs till hard boiled (about 7-8 minutes on low simmer)
    • Put eggs in cold water then peel
    • Cut the eggs in half and scoop out and place the yolks in a bowl
    • In a food processors add 100g smoked salmon, sour cream, capers, lemon juice and 1/2 the egg yolks*
    • Blend till smooth
    • Pipe or spoon the mixture into the hollow eggs whites
    • Arrange on a serving plate and decorate with more smoked salmon and a caper
    *the rest of the yolks can get mixed with some mayo for toast or a sandwich


    Don't worry if they eggs don't come out perfect, I would rather an egg with a bit missing than waste eggs searching for eggcellence. (sorry)

    I have read about a method of putting the eggs into boiling water because they are coop fresh collected that day, so will have to give this a try!

    Do you have any boiled eggs secrets?



    One thing is certain Mørland and  Debrah Scarlett did something wonderful in Vienna coming 8th in Vienna with A Monster Like Me.  A class act from Norway that was made even more visually special by the phone torches in the arena.

    Their powerful duet had an air of elegance that continued onto the red carpet where they graciously posed for selfies. 
     



    Previous Norway Chow Down to Eurovision:

    2014 Norwegian Prawn Open Sandwich


    2013 winner Smultringers


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    Sunday, September 15, 2013

    Meat Loving Quiche Man

    I stumble across many wonderful (some weird) things on Twitter, the latest being the Sunday Bake Club.
     
    While they began in January this year, I've only been following for about the last month.

    The concept is fantastic -- on Sunday bake something to team with the week's theme. How simple could it get?
     
    Each Sunday evening, my Twitter feed is filled with amazing looking baked goods and great conversation with some friendly mostly United Kingdom based bakers.
     
    Check out their blog to see some of the past themes. We may need to ask if we can have a sister city program for Australia.
     
    This week's theme is Bakes for the Boys, so being a boy I thought I was at least halfway there.

    Thinking about this theme amongst debating the gender politics of a sausage roll I kept getting a repeated phrase in my head "feed the man meat".
     
    I tried avoiding going down the stereotypical cave man road which ignores the metrosexual quiche men amongst us, but by combining the best of both worlds I created the Caveman's Quiche, Man! 
     


    I couldn't resist prettying it up with a pancetta flower
     
    Caveman's Quiche, Man!
     
    Pastry
    Ingredients
    • 200g plain flour
    • 100g unsalted butter
    • 50ml water
    • Pinch of sea salt
    Method
    • Finely cube the butter
    • Add butter, flour, salt to the bowl of a food processor
    • Process on high for about 20 seconds till it looks like breadcrumbs
    • Add water and process for about 1 minute till it comes away from the sides and forms a ball
    • Wrap in cling wrap and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
    • Grease 25.5cm x 6cm deep quiche/pie tin with removable base
    • Flour work surface and roll pastry out to about 1/2cm thick
    • Line the tin a bit higher than the sides to allow for shrinkage
    • Blind bake for 10 at 180º C 
    • Remove the beads/beans and bake a further 10 minutes
    • Now it's ready for the filling
    • Make the pancetta flowers while pastry is baking

    Pancetta flower
    6 slices of round hot pancetta
    Method
    • Place 4 slices pancetta flat on a greased tray
    • With remaining 2 slices curl each tail around to look like a flower and place on top of the round end as per picture below
    • Bake for 10 minutes at 180º C
    • 1 flower is only there as a back up and can be a cook's treat

    Filling
    • 6 pork sausage
    • 6 short cut rasher free range bacon
    • 160g hot Calabrese salami
    • 150g ham cubed
    • 12 eggs
    • 200ml sour cream
    • 100g parmesan shredded plus 25g extra for topping
    • 4 spring onions chopped
    • 25g grated cheese

    Method
    • Pinch and twist the sausage in the skins then slide out to make little balls of sausage
    • Roughly slice the bacon
    • Roughly chop the salami into 1cm pieces
    • Fry sausage balls on a medium heat for about 10 minutes
    • Repeat with bacon and salami
    • Cut the ham into 1 cm cubes (I asked for a 1cm thick slice at the deli)
    • In a mixing bowl add the eggs, sour cream, parmesan and spring onions and combine
    • I didn't add any salt as I thought there was already enough in the meat and cheese
    • Fill the pastry case with the meats
    • Fill with egg mixture
    • Sprinkle with extra parmesan
    • Bake at 160º C for about 1 hour (I checked every 20 minutes)
    • Sprinkle on additional cheese and bake for an extra 5 minutes (I was thinking about a meat lovers pizza when I did this)
    • Serve topped with pancetta flowers
    • Note I treated today a bit like a Bake Off technical challenge where all the recipe was missing because I was making it up. Next time I would add about 2-3 tbsp. of flour to the meats so that it can soak up some of the juices without having to over bake the quiche  










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    Sunday, November 4, 2012

    Layer upon Layer upon Layer

    The chickies have finally arrived!
    Their presence has been about a year and a bit in the making. The process could have been made very simple by going and getting a flat packed coop at the hardware store and be done with it, but from all the reviews I have read that is just asking for your chooks to become a fox's dinner.
    The coop we settled on wasn't cheap but it was the best option for happy, safe birds as well as it being built for life. It is so well made that if you put a solid roof, sides and floor, I'd happily move in. The girls, Flo, Dorrie and Mrs Whit, moved into number 96 and we so loving themselves sick in their new home, Flo was laying less than 24 hours in. The other 2 have been a bit slower to come to the party. but they are aware that I have a copy of "101 chicken dishes".
    They have averaged 1 egg a day but today we got 2 so things are looking up. I need to explain to them about my baking so they understand prolific production, mine and in turn hopefully theirs.
    I don't mind getting the girls out as they love a bit of free range action, plus they are way better than TV. Even though they are yet to love cuddles, they have all managed to pay a little visit while I have been writing this post. why is it everything in my life is apposed to cuddles? (outside on laptop, chickes ain't coming inside)
     
     
     
     
    The first egg didn't get the royal treatment of being served with truffle, it ended up in a timpano as I had run out. We did however have the cermonial first breakfast with poached egg on smoked salmon muffin and minature asparagus from the garden. There would have been holiandese but the girls weren't quite up to that just yet.

     
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