Egg Salad Sandwich

So simple.

Hard Boil some eggs.
Chop em up.
Add some mayo.
A couple of
blubs.
Add a large-ish squirt
of American
mustard.
Stir.
Put on your fave
fresh bread.
In my
case
the bread
will be Helga's
and it will
have
lots of seeds.

Eat.

Cool Way to Cook Eggs for Bacon and Egg Muffins

I saw this cool cool way to cook eggs on Pinterest, which took me to this blog.  I have been wanting to try it and tonight was the night !  We wanted to make bacon and egg muffins and these eggs were PERFECT for them !  And so easy ...

All you do is spray some oil into the bottom of a muffin tin tray ... crack in the eggs ... pop the tray into a oven that has been preheated to 350F/180C.  I forgot to set my timer so I'm not sure, but I think it was between 10-15 minutes ... I just watched them.

I did extras since these are supposed to freeze and reheat well.  Six eggs are in my freezer and will soon test that theory ! (updated to let you know that they freeze and reheat just fine ...)

For the bacon and egg muffins ... we just do, a slice of cheese, a couple slices of bacon, and an egg between two halves of an english muffin.  Rory added jalapenos to his too ...

Egg Curry and Chutney

I am re-posting this recipe because it needs to be at the front of the blog again, (and also because I finally got a photo that I'm happy with !)  Have you tried this yet ? You need to !!  Just a little side note, I used wholemeal flour in this tonight and there was no difference to taste !

My Mom sent me her recipes for these when I was first married. I have cooked both of them many times since. They are both passed down long time family favorites !

For the Egg Curry:
1 cup white sauce per person
1 hard boiled egg per person and one for the pot
curry powder to taste (start with 1 teaspoon per cup of white sauce)
garlic powder to taste
a little salt
generous black pepper
generous pinch of cumin per cup of white sauce (adds heat and punch but is optional)

Make white sauce.
Add sliced eggs.
Serve over rice.
May add green peas to rice, if you like peas ...

How to Make White Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter (or oil as I discovered out of necessity last time I made this !)
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

Melt butter (stir in spices if using for curry)
Stir in flour. Stir til all lumps are gone and there is only a smooth past.
Slowly add milk and stir constantly until sauce thickens and then boils. (use med-high heat)

For the Chutney :
1 pound of canned tomatoes and the juice (mush them up with your fingers so there are various sizes)
1 cup of sugar
1/2 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
1/4 tsp powdered ginger or 10 thin slices fresh ginger
1 tsp whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
generous 3/4 cup vinegar
as many raisins as you like (this recipe would call for 1/5 of a pound)

Throw everything into a pan except the raisins and cook for about 1.5 hours, or til it's dark brown and looks like chutney (not too runny) Turn of the fire and thrown in the raisins. Let cool in the pan so the raisins plump up.

You can freeze this chutney.
You can also keep it in your fridge from now til kingdom come.
But ... it won't last that long ... it's too yummy !

SJG Potato Salad

My brother in law brought a delicious potato salad to Christmas dinner this year ! Of course, I had to know how he made it. He told me the ingredients. I used most of them ... but not all. I've made this twice. The second time was better than the first and the key was the garlic and how I cooked it. Here's how I did it ...

What you need:

Potatoes, chopped (smallish bite size pieces)

Eggs, hard boiled

Bacon, chopped

Capers

Kewpie Mayo

Garlic, sliced (I used a head of garlic)

Red Onion, finely diced

Salt

Pepper

What you do:

There are a few components to this potato salad.  None of them difficult.  There aren't really measurements.  It's all pretty much to taste.

Preheat oven to 180C/375F

You'll need to boil the potatoes to your desired tenderness.  While those are boiling, cook your bacon.  I like it crispy. 

Once the oven is preheated, put the garlic slices and a bit of olive oil into an oven proof ramekin. Cover with tin foil and roast in oven til browned and smelling AMAZING !  (You could just fry the garlic if you wanted but I think the roasting adds so much flavor !) (The first time I made it, I roasted the head whole and then added it to the mayo and mixed it through ... I found the taste of the garlic got lost ... not so when I tried it this way the second time !)

Once potatoes are done, mix through kewpie (japanese mayo) to taste, salt and pepper, capers, bacon & red onion.  Mix.  Slice eggs and add to top ...

Serve.  Try not to eat the whole bowl by yourself !

PS ... Steven also adds corn and parsley.

The Bendeguz

So ... the other day my husband was craving Eggs Benedict. But it was already way past breakfast time and we didn't have any of the ingredients anyway so we just left it.  Then our friends invited us to come have pizza for dinner.  We never turn down pizza with Craig & Jodie ... this was no exception !  Rory threw out the idea of making an Eggs Benedict Pizza.  Craig was up to the challenge and the rest my friends, is history !  Mouth watering, record breaking, best pizza eva history !

So, how do you make it ?

You'll need your favorite pizza dough recipe. This one had a nice thick crust.

Roll out your dough.  Top with "funky lime" garlic and the oil you cooked it in.  (funky lime garlic ... heat olive oil in a small frying pan. Add freshly minced garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, til light brown ... DON'T BURN IT !! Burned garlic is bitter and yucky !)

Top with mozzarella cheese and sliced bacon.  Cook the pizza til cheese/crust are golden.

While pizza is cooking, make hollandaise sauce and poach a couple eggs. (recipe here)

Once pizza is cooked, drizzle hollandaise sauce on top, top with baby spinach leaves and poached eggs.

Try not to make groaning noises when you eat this ... (but don't be surprised to find that is an effort in futility !) 

Greek Egg Omelets

For each omelet you'll need:

2 eggs

Chopped red onion

Chopped tomatoes

Reduced-fat feta

Beat 2 eggs.

Pour eggs into small skillet.

Cook until stiff enough to flip.

Flip.

Sprinkle remaining ingredients onto one-half of eggs.

Fold eggs in half.

Flip.

Serve.

**
note from Bonnie ... I tried these tonight and they were delish.
I added black olives ... as you can see in the photo above !

Breakfast Burritos

My sister Ellie taught me how to make these ...
although, I've added a few little homemade salsa's of my own to the mix ....

There are lots of components ... and no real measurements, it depends on how many you are cooking for ... you'll work it out !

Potatoes: Chop 'em small and shallow fry with garlic powder and salt in a bit of olive oil. Fry til crispy (or done to your liking) These take a while so get them started and then do everything else.

Bacon: Chop and cook til crispy.

Eggs: Scrambled. Do these at the end so that they are hot when you serve !

Tomato Salsa: For this one I diced two tomatoes, 1/4 of a red onion (finely diced), 1 clove of freshly minced garlic, 2 handfuls of fresh coriander, salt, pepper and the juice of one lime. Mix.

Green Chili Salsa: 1/4 of a red onion (finely diced), 3 cloves of garlic (minced), 2 tins of fire roasted green chilies, 1/2 cup chicken stock. Sautee the onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add the chilies and the chicken stock. Stir occasionally so it doesn't burn. Keep it going til the sauce thickens up.

Cheese: Cheddar. Grated.

Flour Tortillas: Warmed

Top the tortillas with whatever combo of ingredients you want ... add Sour Cream too. Fold it up and eat it ! So good !!

I was going to add Avocado this time too but I forgot. I think it would be really good ....

Baked Potato Bowls

So ... I saw this recipe and wanted to try it. I didn't make it quite the same way, mainly because I forgot the bacon. How I did THAT, I don't know ! I cooked them anyway, and they were good but they will be so much better next time when I add the bacon. I changed a little bit about mine ... here's how I did them.

1 large potato per person, (and I of course did extra's for lunches the next day)
1 egg per potato
bacon, cooked and diced (probably one piece per 2 potatoes)
shredded cheese
fresh herbs, optional
salt and pepper

Bake the potatoes. Lay the baked potato on its side, and cut off the top of the potato. Scoop out the insides to make a “bowl", (I didn't know what to do with these innards last time but next time I'll be planning gnocchi for the following evening !) Break and egg into each bowl. Top with bacon, cheese, fresh herbs, and season with salt and pepper.

Bake at 350F/180C for 20-25 minutes, or until the egg whites are set. Serve immediately.

I topped the 'potato tops' with cheese and made potato skins. Yum !

And

I served these with sauteed mushrooms and onions, corn on the cob and a green salad.
Just realized that since I forgot the bacon, this was a totally vegetarian meal.

Easy Peasy Quiche

Years ago, a friend of mine gave me this recipe. It's such a good recipe because you can pretty much throw anything in it !

Mix together:
3 eggs
1/2 cup self raising flour
1 & 1/2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup filling (whatever you like)

Throw it all in a quiche dish and bake in the oven. I did mine on 180 and I think it took about 30 minutes but play with it. Next time I make one, I'll make note of how long it took ...

The one pictured here was really nice.

I cooked up a bit of bacon, onion and garlic. Once that was cooked, I threw in some white wine. I didn't measure, just poured it in. Maybe 1/4 of a cup ? I reduced that til there was no liquid left. Chopped up a handful of mushrooms and threw them in. I also had some leftover chicken so I chopped that up and threw it in. I had a little square of cream cheese that needed to be used. I melted that in with the bacon once it was cooked. I added a bit of salt and pepper too. I thought about adding some fresh herbs but in the end I didn't. Maybe it was raining and I didn't feel like going out to the garden ?

Anyway ... this is a great dish to get creative with. You really can't stuff it up ! Just make sure you don't add too much extra liquid !

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Salad w/Alioli

Here you go ... a Bonnie original.
Just threw this together out of leftovers in the fridge.

1/2 a baby cos lettuce
1/4 of an avocado
1 hard boiled egg
proscuitto left over from burger night
roasted red bell peppers (capsicum), left over from ... can't remember now !
aioli ... leftover from burger night

Throw it all together.
Add a bit of water to the aioli to make it a dressing consistency.
DONE.

Roast Vegetable Non-Frittata

I attempted to make a frittata the other night. You are supposed to cook it in the fry pan and then put it under the grill but our grill doesn't work so I thought I'd just flip it like a tortilla. So didn't work ! Check it out ...

I may try this again one day. I may not. I started with a Donna Hay recipe but changed it a fair bit. Here's what I did.

Preheat oven to 180C

In a big baking tray :
1 zucchini ~ quartered and then halved (does that make sense ? just cut it how you like !)
1 big carrot ~ same at the zucchini
1 potato ~ chopped
a bit of kent pumpkin ~ I cut up a mini one and it was a pain in the bahookie.
yellow and red capsicum (bell pepper) ~ cut into strips
garlic ~ slivers ~ however many you like !
drizzle of olive oil and a bit of rock salt

I threw all that into the oven for 40 ish minutes. Til they were a bit soft ... don't burn them though !

Mix :
6 eggs
One cup cream
3/4 cup fetta
salt and pepper
a handful of greek basil leaves
pepper

SO ... next time, I will add the veggies to the mixture above, pour into a quiche dish and bake til done. But if you want to do it the Donna Hay way you should cook in a frying pan over low heat for 8 - 10 minutes ... til the frittata begins to set. At this point, do not and I repeat DO NOT try and flip it like a tortilla ! Instead, put the pan under the hot grill (broiler) for a few minutes til golden.

In the end, I just made mine into scrambled eggs ... still tasted good. Just looked like a dogs breakfast !

It's Thyme for Eggs Benedict !!

Today I learned how to make eggs benedict !

I love learning something new ... especially when it has to do with cooking ... and even better when a real person is teaching me how to do it !! Today ... my teacher was our friend Craig. You may remember him introducing me to my first poached egg a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I've since been told by my Mom that I have in fact had poached eggs before ... when I was a kid. I do not remember ... she did not do them with hollandaise sauce though ... not more than once anyway. Mom ... you may like to give it another go using this recipe ... and maybe with Jilly who reckons she's never had a poached egg either ... and so I'm deducing she's never had eggs benedict either.

Now ... I didn't make these today. I just watched. Except for a little tiny bit of stirring once the hollandaise sauce was cooked ... I'm a good helper ! :) I'm totally going from memory here ... we might have a chance of me getting the recipe down right because it was earlier today and I was paying close attention ... let's see how I go.

For the sauce ...
butter
egg yolks
lemon juice
fresh thyme
salt and pepper
water
cream, optional

For the eggs ...

water
vinegar
eggs

For serving ...

bread, toasted
butter, spread on toast
ham
And now how to cook it ...

Fill a fry pan with water and put it on to boil. You don't want a rolling boil ... just a gentle bubbling boil ... it looked to me just a little above a simmer. When it's ready to go, add the vinegar. As you pour it in, you'll see it spread along the bottom of the fry pan ... when it gets to the edges, stop pouring.

As the same time, you should be melting your butter. He used equal parts butter and egg yolks. Sorry, if you want measurements ! I don't have 'em ... But, I think it was about 5 yolks and then butter that looked to be about the same amount ... Got that ?? Good !

You want to melt your butter in a bowl ... over a pot of hot water. Not too hot though because you're going to be adding the egg yolks and you don't want them to scramble. I imagine this just takes doing a few times to know when it's right ... When your butter is melted, slowly add the egg yolks and stir constantly. If they are starting to scramble, take it off the heat. This didn't happen today so I don't know what you'd do with it then ... change your breakfast plans ?

Keep stirring while the sauce thickens. Add a few squirts of lemon juice. Keep stirring. When it's thickish you can take it off the heat. But keep stirring (this is where I started being 'helpful') because it will keep cooking til the bowl cools down. Add your thyme and salt and pepper. And a bit of cream if you like.

You should have already started poaching your eggs by now. I'm not sure on the timing ... I'm actually posting this recipe so I'll know where to find it when I finally MAKE these myself ! But ... aim to have the sauce and the eggs finished at the same time. To poach the eggs ... you've already added the vinegar now you need to add the eggs. Crack the egg and slowly let it start to fall in the pan, don't let the whole thing go in just yet, you want that first bit to start cooking a little bit, then gently let the rest of it fall in. Cook to your desired doneness. Rory likes his yolks a bit runnier than I do but I'm getting more adventurous as far as runny yolk is concerned.

To eat ... toast. butter. ham. egg. sauce. fork. mouth. yum.

Oeufs Poches

if

you are my

friend on facebook

this won't be news to you

but ...

yesterday i ate

my first ever poached egg

i love eggs ~ i hate runny yolk ~ always have ~

but yesterday the part of me that loves trying new things was

stronger than my life long hatred of runny yolks

so i tried it and get this ~ i liked it

runny yolk and all

this is not the poached egg i ate.

the one i ate was not what one would call pretty.

this one is better ... but i took the photo on my cell phone

(and then made it look like an oil painting to try and hide the poor shot ~ didn't work !)

this is the egg that rory ate ~ after craig the poached egg chef ~ had a couple practice runs.



i'm sure it won't surprise any of you

that since i've discovered i like eggs this way

i'm going to have to learn how to make them myself !!

and i'm going to have a go at hollandaise sauce

it's a good thing i recently bought myself

" mastering the art of french cooking "

i just had to

after

watching julie and julia

(and after finding the boxed set on sale at target !)



i also bought the movie

i don't usually buy movies ~ i'm happy watching

something once and then never seeing it again ~ but over the easter

weekend i went to rent this to watch with my sister in law and decided i'd better

just buy it as it's one i already know i'll watch again and again

~~

speaking of the easter weekend, i meant to tell you all about how we went staying unprocessed. for the most part we did ok. we had decided in advance that we'd make a few exceptions. we were celebrating my birthday and we had loads of family at our place for many days and couldn't expect everyone to eat like us.

(some highly processed foods we enjoyed for my birthday dinner !)

but we didn't do too bad. it's interesting though. rory and i both got really sore stomachs one night after eating a few pieces of raisin toast. we think it was the white flour just sitting in our guts. gross. not the raisin toast. we loved every bite of that. the tummy ache wasn't worth it to me to do again though. i didn't have one piece of chocolate. but that's no temptation for me. the pavolova on the other hand ~ i had it two days in a row. the second day i got a headache. one that i had to go to bed to get rid of ! weird eh ? i find it so interesting to see what happens when we eat these things that we haven't been eating~ it makes me wonder what happens in our bodies when we eat them regularly.

(this was last years ... i didn't take the camera this year)

i never did get around to posting the rest of this weeks menu ~ mainly because i didn't ever plan it ! we've just been eating easter weekend leftovers, and meals we've previously cooked and froze. the kids and i had fish and chips on the beach with a friend one night and last night we had ~ excuse the drool ~ sashimi at one of our favorite restaurants. we haven't been there since my birthday last year !!

~~

i didn't mean for this to turn into a book

sheesh !

i will finish here

i did try out the new tagine this past week

delish !

photos and recipe coming soon !!

but enough for today !

bye !!

Making Mayo

So ... I spent a looong time trying to make mayo today ! A freaking long time !! I knew mayo was tricky to make but sheesh ... I was ready to throw it all out the window ! I made two batches of "mayonnaise soup" but the third time was some wonderful kind of success !! And I am thrilled ... let me tell you about it ...

Here's the recipe I used :

Crack one egg into your blender. Add 1/4 cup of oil and whizz for just a couple secs. I used peanut oil this time. Then ... very very slowly ...my Mom said it should be like almost dripping into your blender... add the rest of the oil ... with the blender on, of course ! It took ages and I kept having to switch hands ... Anyway, once you're done, you should have beautifully emulsified eggs and oil ! AKA: mayo ! At this stage, I split the batch into three. I folded lemon juice to one. White Balsalmic Vinegar to another. And WBV, lemon juice and garlic to another. I just did it to taste. Maybe a teaspoon or two but I just drizzled it in, mixed it up, tasted ... and so on.

A Revelation in Omelets

After going to see the move Julie & Julia, I went immediately home and youtubed old Julia Child cooking shows. The first one I stumbled across showed how to make French omelets. It looked pretty easy, so I gave it a whirl today.

Holy
Freaking
Cow.

I will never eat scrambled eggs again. Also, I may need to build a small, tasteful shrine to Madame Julia in my apartment.

What you need:
A non-stick frying pan at least 7 inches in diameter (cooking surface).
A whisk
A bowl
2-3 eggs (I used 2)
Salt & Pepper
Butter
Water

Crack open the eggs into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and add a smidge of water (I never measured, but it couldn't have been more than a teaspoon). Whisk together until well incorporated.

Meanwhile, heat the pan to VERY hot. Seriously, use the highest heat setting your stove can manage. Once the pan is hot, add a tablespoon of butter (yup, a whole tablespoon!) and swirl it around the pan, making sure to get some on the sides. Once the butter has stopped foaming, but before it turns color, add the egg mixture. It should sizzle.

Wait a moment then firmly grasp the pan's handle and start swirling it over the burner. When it looks like it is starting to set up, start vigorously jerking the pan back and forth until the eggs sort of fold over themselves and collect at the far end of the pan. It should finish cooking in a few seconds.

Turn upside down onto a warmed plate and either top with a little parsley or just enjoy plain (which is what I did). Seriously, it's quick and super easy and seriously impressive! Also, Julia says it makes a fantastic lunch when combined with a nice green salad. I made these for a couple of friends today and we indeed had them with a spinach salad. Oh that Julia - she's always right.


One a side note...the third one I made also happened to be the ugliest one I made. Sadly, it was the only one I thought to take a picture of. So sorry 'bout that, maybe someone else can make this a take a nicer photo.

Breakfast

This is one of my favorite breakfasts (and lunches) ...

Leftover rice
Nori Tamago Furikake
Avocado
Masago
Takuan
and a bit of scrambled egg ...