Scotch Easter Eggs in Africa

4 April 2016 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

Two weekends ago, being Easter and a long weekend, the market regulars took it upon themselves to do something a wee bit different for the Saturday Market. We couldn’t do a night market like we had, the Friday before Christmas: for many Good Friday remains sacred and the market takes place on church property next to the hall, in the shadow of the church spire.

Church_viewfromSKhouse_2015 — A sunset view of the spire

So, when the notion was flighted, the challenge was two-fold. What could I do that was different, and which didn’t need “instant” cooking? I don’t have the accoutrements for that. It needed to be something that could be eaten for breakfast and/or taken home. Besides, there are other people that do bacon and eggs, and the philosophy of our little market is mostly collegial rather than competitive. It’s too small, and the custom too limited to kill each other with competition.

My approach to an offering is based on both my own leanings towards meat-free and understanding that there are increasing numbers of people who don’t do meat and/or gluten. What could I do that involved eggs (it was going to be Easter, after all) and no meat, preferably eaten with the minimum of cutlery? It couldn’t be quiche or frittata – for the same reason as it couldn’t be bacon and egg…

I experimented with spinach, egg and tomato.

The theory was good: egg on a nest of spinach and onion, baked in the oven to be served with a tomato relish.

The results shared among friends on the social media got mixed reviews. The Husband’s: it was imminently edible but not on the run, let alone cold.

There was a torrent of unrepeatable, hilarious repartee on my personal Facebook page in response to this picture. Instagram followers were much more polite.

The vegetarian option was abandoned. Sometimes I do know when I’m defeated.

I settled for a single offering and one which harks back to my childhood and yet another occasion where I chose a dish based on its name. I don’t recall which birthday it was, but remembering where we lived the time, I must have been around about this age:

Claire_Fi_Nicky_1974 — My sister and I (at the back), 1974, in Bots, Grahamstown

Even then, I used to spend time browsing through Mum’s cookery books and one recipe that appealed to me was Scotch Eggs. It was in this book that now forms an important part of my collection of recipe books.

As luck would have it, Mr J’s mama had presented us with a clutch of little eggs from her fowl family, and my dummy run was a great success.

This time, the response on both Facebook and Instagram was enthusiastic, to say the least.

Decision made, plans were set in place and all that had to be done was the work. A production line was called for. Not difficult at all:

Scotch Eggs

As you see, and as usual, I made the recipe my own by adding chopped fennel and parsley to the meat; I used two variants of a local Worcester Sauce instead of a commercially available one.

Other tips

To ramp up the recipe to make a large quantity (I did 16), I used medium eggs and worked on 105 to 110g of mince per egg. Weighing out the mince helps with managing portion control and also keeps the final product uniform. It was a lot less hassle than I thought it would be. Actually, it made things a lot easier.

For perfect hard-boiled, “peelable” eggs, the first thing to remember is that in this instance, fresh is not best.The Husband, as a former poultry farmer who before he retired, was in large scale free range egg production, really knows his eggs: an egg’s flavour is best developed about three days after it’s laid. A fresh egg is impossible to peel. Because eggs have a really long shelf life and because aesthetically you want a perfect egg, you can comfortably buy your eggs 7 to 10 days before you need them.

To hard-boil a large quantity of eggs that have no blue ring around the yolk, place room temperature eggs into a pot of cold water. Bring to the boil. Boil for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. For a medium egg, boil for 4 minutes. All of this with the caveat that altitude does affect the length of cooking to get the perfect product….

It seems that the eggs, served with a choice of homemade tomato chutney or curried beans*, were a hit: sold out and requests for more.

Also on offer at my Easter table was the pickled fish, a South African tradition.

*Recipe to come in the next while.

Here today, gone tomorrow!

12 October 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

Here today, gone tomorrow just about epitomises last week.

Summer arrived with a vengeance on Monday and the thermometer hit 38 degrees Celsius (just over 100 Fahrenheit). Overnight, a little swarm of bees took residence in our Cotoneaster. We were delighted because a couple of months ago, a local beekeeper had put an empty hive on our plot and we’ve been waiting patiently for a swarm to occupy it. Bee man said to leave them alone. “They’ve already decided where they’re going….”

Wednesday dawned: cool and blustery and got progressively more blustery and cold. By evening it was pouring with rain. After Monday’s heat, this was all a bit much, so I persuaded The Husband to light the fire; I know he thought I was being extra dramatic. Wonderful man: he indulged me.

When Pearli thundered home, bang-crash-wallop through the cat flap, she was very glad to discover a lovely warm fire. And the sofa, with its pristine throw, was just the place to dry off. Of course.

I had planned omelettes and salad for supper, but with the cold, I thought that something more warming and stew-like would be in order. But what? Whatever I made would have to have egg or cheese as the protein, and whatever else was in the kitchen, garden, or the fridge. Thursday is shopping day, so the proverbial pantry was rather bare.

Fortunately, and don’t ask me why, we had a large number of tomatoes and in the fridge I found courgette, sweet bell peppers and mushrooms (these we would have had in the omelette, anyway). In the garden there is fennel, oregano and parsley, all of which go well with both eggs and tomatoes. Fortunately we both like egg and tomato. My dad didn’t, and nor do a few other people I know…

So, in the wok, I made a tomato stew with sautéd onions and garlic to which I added chopped peppers, mushrooms and courgette, with some fennel. I let all of that brew for a little while – not too long so that the vegetables keep some crunch. When it was all bubbling nicely, with a good bit of liquid, I made four “wells” in the stew, and broke an egg into each. I put the lid on the wok and let the eggs poach in the tomato stew until they were ready.

Boy, did we need that warm stew. It was a cold night and we woke to snow on Thursday morning – summer was gone – and our little swarm of bees had huddled themselves into a tiny little ball.

And by Sunday, winter had retreated. And our swarm of bees, still here yesterday, was gone. Our empty hive is still empty.

Anyone for eggs?

25 August 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

I have always loved eggs. As a little girl, I loved eating Dad’s scrambled eggs; of course I had had my own, but they were much nicer when I perched on his knee, eating them off his plate. He loved his eggs on buttery toast and topped with a good sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper. Another “egg” memory associated with Dad, and which I’ve mentioned before, is my (actually Dad….) bidding for the winning egg and succeeding, at the Gonubie Agricultural Show. I guess those eggs must have been quite expensive in the grand scheme of things. Why was I besotted with those particular eggs? I have no idea, except that they were generally a beautiful white, not the brown we are used to, now. And always double yolkers.

Eggs feature quite a bit on our menu; fortunately, we both could eat them for breakfast, lunch and supper! There was a time when an egg-rich diet was considered potentially dangerous. Not so, nowadays, and for two key reasons, it seems: they don’t contain “bad” cholesterol, and it would appear that there are now even questions about whether cholesterol is the consequence of too much unsaturated fat. Adding fuel to this fire is the move to a low carbohydrate, high-fat diet – people are Banting bonkers at the moment. I’m not knocking it as I have been leaning in that general direction for a while…

Eggs are an essential ingredient in many things we eat, often without realising it, for example mayonnaise, cakes and cookies, rich pastries and of course, in custards, including the savoury custard in a quiche. My home made pasta is egg-rich. So, we eat eggs, often, and not just for breakfast.

Breakfast

Over the weekend, have sort of a ritual. I loathe early mornings and am virtually non-functional, so what needs to be done must be done in “auto pilot”. On a Saturday, because there is no alarm, things are a little more leisurely, but we still need to be at the McGregor pop-up market, and set up by nine o’clock, so our day begins without breakfast.After the market, we get home and unpack the bakkie (also known, depending on where you live, as a pick-up or ute), and Tom does breakfast: soft boiled eggs, toast and coffee. He’s a real egg-boiling pro, and if the batch of eggs contains a speckled one – it’s always mine! The speckled egg is another throwback to my childhood and Alison Uttley’s wonderful stories about Grey Rabbit and Speckeld Hen; stories that my granny read to us when she visited South Africa in 1969 into 1970. A “speckeldy” egg always gets me clucking with childlike delight!

Sunday is a whole different ball game; breakfast is the full catastrophe! Fried egg, beautiful, homemade bacon, fried tomato, mushroom, brinjal, potato… And, needless to say, toast or croissant, and coffee. We love our Sunday brunch which, weather permitting, we usually eat on our lovely, sunny veranda.

Lunch

So, if that was breakfast, what about lunch, you ask. Well, ever since I was a tot, a favourite sandwich was egg mayonnaise – it still is. I even enjoyed the ones we got at boarding school! There can be few things more delicious than lovely fresh bread, hard boiled egg, grated and mixed with home made mayonnaise, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Jazz that up with some fresh parsley, a lettuce leaf and some sliced tomato, and you have a feast!

But you don’t have to stop there: firm, but not quite hard-boiled eggs (so that the yolk is not quite cooked and a lovely rich, orange colour), added to a green salad are delicious, on a hot summer’s day.

On a cooler day, here’s a thought: poached eggs on freshly picked spinach, wilted, with tomatoes, topped with a dollop of cottage cheese, grilled. Fresh fennel goes well with all of these components, so I use it both as a garnish and as an element in the meal – with or without lovely crusty bread.About poaching eggs: make sure that your eggs are as fresh as possible, and add a little vinegar to the water when you cook them. Once they’re cooked to your taste, remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on a cloth (not paper towel – it sticks to the egg and is hard to get off). Allow them to drain for a little while – there is nothing worse than a poached egg that deposits puddles of water over your plate!

Supper

A regular supper, one night during the week, has egg as the main protein, in one form or another: an omelette, a Spanish Omelette, a frittata, or a quiche, accompanied by a garden salad. A two-egg omelette, with a filling of your choice, which includes cheese, is a really filling and easy meal.If you’re nervous about folding an omelette, and other than practice, my technique is to make sure that I use a pan that is the right size, and I don’t believe anything is non-stick, so I always add a knob of butter and olive oil. Don’t overheat the pan…. Once the eggs are in the pan, don’t fiddle with them until you see that the edges are cooking. Then, with a small egg lifter, draw a little egg towards the centre and allow the runny egg to flow out to the edge. Once the egg is mostly cooked, add your filling – on one side and then gently lift the other over it.

Another tip about folding omelettes over their fillings: make sure that you have the pan handle at nine o’clock. Put the filling on the same side, between twelve and six o’clock. Then you can comfortably hold the pan and gently lift the other side of the omelette over the filling, and then slide it onto a warm plate. If you’re left handed, do it the other way round, i.e. have the handle at three o’clock, etc…

Have a look at another supper that includes eggs, cooked in a tomato sauce….

Turn a simple breakfast into a stunning one

28 March 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

I’m not a morning person. This is mostly why, over the years, Tom does the breakfast. There are, however, times when I get in on the act. Usually it’s because I have a bee in my bonnet about something – and it’s over a weekend or a holiday, so I’m a bit more capable of engaging my brain………

So, here are two breakfasts. One is very simple and the other involves some standard and not-so-standard breakfast ingredients that are used in combination. I’m sure you have made all of these things before – what makes these breakfasts stunning are the combinations and the presentation.

Gooseberry glasses

This a continental type breakfast, consisting of fresh gooseberries from the garden, Greek yoghurt and honey, followed by toast accompanied by great coffee. It was a public holiday Friday and I didn’t want our boring week day breakfast. There was also a rugby match to be watched; we needed a table in front of the couch. We have a butler’s tray which can sometimes be a little awkward, because of the depth of the edges. So I turned it over and put a pretty cloth over it: a practical little breakfast table.

For the breakfast you can, of course, just plonk the yoghurt and gooseberries into bowls. Or you can celebrate the time out doing something different and layering gooseberries and yoghurt in beautiful glasses. Put a drizzle of honey over the top layer and if you like, add a sprinkle of cinnamon…

How difficult is that, and how appetising does this look?

As an aside: The crystal glasses were a silver wedding anniversary gift to my parents, in 1986. Oh, and the plates – the original ones – I bought from the OK in Yeoville, the same year……

Breakfast stacks

The second breakfast was cobbled together the morning after we had returned from a short trip and hadn’t had time to shop. I ferreted in the fridge and wandered round the garden and discovered eggs, bacon, spinach and tomatoes, as well as fresh chives and parsley.

On our trip, I had found the most beautiful, brightly coloured, grass table mats and wanted to use them – instantly.

Having been away from home and stayed in a hotel and bed and breakfasts, I was itching to get back into the kitchen.

After a week of hotel breakfasts, I wanted something different. I made a thick, rich tomato sauce starting with onion sauted in the fat from the crisply fried bacon which had been set aside to drain. Once the bacon and sauce had been sorted, a batch of creamy scrambled eggs followed and then I wilted a small bunch of young spinach leaves.

While all that was going on, plates were happily warming and waiting to have the breakfast bits piled on them. First the wilted spinach and then a dollop of the tomato mix, followed by the scrambled egg and, finally, the crispy bacon. Before garnishing with a sprig of parsley and a fresh chive flower, I chopped some chives and sprinkled these over everything, making sure that some scattered on the plate, itself. And there you have it: a Breakfast Stack.

Of course, there are other wonderful things that you can use in a breakfast or brunch stack – black mushrooms, crostini, cheese, grilled tomatoes, or whatever rocks your socks, and which is “stackable”.

….and not just for breakfast….

Of course, the Gooseberry Glasses also make a fresh, healthy and delicious dessert; presented this way, they will impress. The Breakfast Stack could equally be a stack of lunch or supper!

Taking simple breakfast fare and using crystal glasses, or arranging the elements differently, turned ordinary breakfasts into stunning ones.

Quiche-cum-savoury tarts

7 February 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

I promised this a while ago……………

This is a very easy way to make a quiche – I don’t have scientific measures, and when Di asked me for the recipe, I had to think about it. So, here goes –

The basics

I use puff pastry (short pastry works just as well) and I buy it frozen. This recipe takes half (or a quarter if you use the little dishes that I have in the picture below; and the thawed pastry keeps in the fridge for a week with no deterioration)
The custard is three eggs and 2 dessert spoons yoghurt (greek or bulgarian or low fat – whatever you choose), P&S to taste, beaten together. If you like a less “eggy” tart, 2 eggs work just as well.

“Fillings”
I use a rage of fillings, but our favourites are herbed leek & onion and spinach.

Leek & Onion
bunch of leeks, cleaned & chopped
medium onion, sliced
clove garlic (optional)
Fresh herbs to taste (any you would like, and which work well with cheese e.g. oregano, parsley and thyme)
115g cheddar

Spinach & Feta*
bunch of spinach, cleaned & chopped
medium onion, diced
1 tsp fresh fennell, chopped finely
half “wheel” of feta, crumbled
(optional extra about 2 dessert spoons diced, roasted butternut)
*sometimes I use cheddar – just for a change or if I’ve run out…..

Saute the onion until transparent and add the garlic, if using. Saute for a couple more minutes and then add you veg of choice and cook until tender. Season to taste.

Grease and line your pastry dish – I leave the pastry quite rustic. If I’m using cheddar, I put that in first and then the rest of the filling on top of that. The feta goes on top of the spinach and then pour over the custard.

Bake in a hot oven (200 Celsius) for about 40 minutes, depending on the size of your dish.

This serves four for a a light meal with a green salad. For the more hungry, add some crusty seed bread or a potato salad.

Enjoy…………………..