FILLING EGG SANDWICHES

Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

- Fran Lebowitz

 

When I started this blog, I looked at a bunch of awesome food blogs and thought "oh well that looks easy, how hard can it be if every second person has a food or design blog these days?" I was pretty much totally wrong but I'm used to that. I just spent the last 5 and a half hours fixing the formatting on my previous posts. I realize I don't have the technical ability to make this blog really pretty but I'd prefer if it was atleast uniformly ugly. Yup. That's me, setting high goals for myself.

 

So anyway, 5 and a half hours, first fixing the formatting (I hate text which is not justified, left/right align drives me nuts), then realizing how many typos there were (so embarrassing!), and finally attributing my recipes to the right sources. 5 and a half hours spent on making sure this webpage does not completely suck. Phew.

 

For gargantuan tasks like not completely sucking in life you need hearty, filling food to keep your energy levels high. This classic egg sandwich is creamy and comforting but not so heavy that you'll need a nap after. It's perfect for when you're running low on time and need to fix yourself something easy and substantial. Like most of my favourite recipes, feel free to add or remove whatever you like. Off the top of my head I would think tomato, tobasco or bacon would make great additions.
 

Makes 2 sandwiches

Recipe my own

What you’ll need:

 

4 slices toasted brown bread

2 tbsp butter (for spreading on the bread)

3 hard boiled eggs

¼ cup mayonnaise (I’ve taken to using a low fat mayo these days)

Handful of Cilantro/ Parsley/ Chives if you have some on hand

1 tsp red chilli powder

Salt and pepper to taste

 

How to:

1. Butter the bread and set aside.

 

Note: The bread is going to have to be toasted or it won’t be able to hold up the heavy filling and will fall apart in your hands.

 

2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and make a nice mash of it. Leave it chunky or make a smooth paste as you prefer.

 

3. Slather on the egg mix and make your sandwiches. Serve with a bowl of soup or salad.

 

 

BAKED SPINACH EGG CUPS WITH SUNDRIED TOMATOES ON BAGUETTE

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.- C. S. Lewis

Okay the ingredient list may seem a little generous in terms of calories with all the egg, cheese and butter but you can lighten or weigh down the ingredients as you like. You can take the yolk out of the eggs being baked (and thus take out most of the saturated fat in the egg) and reduce the butter to just a couple of spoons for flavour.  You can get rid off the sundried tomato and cheese toast on the side entirely. But with or without adjustments this can be a great snack to come home to in the evening (with a good dose of spinach) or a side that you can bake for each guest if you're arranging lunch or dinner.

 

 

Serves 4

Adapted from Good Food Magazine

 

What you’ll need:

400 gm spinach

100 gm parmesan

100 gm basil

50 gm sundried tomatoes (finely chopped)

30 gm butter

4 eggs

Slices of baguette

Salt and pepper to season
 

How to:
 

1. Cut off the stalks and put it into a pan. Cook till the spinach wilts.
 

2. Take out the spinach, drain the water and then pop it back in the pan with the butter. Stir and cook till the spinach is well coated in butter.

 

3. Heat the oven to 190°C.

 

4. Line the inside of 4 cups with the spinach. Make a depression and crack an egg into each cup. Season with salt and pepper – add some butter if you’re feeling indulgent.
 

 

5. Mix the grated cheese, salt, pepper and sundried tomatoes in bowl.
 

  

6. Use some of the mixture to top the spinach cups if you want – if you want to keep the spinach cups low fat then use the mixture to top slices of baguette and toast.

 

7. Bake the spinach cups for about 10 minutes (till you see the eggs set).
 

8. Serve with the cheesy baguette slices.

 

SCRAMBLED EGGS

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said."

― A.A. Milne

 

 

Enough with the truffles, the meringues and the layer cakes. It's time this blog got back to basics. I might have gotten carried away with the fancier, fluffier recipes but I havn't forgotten the principles this blog was founded on. Life, love and the pursuit of happiness. Maybe not. But reluctant chefs don't despair! This is a perfect first for people to start with in a kitchen.

 

Also, I love eggs, they're the simplest thing to work with and if you know your way around eggs there's no culinary mountain you can't climb. I may be getting carried away again. I'm going to stop.

 

 Serves 4 - 5

 

What you’ll need:

6 eggs

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp butter

1 chopped spring onion

How to:

1. Beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Put a couple of tablespoons aside.

2. Heat a frying pan, add butter and swirl till the pan is coated.

3. Add the eggs to the melted butter and spring onion - let it sit till you see the eggs firming up.

4. Swirl the eggs around every time they start to settle for 3 to 5 minutes.

5. Add the remaining egg mixture and stir till it stops looking wet.

Note: This is some fancy technique that some fancy chef came up with to make sure that you don't totally dry out the eggs and end up with sawdust instead of scrambled eggs. I've clearly forgotten the name of both the technique and the chef so this does not seem as impressive as it should have.

6. Remove from the heat and season with more salt and pepper if you think you need it.



 

 

SHRIMP AND VEGETABLE PLATTER WITH GARLIC AIOLI

“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.”

― John Keats, Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

 

Summer is most definitely here. Delhi saw some unusual weather in April when there were storms and unexpectedly cloudy days but that's all gone now. It's May and the merciless sun knows it is its time to shine. I wish I could survive entirely on cold water, slices of cucumber and chunks of watermelon but I suspect I wouldn't last too long .

If you're trying to come up with a side dish or appetizer for a group, the Shrimp and Vegetable Platter with Garlic Aioli is perfect. The flavours are light and simple but lively. There's minimal oil and spice in the proceedings and you need almost no skill to put this together. On the other hand, if you think this is too simple you can always add more things to it but leave it plain and you won't be disappointed.

Serves 5 – 6

 

What you’ll need:
 

For the aioli
 

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup thickened yoghurt (Just hang yoghurt in a muslin cloth for a bit to drain out some of the extra water.)

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp mustard

½ tsp red chilli powder (More if you want. Paprika if you have.)

Juice of 1 lemon
 

For the platter
 

500 gms potatoes (Diced)

500 gms shrimp (I used frozen so just set aside and thaw.)

500 gms carrots/beans (Peeled and chopped evenly.)

5 hard boiled eggs (Peeled and sliced)

2 – 3 tbsp olive oil

2 – 3 tbsp oregano/parsley/whatever seasoning you have on hand

Salt and Pepper

Lemon Juice

 

How to:

1. To make the aioli, put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix. Stick in the fridge while preparing the platter. Set aside the shrimp to thaw.

 

2. Boil the potatoes in some water with salt till tender. Drain the water and put aside.

 

3. Boil the carrots/beans in some water with salt till tender. Drain the water and put aside.                                                                                                                                                     

 

4. In a pan put in a little olive oil and toss the potatoes with some seasoning (I had some dried up parsley around that I used). Add salt to taste and brown the potatoes. Put aside.
 

Note: You can throw in some garlic if you like. Add as much seasoning as you want – if you use butter and put in red chilli powder it’ll be even more flavourful. Decide how simple or elaborate you want the platter to be.

 

5. Next, repeat with carrots and/or beans. Toss with seasoning on a pan to give it some colour.
 

6. Finally throw the shrimp on to the pan with some garlic, salt and pepper.
 

7. Arrange the vegetables, eggs and shrimp in piles the way you would like. Drizzle some lemon juice and sprinkle some salt and pepper if needed.
 

8. Serve with the garlic aioli.

 

BREAKFAST PIZZA

“Those pizzas I ate were for medicinal purposes.” ― Amy Neftzger

Happy New Year! May our new year be as simple, satisfying and stress free as this breakfast pizza recipe. 

 

Serves 2

What you’ll need:

Pre-baked pizza base

4 tbsp tomato puree

½ cup cheese (grated)

½ cup spinach (washed and chopped)

1 egg

1 ½ tbsp oregano

1 ½ tsp red chilli powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Sundried tomatoes (optional)

 

How to:
 

1. Pop your pizza base on to your baking tray and spoon on the tomato puree evenly.

 

2. Sprinkle a layer of cheese and follow with a layer of chopped spinach in a sort of nest shape (leave a hole in the middle, genius).

3. Break an egg into abovementioned hole. Season wildly with oregano, salt, pepper, chilli and whatever else floats your boat. I managed to find a bottle of sundried tomatoes under my stove and plunked some of those on as well.

 

4. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or till egg on top is cooked. Sprinkle some more cheese and serve immediately!

 

ROSEMARY, CHEESE AND HAM OMELET

Guest Post by Vrinda Singh Oberoi!

 

Let’s start the week with a recipe for the most important meal of the day.  I love eating omelets but I hate when they end up hard and flat. Here is my very own foolproof rendition of a fluffy rosemary, cheese, mushroom and ham omelet recipe. Feel free to replace the stuffing or rosemary with any combination of ingredients you prefer. Hope you enjoy it!

What You’ll Need:

2 Eggs

A generous quantity of Cheese (grated)

2 -3 Button mushrooms (finely chopped)

Handful of Salami or Ham (finely chopped)

Rosemary to taste

Salt to taste

Olive oil

How to: 

1. Probably the most important (maybe the only important) and slightly tough thing about the omelet making process is the splitting of the egg into two bowls. Separate the egg white and the yolk and put them in different bowls.  

Note: In case you find it hard to separate the eggs, just break a tiny hole into the shell of the egg instead of doing the whole splitting and juggling of the egg yolk thing. This is much easier though it might take half a minute longer.

2. Beat the white of the egg till its almost stiff (enough to make soft speaks). Then beat the yolks in the other bowl.

Note: I prefer beating it by hand though that takes a little bit of time but electronically run beaters work just fine.

3. Once the eggs are beaten drizzle some olive oil in a non stick frying pan which has been sitting on the stove on low flame and is nice and warm.

4. Pour the beaten egg whites into the frying pan (let it settle for about 5 seconds) and then pour the egg yolks over the whites.

Note: You can choose to skip the yolks completely if you’re watching your cholesterol levels.

5. While the center is still uncooked add the grated cheese, mushrooms, salami/ ham, rosemary, salt and any damned seasoning you please.

Note: I love smoked salami and honey glazed ham so always end up using these more than any other type of cold cuts but you don’t need to limit your topping to these  - you can really play around with what you would like in your omelet.

 

6. Fold the omelet from both the sides once the base is golden and lift gently and turn over.

7. Once the inside of the omelet looks like its firm enough (should take about 2-3 minutes) gently lift the omelet and place on serving plate.

8. Serve hot with bread.

 

EGG IN A BREAD CUP

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said."              

 A.A. Milne

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and I often eat breakfast food for lunch, dinner or just as a snack. These are surprisingly easy to make, adorable and need just a glass of orange juice on the side to be the perfect start to a day.

 

Makes 6 cups

Recipe and photo from Martha Stewart

What you’ll need (for 6 cups):

8 slices bread (white or brown as your conscience permits)

6 bacon slices (or more if your conscience permits)

6 eggs

Unsalted butter

Salt

Pepper

How to get your breakfast in a cup:

 1. Preheat your oven to 185° Celsius.

2. Cut the corners of the slices of the bread so you have an almost circle. This doesn’t need to be perfect so don’t stress! Cut in half and flatten the semi-circles of bread with a rolling pin.

3. Pull out your grease paint brush and grease the sides of a cupcake muffin with some melted unsalted butter.

 4. Line each muffin cup with the flattened slices of bread to form a cup. Make sure the bread sticks out above the level of the muffin cups. Use extra bread to patch up any holes in your bread cup. Brush down the whole cup with some butter.

5. Fry up your bacon for about 4 minutes, flipping once. Don’t cook the bacon all the way through because it’s going to cook some more when you put it in the oven.

6. Place a strip of bacon at the base of each bread cup and crack an egg into each cup.

7. Sprinkle salt and pepper on to each cup and place in oven for 20 – 25 minutes till eggs are firm. To un-mould your bread cup, slide a knife around the edge and scoop out.

 Foodnotes:

 Bacon fan? I know I am! Go ahead and put in more than one slice, the cup will hold together.