birthday brunch baked eggs

So, it was the girlfriend's birthday recently and I wanted to impress with brunch.*

*may or may not translate as, wanted to try out a new recipe on someone.

I did what I often do when I want to try something new - in this case, baked eggs. I googled and I looked at all my recipe books. Then I closed the books and the computer and thought about what I like I make something up based on what I've read.

The result was the "best birthday breakfast" she'd ever had.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
teaspoon paprika
splash tabasco
splash balsamic
1 red capsicum
bunch english spinach
handful kalamata olives, seeded and chopped
handful mushrooms, chopped
75 grams danish feta, crumbled
2 tablespoons canned tomatoes (or chopped fresh)
2 eggs
grated parmesan
pine nuts
chopped chives
chopped jalapenos (to serve)

lebanese bread
za'atar

1. fry onion and garlic in olive oil til soft but not brown
2. add mushrooms and saute
3. add slice capsicum, spinach, tomatoes and spices
4. add tabasco and balsamix
5. allow to cool a little then spoon into ramekins, adding crumbled feta
6. make a little well in the vege mix and crack in 1 egg per ramekin
7. sprinkle over grated parmesan, pine nuts and chopped chives
8. bake on high for about half an hour or until egg whites have firmed, cheese has melted and yolk is still a bit runny
9. meanwhile rub olive oil into lebanese bread and sprinkle generously with za'atar then grill until crispy
10. serve eggs sprinkled with extra chives and chopped pickled jalapenos, with za'atar bread to dip

lemony veges with feta salsa

I made this delicious fresh dinner tonight when the people I sent to the shops for pepper forgot to take their phones and so I couldn't call them and tell them to get butter for the lemon / butter / pepper sauce I was hoping to make. I wanted dairy in the dinner so came up with this:

Ingredients (serves 2):
3 cloves garlic
1 small white onion
1 large fennel bulb
1 bunch asparagus
a handful of mushrooms (swiss brown best or field)
handful spinach leaves
juice of 1 lemon
lots of cracked black pepper

for the salsa:
crumbled bulgarian sheep's milk feta*
a tomato, diced
a handful of mint leaves chopped

1. Dice the onion very small and fry gently in olive oil to soften

2. Add sliced mushrooms, fennel & garlic and fry til vegetabled soften and the mushrooms start to brown a little

3. Pour in lemon juice and add spinach and asparagus

4. Stir Fry for a while, but ensure vegetables are al dente - have a bit of crunch

5. Stir together salsa ingredients and serve salsa on top of the veges.

* A Note on Feta:
The kind of feta you use is important and if a recipe just calls for feta, it is stupid (unless I have done that in previous recipes...I am not stupid...) Seriously though there is such a difference in flavour and texture and fetas respond differently to heat. I like danish feta for cooking (especially sauces) as it melts well, bulgarian feta is beautiful as it is crumbly AND creamy, whereas Greek feta is great in salads as it is firm and salty.

...

tomato, sage and vege pasta

I made this for dinner, based on what was in the fridge and which herbs in the garden were looking most bountiful. It was surprisingly delicious for something thrown together so I thought I'd share.

Ingredients:
- Pasta (I used spinach spaghetti)
- Button Mushrooms
- Peas
- about 4 fresh sage leaves per person, chopped small
- a teaspoon of brown sugar
- half an onion, diced very small
- a cup of oven roasted tomato sauce (posted below) or any simple tomato / garlic pasta sauce
goats cheese to garnish (I stand by Meredith Marinated Goats Cheese as the best goats cheese, indeed the best cheese maybe in Australia)

1. Fry onion mushrooms and sage in olive oil (if you have sensibly purchased Meredith cheese, use a little of the oil in comes marinated in. I never chuck out this oil but use it for salad dressings and sauces. Fry for about 5 minutes

2. Sprinkle brown sugar into the mixture and fry for a further 5 minutes.

3. Add sauce and peas and cook to combine.

4. Cook pasta and then add to sauce and mix to combine.

5. Crumble goats cheese over the top and eat! Yum!

what to do with a fuckload of tomatoes

Tish and I went dumpster diving on Friday. I shall elect NOT to rant and rave about how depressing it was to see an abundance of wasted food chucked into dumpsters, nor shall I mention that it is a travesty that some shops lock their dumpsters so the food cannot be taken, that they would rather it wasted than consumed by those who cannot afford their produce.*

* I am aware that I can afford their produce and am considering taking the majority of what I find next time to charity. This was my first dumpster dive so more of an information seeking mission, a site visit if you will.

I shall instead tell you what I did with the wealth of fresh (fridge fresh!) roma tomatoes we found in Petersham. Four boxes we filled, FOUR BOXES.

I made:

SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES

Ingredients:
Roma Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Flavourings: I did 'Paprika and Tabasco' and 'Caramelised Balsamic' but world really is your oyster (or rather your tomato)

Preheat oven to 120 degrees celcius

1. Halve the tomatoes lengthways, as in the knife should slice through the little green core bit at the top where the tomato was attached to the plant - what's that called anyway?
(obviously WASH them first if they've been in a dumpster)
2. Cut out the 'core' - basically the middle bit and the seeds. You don't need to be to careful, just get the main middle section out!
3. Lay them on a tray on baking paper, skin side down.
4. Splash with a little olive oil (not too much) and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Now you could cook them now (as per instructions below) or you could add flavourful fun. Up to you.

5. For the brown sugar and balsamic, I just splashed and sprinkled the two on - not too much. Likewise with the paprika and tabasco. You could try herbs (used dried though - more flavour) or chilli or curry or anything. But nothing that will burn if cooked for a long time, like cheese or garlic.

6. Put tomatoes in the oven and cook very slowly, at 120 or even lower if you have a fan forced oven - 100 celcius perhaps.

7. Cook for about 3-4 hours, but watch them to make sure they don't burn and turn them over if the skin starts to char. I often then turn off the oven and leave them in it overnight, drying out til morning.

Eat!


OVEN ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE

Ingredients:
Roma Tomatoes
Garlic (about 1 garlic clove to every 5 tomatoes)
Olive Oil
Salt

1. Slice just the tops off the roma tomatoes (don't chop too much!) - by tops i mean just the bit where the tomato was joined to the vine.
2. Cut the garlic cloves into slivers lenthways (each clove into 4-5 pieces) and wedge the slivers into the top of the tomatoes til they are embedded (into the soft, seedy part in the centre)
3. Places the tomatoes in a casserole dish and splash liberally with olive oil (quite a lot, but not so they are swimming in the stuff!)
4. Sprinkle on salt
5. Slow roast at 120 degrees for 3 hours, do not let them char at all!
6. Blend til smooth, and then use as pasta sauce, pizza sauce, dipping sauce or on vegetables, in lasagne, on poached eggs etc etc. Change the flavour by adding herbs, balsamic vinegar, or whatever you like in sauce!

RANDOM FACT:
I played a tomato in a musical in second year uni. My first line was 'And I am a tomato.'