Many restaurants will judge a new chef by how he or she cooks scrambled eggs or an omelette and there’s a really good reason for that.  If you care enough to learn how to cook these two dishes AND you get it right, you’re going to do a good job on everything else.

I went to a cooking demonstration today and I got home and had to try the fluffy omelette for my husband.  I’ll be honest here, last night there was a fair slosh of the bottle on his side of the table at dinner and I thought some nice bacon with an omelette on the side would sit well on his stomach.  I’m the sort of person who would point her finger and say, “serves you right!” but instead I felt sorry for him.  He’s taking me to a Thermomix demonstration tomorrow and I wouldn’t want to hurt my chances on getting one. heh

Now about this omelette.  The trick to a great omelette is really simple – separate the eggs, whip the whites then add a tablespoon of water and whip to incorporate it.  Whisk the egg yolks to make them an even consistency and then fold the egg yolks into the whites, being careful not to deflate the egg whites you’ve so lovingly whipped the heck out of.

Add the herbs if you want them, a pinch of salt & pepper and place into a pan that you’ve melted some butter til it’s frothy.  Smooth the top of the mixture and cook on medium heat for about 30 seconds then place in a 200°C (400°F) oven til the omelette is set and just beginning to turn golden.

Take it out and fill it with whatever you want.  If I were making it for me I would sauté onions, peppers and mushrooms and then add a cartload of cheese and stuff my omelette.  Since I was making it for J I cooked up some onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, chives and parsley.  He said it was really good and then he said something I nearly fell over about.

“You know, a bit of cheese would have been good with this,” he said.

He doesn’t even eat cheese on a hamburger!  Cheese is expensive, eaten on its own and every bite is enjoyed – if you ask him.  So, next time he’ll get cheese and I’ll try really hard not to roll my eyes in his direction.

Now if you’re wondering why there isn’t a beautiful photo of that omelette cut in half there’s a really good reason.  I’m an idiot.  If you have a skillet in the oven at 200C and you take it out and put it on the stove and then grab the handle (all the while holding the heavy towel under your arm) you’re gonna really piss yourself off.  So while I was holding my left hand under running water I took the photo above.

J took the photo of the omelette that he’d cut into and frankly it was too wobbly to post.  I can’t complain because he did try and it was his omelette to eat and he was hungry.  I’ll try again one day.

p.s. the hand is fine.  Running water for longer than you think you need to and then aloe vera from the plant does wonders for burns.

I went to the farmers market in Noosa yesterday and bought a fantastic loaf of sourdough bread and can I say even MORE fantastic eggs that were laid on Saturday.  I got up this morning and decided they were a match for breakfast.

I look at it now and it needed something colorful on the plate, didn’t it?  Well, that’s not what I wanted so please forgive me.  I should have cooked some baby spinach but it’s a little late now because it’s all in my tummy and who wants a photo of only steamed spinach?  I haven’t mastered the Photoshop skill of adding a picture of spinach to a plate.  (nor would I want to)

I cut a thick slab of sourdough toast and pinched out a hole for my oh so golden yolk.   (Speaking of yolks, I watched that TV show of the woman who does the 5-ingredient cooking and she pronounces yolk with a definite L in there, do you?  Everyone I know says yoke or something similar but this woman says “yole-k”.  It means nothing, I just thought I’d mention it.)

Then I buttered both sides of the toast and grilled it on both sides as the preparation for the hero of the plate, my freshly laid egg.

I learned with this photo that I’m a two handed photographer and I should have used a tripod.  I put it in only to show the size of the egg.  I’ll retake it later and remove this line.   Anyway, thexe extra large eggs from A & T Poultry in Traveston were divine.

I cracked the egg and plopped the  yolk in the hole, grated Himalayan salt and freshly cracked pepper, turned the heat down and then put a cover on to make sure the top of the egg got cooked.  I like my eggs just set and the egg almost melts into the toast.  I cooked one piece of bacon because I’m not a big bacon eater. (don’t hate me)  We don’t get American or NZ style bacon here and frankly I miss it.  A lot.

I should have taken a photo of my fork breaking in to the toast and yolk but alas, I ate it without paying attention to my duties.  Next time!

These are similar!
Bacon & Egg Toast Cups

I’m an old New England woman. I might live down under now but my roots are firmly planted in Maine. I grew up eating blueberry pie for dessert, baked beans nearly every Saturday night and weekend breakfasts called for waffles with real butter and homemade maple syrup.

Imagine my surprise when I moved down under and asked for waffles one morning at a really good restaurant and I got a plate sized waffle covered in ice cream, caramel syrup and whipped cream. I thought.. “ugh!! This is not breakfast!”

I’d ordered it so I thought I’d pick around the edges just so I wouldn’t sit there looking at my plate wishing I had asked for butter and maple syrup. One bite led to another bite and before long I’d eaten nearly all of it – ice cream for breakfast. It felt wicked somehow, like I was eating something I’d be punished for later.

Recently I read where Humphry Slocombe in San Francisco offers Secret Breakfast Ice Cream – complete with bourbon and cornflakes. I’m not sure about adding bourbon to breakfast but I figure if I could eat ice cream for breakfast the bourbon is only a small step forward. If you’ve tried this ice cream, can you let us know how you liked it?

If you’re like me, you love eggs. I know the doctors said don’t eat eggs, they’re bad for you and now they’re saying oops we were wrong. For me, there’s something about a fork cutting open a runny yolk and seeing all that yellowy goodness oozing across the plate.

Frying an egg is no big deal for me, I can do that with my eyes blindfolded and dancing a jig but when it comes to poaching an egg mine come out looking like an egg in a torn, flimsy wedding dress. Imagine my delight when I came across The Gingerbread Girl’s blog about how to poach an egg. I can’t say that this is her original recipe because once again, it’s based on our old friend Julia Child. It’s really a fake poached egg but with more taste and flavor I think.

You’ll need 4 ramekins or small heatproof bowls for this method.

Ingredients:

4 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup cream
2 Tbsp butter
parsley
1 cup boiling water

Method

Place ramekins or bowls in a large casserole dish. Fill dish with boiling water, until the ramekins are about 1″ submerged.

Add a pat of butter to each ramekin and swirl, until butter melts and bottom and sides are fully coated.

Crack one egg into each ramekin. Fill with approximately 1 Tbsp heavy cream. Sprinkle with parsley or other spices.

Transfer the entire casserole dish to the oven, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until eggs are firm.

That’s it. Imagine if you had a crowd for breakfast, you could easily pre-cook the bacon ahead, toss all the eggs in the oven and delegate someone to make the toast soldiers. You’ll be a hero.

Now about the Hollandaise Sauce. It’s coming but I haven’t perfected it for photography yet.

Not only are they the best I’ve ever tried, it’s nearly as easy as making them from a package but without any of the “words you can’t pronounce” ingredients.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plain flour (200 grams)
10 oz. milk (300 ml)
2 tbs sugar (60 grams but I don’t use that much)
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
4 tbs melted butter (60 grams)
pinch of salt

Method

Mix all ingredients together and let sit for 15 minutes and then cook them in a lightly greased frypan or griddle.

I often make these with blueberries and drizzled with a bit of maple syrup – almost orgasmic!

Imagine waking up to coffee and blueberry nut bread?  Might not be totally orgasmic but it sure was good. Just imagine lying in bed and having someone bring you breakfast in bed — coffee, the newspaper and a piece of this blueberry nut bread. Ahhh… Ok, so I know I’m dreaming. In my house it would be ME making the bread and ME bringing the coffee, newspaper and piece of bread. Some men just never think about spoiling their wives. If you’re a man, make this easy bread and spoil your wife. You have no idea what rewards will be in store for you. Nudge Nudge wink wink

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 3/4 cups orange juice
4 cups plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups chopped nuts

1 cup quick cooking oats
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup orange marmalade

Method

Combine the sugars, butter, orange juice and eggs in a mixing bowl.
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda into a large bowl.
Add nuts and oats to the dry ingredients
Blend the dry and wet ingredients.
Stir in the blueberries and orange marmalade.

Pour into 2 greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pans and let stand for 20 minutes while oven is pre-heating at 350 F.

Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

If I can stand to wait, it slices much better if you wait til the next day to do it.  So far I haven’t been able to.