FoodieChat

Part 2 of budget cooking for 50 - breakfast. Menu: scrambled eggs, sausages, grilled tomatoes, toast. (sorry but hash browns too fiddly).

Scrambled eggs: allow 2.5 eggs per person. So that’s 11 dozen eggs.  Find 2 massive casserole pots, and break half the eggs into each.  Using an electric handheld mixer, beat the eggs, and add in 5 teaspoons of salt into each as well as the same of cracked black pepper. Mix in 300ml of thickened cream (or full fat milk if you’re watching your weight ). (more…)

Surfing around the net for a new cake recipe to try, I found this one by Jill Dupleix (quoting someone else!).  Jill is the food writer in delicious magazine so I knew it would be reliable.  My colleagues loved it (so they tell me), as it was very light and fluffy. It takes a bit of elbow grease to cream the WHOLE BLOCK of butter with the sugar (I halved the recipe), but the result is a cake with a good crumb, not too oily and an awesome orange flavour from the rind.  I actually baked it in a kuglelhoph tin, and let the icing drizzle down the sides. I also put some orange zest through the icing also.

http://www.jilldupleix.com/recipes/rec001.php

Been watching Lifestyle Channel a bit lately, and been wanting to try some of the recipes. though whilst drooling and engrossed in the program, you don’t really write them down. Luckily, they are here:

www.channel4.com/food

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes

You can get all the Nigella, Jamie, Rick Stein recipes you’re looking for - for free!

Ever found yourself in a situation where you’ve purchased a 7kg frozen turkey 2 days before Christmas, and wondering how you’ll ever have enough time to thaw it, let alone cook it?  Well I did, and here’s some wisdom/tips I can share.

1. Even though the turkey packet says that each kilogram requires 18 hrs to thaw in the fridge, and not to thaw it on the kitchen bench, it doesn’t actually say that you shouldn’t thaw it by sitting it in a bath of water On my estimationg 18 hrs x 7 kgs is around 5 days. And I only had 2. So in the water it goes.  Did you know that it actually floats? No problem. Anchor it down with a 2L bottle of diet coke.  the next morning, I found that it started to seep some yucky pink liquid, so I took it out, ripped open the packet, and washed my turkey. Seemed thawed enough (after 24 hrs) so I put in my fridge just in case. (more…)

A seriously quick and easy (so quick that I didn’t have time to take a piccy) dinner is this roast vegetable frittata I made up from what was in my fridge and variation on a few recipes.  I made it low fat by substituting cream with skim milk; and using low fat mozzarella instead; and adding fresh herbs to compensate.

Ingredients (serves 4 for meal with salad)

• 1 eggplant, sliced into 5mm thick slices
• 2 zucchini, sliced lengthways into 5mm thick slices
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick slices
• 300g sliced mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 6 free range eggs
• half cup of skim milk
• 1 cup grated (low fat) cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley and/or basil; or pesto

Method

1. Grease a grill pan with olive oil and grill eggplant, zucchini and sweet potato and set aside (sweet potato may need to be parboiled first if you’re time poor)
2. In a wok or frypan, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, and on a medium heat, saute garlic and onion, until onion is caramelised and softened.  Add mushrooms and cook until soft.
3. Line a square cake tin with baking paper; and layer eggplant, followed by zucchini, then sweet potato.
4. Pour mushroom/onion mixture on top.
5. Beat eggs and herbs in a bowl. Add milk
6. Slowly pour egg mixture onto vegetables, allowing to seep in between.
7. Bake in a 180 degree oven for 25 mins until set.
8. Slice into wedges and serve warm or cold - perfect for a picnic!