Quick cheesy scrambled eggs

This is one of my "hit and run" style of blog posts, that covers something I've made for myself - either breakfast, or lunch - that was too good not to share.

This quick cheesy scrambled egg in a toasted pitta bread breakfast is one such.  I didn't have my "proper" camera to hand, so snapped a picture with my camera phone.  This is why it's not a great picture - but it's enough to give you the idea.

It's a simple enough concept - an egg, scrambled, with grated cheese melted in and put into a pitta bread.  However, it's not a stovetop job, it's a microwave job.

Super-easy, super-quick and you're left with a mug, a fork and a knife to wash up.  As you can see, I didn't even bother to dirty a plate.   Perfect.  

QUICK CHEESY SCRAMBLED EGGS   (serves 1)

Ingredients :

1 large or very large egg
a small handful of grated cheese (I used Red Leicester, but any hard cheese is good)
a small knob of butter
1 tsp cream, if you've got it (not essential)
small pinch of sea salt and black pepper
Plus :
whatever you're serving it with - pitta bread, toast, bacon, whatever you like.

Method :

Crack the egg into a robust and microwave safe coffee mug.

Add the seasoning and cream (if you're using cream) and whisk them together with your fork.

Add the butter and grated cheese and stir lightly.

Place into the microwave and give it 30 seconds on full power.  Remove and give the contents a good old whisk with your fork again.

Replace and give it 15 seconds on full power.  Remove and whisk again.  Now, depending upon the power of your microwave, your egg will either be ready, or you'll need to give it small increments (say 5-10 seconds) further cooking until it reaches the consistency you like.

I recommend you remove it from the microwave when the egg is still a little bit underdone, as it will continue to cook even once it's on the plate!

In the meantime, you can have toasted a pitta bread, or made some toast, or if you're going very a la carte, even made some bacon earlier.  Serve up the egg with an extra sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper if you like that - and dig in!

Printable version

Egg & Bacon Croissant breakfast

Does bacon ever get old on a breakfast menu?

No, of course it doesn't!  What a silly suggestion.  Even if you're watching your weight, bacon for breakfast is a good, relatively low calorie protein to utilise, believe it or not.

Until this morning, I really thought that the egg and bacon sandwich was the best weekday use of bacon for breakfast.  Now of course, the Full English Breakfast takes the overall title, but you can't eat one of those every day.  Not these days, at these prices and with a relatively sedentary lifestyle of office work, anyway.  No, the egg and bacon sandwich was it.

Or so I thought, right up until today.  We went grocery shopping early and I missed breakfast to achieve that.  So I bought myself a croissant to have with a cuppa once I got home.  Except, hubby bought some bacon to have in sandwiches once we got home.  Now as I am sure you understand, once offered bacon it is impossible to reject.  Can't be done.  It's the law.  But I wanted my croissant.  Hence, the egg and bacon croissant was born.  (Well, it might have been born elsewhere at another time, but not in my kitchen).

So listen up, one and all!  Forget your bacon & egg sandwiches, that's so yesterday.  Today, the bacon & egg croissant is the contemporary, hip and happenin' breakfast.  400 calories?  Aaah, just have a salad for lunch - it'll be worth it, I promise.  This was SO good. I thought that perhaps it would be nice - but hadn't reckoned on just HOW nice.

The recipe is simple - slice your croissant across lengthwise, grill two slices of smoked back bacon and fry an egg in olive oil.  Lay the bacon across the croissant, lovingly lay the egg on top, add sea salt and black pepper and enclose it with the other half of your croissant.  Take it somewhere quiet and enjoy your breakfast whilst holding the plate closely under your chin, to catch the golden, delicious drips.  Happy sighs will ensue.

Cooking eggs the Heston way - eventually!

Fair makes my mouth water ..

Because it's currently Farmhouse Breakfast Week, here's another treatise on the subject of breakfast.

Those of us who are based in the U.K. will know the t.v. programme to which the title of this blog post refers.  However, for those who aren't as familiar with our t.v. scheduling, it refers to Heston Blumenthal's latest t.v. series "How to cook like Heston" in which he shares some of his techniques.

The first programme was about eggs, the second was beef, then chocolate and this week's is all about chicken.

Now I have a long-standing passion for the humble egg.  Quite apart from the belief that you'll never go hungry all the time you've an egg in the house, I have to admit that it's tricky to keep an egg in this house because no sooner have they arrived than they are eaten - in one form or another.

We were watching Masterchef on t.v. last night and one of the contestants moved a tray of eggs from point A to point B - and I thought "phwooaaar!", much in the same way as you would if you'd spotted a juicy steak, or a delicious oozy pudding.  So, you can see, an appreciation of the many forms of egg is fairly fundamental to my being.

I was recently lucky enough to receive a copy of Michel Roux's cook book, "Eggs", as one of the runners up in a competition held by the lovely Clarence Court eggs.  In this book, he details just about every method of cooking eggs known to man - including the good old boiled egg.  His method was well known and is how, ordinarily, I would cook a boiled egg.

In cold water, ready to go!

Heston's method, however, is somewhat different.  He recommends that you place the eggs in the smallest pan available and only add enough cold water to cover them.

Boiling!  Quick .....

Then put the lid on the pan and place over the highest heat possible.  When the water comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat and wait for 6 minutes.

..... remove it from the heat and now, wait.

After the time has elapsed, remove the lid and carefully remove each egg.

By all accounts, this method of cooking an egg will result in a less rubbery, more tender egg white - and a beautifully soft yolk - owing to the gentleness with which it has been cooked.

Ever the optimist and ever keen to improve my own techniques, this just had to be tested.

~cries~  No soft anything, here!

All I can say, is that Heston's cooker must be a darned sight better at getting the water to boil than ever mine is, because my first attempt was solidly hard boiled.  Nonetheless it was edible, however I couldn't detect any difference in the egg white.

Forlornly waiting for the perfect egg ...

Never one to give up after a first attempt, my second egg I left for just 5 minutes, instead of the recommended 6.


Aha!  This produced a fairly soft yolk - one which wouldn't have been out of place inside a Scotch Egg, but not really dipping material.  The jury is out as regards the texture of the egg white, as we couldn't really tell any difference.


The third and final attempt was left for 4½ minutes, which produced the perfect dippable yolk inside soft egg white.  I have got to admit, however, that I am still not seeing the promised difference in texture where the white is concerned.  If there is one, it has to be so minimal that as an egg lover - and as such, I really don't mind how my eggs arrive - it is "beyond my ken", as they say in Scotland.

That's the one!  Perfect!

Having conquered the Heston boiled egg, I then turned my attention to the interesting method he employed for cooking scrambled eggs.


Before I get into that, however, I must tell you about the yawning chasm of divide between scrambled egg methods that occurs in our house.  Hubby is wedded to the Escoffier method - that of lots of butter, in a pan, low heat, lots of stirring.  I, however, have evolved into scrambling my eggs in the microwave.  ~cue mass sharp intake of breath~  I know, I know, it's not the best way of doing it - but I have a well developed method that I have passed on to son & heir that is not only fairly safe (no hot cooker tops on which to burn himself or set fire to the daily newspaper) but can (I admit, the results are slightly random) result in lovely creamy eggs.  Or what I used to THINK were lovely creamy eggs - right up until I sampled scrambled eggs the Heston way.


Now I can't imagine cooking my scrambled eggs this way every day - because it takes patience and patience is at a bit of a premium, most mornings (hence the microwave method!).  However, on a morning when I'm craving a bit of indulgence, or have someone who needs a little "pampering on toast" for breakfast - this is definitely going to be right up there.


Heston (as one would expect) totally pushes the boat out on the indulgence side of things, using butter, whole milk and double cream - then finishing off with brown butter and sherry vinegar.


I however, whilst erring on the side of weight-gain caution, just went for the butter.

Nearly! Nearly there!

Heston's method involves placing a bowl above a saucepan of simmering water, then melting the butter and adding the lightly beaten eggs.


As with the boiled egg method, this method is all about being gentle and not scaring the egg into tightening up and becoming tough, but warming it through gently and cajoling it into forming a scramble.  So don't - for a second - think this is going to be done swiftly.  I would recommend you grab a chair.


Make sure you have your toast ready for the moment when the egg finally submits to the heat and, with an almost audible sigh, scrambles.  You don't want to have to leave it congealing in its bowl, while you rush around toasting bread.

Happy sigh - now THAT's what I'm talking about!

The end result - placed on top of some delicious home-made, toasted soda bread - is so deliciously creamy that it truly is the definition of Greg Wallace's favourite word, "unctuous".  Far better than the dictionary definition, that of "having an oily or soapy feel".  To my mind, the milk and cream just aren't necessary as the egg itself forms so beautifully smoothly that the creaminess is all there.  Mind you, as I say, I didn't try the eggs with the cream - maybe it'd pass from sublime to "totally off the scale".  Hmmmn, maybe I'll give it a go, the next time I've some cream sitting looking for a home to go to!


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Soda bread with tomato, bacon, black pudding & an egg - breakfast of champions!

Well, if it isn't the breakfast of champions, then it jolly well ought to be!

I was invited to participate in the Breakfasts of the World Challenge from VeryGoodRecipes.com - you can see what it's all about on the challenge page there.

Naturally, my thoughts about making soda bread got roped in at the same time, along with the fact that it is, after all, Farmhouse Breakfast Week.  You can also find the original recipe for the soda bread on BakingMad.com. 

I was pondering on what would comprise a great Farmhouse Breakfast in England - and immediately the ubiquitous Full English Breakfast came to mind.  It would have been too easy to have gone down that route though, so I contemplated how I could use those ingredients to create a breakfast that both represented the current trends in both presentation and creation, whilst still channelling Ma Larkin from the t.v. programme "The Darling Buds of May" (who is quintessentially "farmhouse kitchen", to me).

I pondered on omelettes, and wraps, and maybe even pancakes - but nothing really spoke to me until I considered the Italian Bruschetta.

Bingo!

So here, for your undoubted delight, is an English breakfast on Irish bread, after the style of the Italian.

Hmmmn .. ~scratches head~ .. well, it tastes pretty darned good, so who cares where it came from - it's my contribution to the Breakfasts of the World!

The soda bread is toasted, which helps to bring out the nutty butteriness of it and makes it rather more robustly able to support its toppings.

The cherry tomatoes are sliced twice and then fried in olive oil (with ever an eye to health).  Make sure to leave them alone - don't keep poking them and moving them about, or they won't take on the lovely caramelisation that you're looking for, to maximise the flavour.

The bacon is grilled (again, with an eye to health and to maximise the crispiness of the fat) and cut into small strips.

The black pudding, as you can see, is cut into small squares which take just seconds in the frying pan, to crisp up and become deliciously savoury and flavoursome.

Fry the egg gently in extra virgin olive oil, which adds that touch of luxury and singular flavour that the olive oil brings.

With a pinch of freshly ground black pepper, another of sea salt and a sprinkling of chopped parsley for colour, you'll be wanting to take a photograph of it just so that you can eat it again with your eyes.

I resolved, approximately two forkfuls into this masterpiece, that if ever I achieved a restaurant or cafe of my own, this would be on the menu.  Ooooh yes.

Edited to say : this recipe achieved third place in the Breakfasts of the World Challenge!  Yay!  ~does happy dance~

SODA BREAD WITH TOMATO, BACON, BLACK PUDDING & AN EGG  (serves 1)

Ingredients :

2 rashers of smoked back bacon

1 tbsp olive oil
5 cherry tomatoes, each sliced twice
1 slice of soda bread
a 1-2" piece of black pudding, diced small
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
an egg
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of chopped parsley.


Method :


1.  Place a suitably sized plate to warm up under the grill, or in an oven.


2.  Grill the bacon rashers until the fat has rendered and is golden and crispy.  Using a sharp knife or some scissors, cut into small strips, then reserve and keep warm.


3.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat and add the tomatoes.  Do not move them until they have taken on a good colour underneath, whereupon you should flip them over and cook the other side in the same way.  When they're all done, carefully reserve onto a warmed plate, to keep warm.


4.  In the meantime, once the bacon is done, grill the soda bread until toasted on both sides and reserve to keep warm.


5.  Using the pan the tomatoes have come out of, cook the black pudding - just seconds - until it has darkened and become crispy on the outside.


6.  Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a small frying pan and add the egg.  Cook on a low to medium heat until the white is solidified yet the yolk is still runny.


7.  It is now time to assemble the dish.  Take the warmed plate and place the soda bread onto it.


8.  Lay on the tomato slices until the bread is completely covered, then sprinkle on the slices of bacon.  Next, place the black pudding cubes across the surface of the bacon and carefully lay the egg over the top.


9.  All that's left is to add a pinch of freshly ground black pepper, a pinch of sea salt (not too much - don't forget the bacon might be salty) and a light sprinkle of parsley.


10.  Stand back and admire, whilst your hand blindly reaches for the nearest knife and fork.


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