Showing posts with label Eggs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eggs. Show all posts
One place we always liked eating at back home were the small mom and pop diners! You always knew you were going to get a decent and tasty meal, as well as good value for your money.
My ex would always get a club sandwich with chips, and I would either get a BLT or a Western Sandwich. Or we would both get a hot turkey sandwich, depending on our mood. These were our favourites!
I can still remember the very first time I ate French Toast. I was in Grade 5 and a friend at school told me about how her mother made French Toast every Friday for dinner. I had no idea what it was and so she invited me to come to her house on Friday for dinner.
I asked my mother and she said it was okay and so the next Friday I hopped on the bus with my friend and went to her house for dinner. I have to say it was love at first bite and I have been loving it ever since!
I just adore the magic and chemistry of cooking. The way that you can combine a few simple ingredients and come up with something incredibly tasty.
There is nothing really fancy in French Toast. Fresh eggs and milk . . . some vanilla . . . are whisked together to make a soaking custard . . .
A good bread is then used to soak up the custard and then the bread slices are fried in butter until golden brown on both sides. I have a few secrets that will help you to make really great French Toast.
This is when you will really benefit from using an artisanal bread, preferably a day old and a bit on the dry side. I used GRADZ Sourdough bread which is also yeast free.
Drier stale-ish bread helps to soak up and hold the egg/milk custard better. A bread with some heft will soak up and stand up to the custard and not fall apart easily.
Sourdough bread is perfect for this. You also don't want your bread to be sliced too thinly. 1/2-inch to 1-inch is about right.
Too many eggs in the custard and you risk your French toast tasting too "eggy." You want a good ratio of eggs to milk. I find that 1-2 large free range eggs to approximately 60ml (1/4 cup) of milk works best.
Some people like to add sugar to their custard. I don't. You are probably going to drizzle something sweet over it when you eat it anyways, so I leave the sugar out of the custard.
I do however like to add some pure vanilla . . . but you can also add a teaspoon or two of your favourite liqueur if you like.
Orange flavoured or coffee or chocolate flavoured liqueurs are especially nice.
Another thing you can't do is rush French Toast. I like to take my time cooking it. I get my pan really hot and then I turn it down to medium low.
I brush it with butter and once the butter foams I add my slices of bread.
Slow and stead wins the race here. Too hot a pan and your toast will be burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. You want that custard to cook through and you want your toast to be just golden brown. The interior should have an almost soufflé-like texture.
Because I am not cooking it at a really high temperature I can use all butter to fry it in, which adds an even deeper depth of flavour to the finish and a really nice golden brown colour.
Too high a temperature and your butter will burn, which isn't nice. So don't be in too much of a hurry!
Some people add cinnamon to the custard. I don't, and neither does this recipe.
When you add cinnamon like that, it tends to collect in clumps in the liquid, which isn't all that appealing.
In this recipe you dust your finished French Toast with cinnamon sugar. I like a lot of ground cinnamon in my cinnamon sugar.
I want it to taste nice and cinnamony. I have used Caster sugar which is a finer form of granulated sugar. You can use regular granulated sugar if you wish, or you can whizz some regular granulated sugar in a food processor for a few seconds to grind it finer.
This delicious version of French Toast is drizzled with melted dark chocolate when it is done, just prior to serving.
Dark chocolate really gives it a nice finish. Not too sweet, yet really rich and decadent . . . I adore dark chocolate. Use one with a high cocoa content and you won't be sorry!
Altogether I would call this French Toast the perfect French Toast. Fresh and quality ingredients, put together simply . . . you can't go wrong!
Some other French Toast recipes you might enjoy are BUTTERMILK FRENCH TOAST, LEMON FRENCH TOAST (great with fresh berries), and RASPBERRY BAKEWELL FRENCH TOAST.
Yield: 2 - 4 (depending on appetites)
Chocolate & Cinnamon French Toast
Delicious fluffy French toast made with GRADZ yeast free sourdough bread, dusted with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with melted dark chocolate. What's not to like?
ingredients:
- 4 slices GRADZ yeast free sourdough bread
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 100ml whole milk (1/2 cup less 2 TBS)
- 4 TBS caster sugar whisked together with 2-3 tsp ground cinnamon
- butter for the skillet
- 50g dark chocolate, melted (2 ounces)
instructions:
How to cook Chocolate & Cinnamon French Toast
- Have ready a shallow bowl or casserole dish large enough to hold your slices of bread. Crack the eggs into the bowl and beat them together with the milk and vanilla until well combined. Dip your slices of bread into the mixture, one at a time, flipping them over to coat both sides and allowing any excess to fall away. Place onto a baking sheet in preparation for cooking.
- Heat a large skillet or grill pan over medium heat. Brush with butter. Add the slices of egg soaked bread. Cook for several minutes until golden brown on the bottoms and then flip over and cook on the other side until golden brown. If you haven't been able to do them all at once, keep the ones you have done warm in a low oven and repeat until all your French toast has been cooked.
- Whisk together the caster sugar and ground cinnamon.
- Dust the slices of French toast with cinnamon sugar to coat. Stack the French toast on a serving platter and drizzle with the melted chocolate to serve. Enjoy!
This lovely French Toast recipe would make a great holiday breakfast I think!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
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Sometimes I like to treat Todd to a pub fare meal on a weeknight. Pubs here in the UK are somewhat similar to Diners in North America, in that they usually serve nice comfy meals, home style.
They also serve alcohol. Some do the meal thing really well and others not so well. It is hit and miss really. Some just re-heat frozen food.
They offer a variety of things on the menu, but most will offer meat pies and chips, roast dinners, fish and chips, curries, etc. and most will also have Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips.
You will normally be asked if you want a ring of pineapple with it or peas.
A gammon steak is like a thick slice of uncooked ham or green ham.
It can be smoked or unsmoked, and, unlike ham you MUST cook it before you eat it, like bacon in a way, but quite different in flavour and consistency.
It comes from the leg of a pig whereas bacon comes from the belly.
My husband will sometimes order the Gammon, Egg & Chips, but I have always found it quite disappointing myself.
Hardly worth the money paid. It does, however, make for a great weeknight supper at home.
Today I decided to make my husband a Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips dinner from scratch, here at home that he could really enjoy.
I did use oven chips, but I used really good ones, thick steak cut, gastro style chips . . . you could of course fry them from scratch if you wanted to but these are actually quite good.
In all truth that's all you get in most pubs anyways, deep fried frozen chips.
When we are eating eggs like this, I always like to use the freshest free range eggs that I can get.
With brilliant yellow yolks, they taste so good when simply fried in butter. Fried in butter until the edges get all crisp and brown, but the yolks are still runny.
I like to get the butter foaming and crack in the eggs.
Then I cook them slowly, basting them with the fat in the pan until the edges are crisp and golden, but the yolks still a bit wobbly . . .
The gammon is also fried. I rub it with some dry mustard powder first for a bit of spice.
I fry it in a bit of olive oil until crisp and caramelised on the edges and cooked through. It doesn't take long.
I added oven roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine that I cooked at the same time as the chips. Again not long.
Perfect!
I drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and scattered them with some sea salt and cracked black pepper before roasting. So tasty!
We had frozen petite pois with ours.
Simply cooked in the microwave. 2 minutes on high, in a small covered container does the trick. I never add any water.
All in all this was most delicious. My husband enjoyed his along with a slice of buttered bread on the side.
Yield: 2
Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips
Pub Fare on a weeknight for a simple supper.
ingredients:
- 1 thick sliced gammon steak, cut in half crosswise
- some olive oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 spring of cherry tomatoes on the vine
- 2 portions of frozen gourmet style oven chips
- knob of butter
- 2 large free range eggs
- 2 portions of frozen peas
instructions:
How to cook Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips
- Preheat the oven according to your package directions for the chips. Place them onto a baking sheet. Place the tomatoes on the same baking sheet, drizzling with some olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper. Cook according to the package directions.
- Clip the fatty edge of the gammon steak. Cut in half and rub it all over with the dry mustard powder and black pepper. Heat a bit of oil in a large non-stick skillet. Add the gammon steak pieces and cook on the first side until golden brown and caramelised on the edges, flip over and do the same on the other sides. Remove from the skillet and keep warm.
- Wipe out the pan. Add the knob of butter and heat the pan until the butter begins to foam. Crack in the eggs. Cook basting them occasionally with some of the butter from the pan with a spoon, until your eggs are to your desired doneness. Remove and keep warm.
- Cook the peas in a container in the microwave for about 2 minutes until done.
- Divide the chips between two heated plates along with the tomatoes, place a half gammon steak on each plate and top with a fried egg. Add a portion of the peas to each and serve immediately.
A simple supper like this makes a really nice mid-week meal every now and then. Its easy to make and quite delicious. My husband was really pleased with it, and in truth so was I.
I hope you will give it a go and picture yourself sitting back in the corner in a pub here in the UK, but a good one, one that serves tasty homemade from scratch food. Those are my favourite kinds!
I did have an internal debate with myself on whether to share these sandwiches with you or not. Lets face it they are not very attractive.
They kind of resemble a hot mess . . . but sometimes that can be a good thing. Sometimes the hotter and messier, the better!
We've been working at sorting out a few rooms in the house lately and spent a good part of today getting our guest bedroom ready for guests we are going to have in about a week and a half's time. I didn't really feel like cooking a huge dinner for us after that. What with changing beds, sorting out a few other things. Hoovering, and replacing the towel rack that fell off the wall mid-job . . . and its hot and muggy today . . .
I had a packet of this in the refrigerator that was about to reach its use by date. I started thinking about how Jewish people like to eat salami and eggs and always rave about how tasty they are together. I am sure that it is probably kosher beef salami, but I thought why not use the Italian??? Why indeed!
There were two kinds of salami in the packet . . . Napoli, rich and peppery with whole black peppercorns . . .
Garlicky Ungherese . . . . and of course sliced provolone cheese, beautifully oozy, melty . . . rich.
There was just enough in the packet for two lovely omelets. I used five large free range eggs. I only ever use free range eggs, and if I can find them I buy RSPCB approved eggs. I want to only eat eggs that are produced in a humane environment.
If I could, I would have my own chickens, but I don't think our city garden is the right environment for raising chickens . . .
I added a few torn basil leaves for a bit of freshness . . .
and pan-fried some potatoes and onions for Todd to enjoy along with his . . .
The end result was something quite rich and delicious. We both enjoyed this very much.
Todd also enjoyed some white toast along with his. I just cannot covert that man to whole wheat!
Quite obviously white bread hasn't done him any harm. He's going to be 81 in September and is incredibly fit and healthy for his age! He could run circles around a lot of men younger than himself!
Yield: 2
Salami & Cheese Omelet
Two delicious single sized omelets created to use what I had in the fridge. Serve with some pan fried potatoes and toast for a hearty meal.
ingredients:
- butter to grease the pan
- 5 large free range eggs beaten lightly with 2 TBS whole milk
- 6 thin slices of Napoli salami
- 6 thin slices of Ungherese salami
- 6 slices of provolone cheese
- a few torn basil leaves
- salt and black pepper to taste
instructions:
How to cook Salami & Cheese Omelet
- Beat the eggs together with the milk to combine well. Melt 1 tsp butter in a 6-inch non-stick skillet. Once it begins to foam, pour in half of the beaten egg mixture. Cook over medium low heat, lifting the edges occasionally to allow some of the raw egg to flow beneath. When the eggs are almost set tear a few basil leaves over top and add half of the salami meats and half of the provolone cheese, placing it on only half of the eggs in the pan. Place a lid on top and allow to heat through. Remove the lid. Fold the plain side of the omelet over to cover the meat and cheese and slide onto a heated plate. Keep warm while you repeat for the other omelet. Serve immediately with buttered toast and pan fried potatoes if you wish. Allow individuals to salt and pepper their own omelets. These meats can be both salty and peppery, so not much will be needed.
We are enjoying new potatoes from the garden at the moment, gifted to us from our friends Tina and Tony! They are great for fried potatoes and potato salads. I just scrub them up really well, cut into cubes and they fry them in a bit of butter and oil along with some chopped onion until they are cooked through and golden brown.
These tasty oven omelets make a great supper on a busy day! Not only are they quick and easy to make, but they are also very delicious! We love them!
You could use frozen spinach for them if you wanted to, but I prefer to use fresh. Its readily available all year round. I use the ready to eat baby spinach leaves, and I always trim off the large stems and discard.
You begin by sauteing some chopped onion in a skillet and then adding some garlic.
Once that has softened you add some fresh baby spinach. It doesn't take long for spinach to cook.
Just keep tossing, turning and adding as it wilts down. It cooks very quickly.
If your spinach is not wet when you add it, you won't need to drain it. I just put it all into a measuring cup and then just snip it into smaller bits with some kitchen scissors.
You beat up some eggs, milk, flour, baking powder and seasonings in a bowl . . . until smooth without any lumps.
Then you add the spinach mixture to this. Its really simple . . . really simple.
I divide this between two individual oval casserole dishes/ramekins which I have sprayed with some low fat cooking spray . . . and then sprinkle crumbled feta cheese over top.
The end result is quite, QUITE delicious! I serve with buttered toast points and a salad on the side.
Yield: 2
Spinach, Onion & Feta Oven Omelets
These are fabulously delicious. They puff up lovely in the oven and will fall a bit when they come out, but are delicious! To cook for more simply double the ingredients. I baked in two individual casserole dishes, but you could bake in one small one if you wish, or even a small pie dish.
ingredients:
- 1 small onion, peeled and diced
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 85g/3 ounces baby spinach ( a couple large handfuls) (I like to pick off and discard any long stems)
- 3 large free range eggs
- 35g plain flour (1/4 cup)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- pinch cayenne pepper
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 160ml milk (2/3 cup)
- 6 TBS crumbled feta cheese
instructions:
How to cook Spinach, Onion & Feta Oven Omelets
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter two individual casserole dishes. Set aside.
- Spray a nonstick skillet with some cooking spray. Add the onions. Cook over medium heat until tender and translucent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the spinach a handful at a time, allowing it to wilt down Set aside and cool. (I like to chop it up with some kitchen scissors.) Put into a bowl. Whisk the eggs, flour and baking powder together in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the cayenne pepper and some seasoning, along with the milk and chopped spinach mixture. Divide this mixture between the prepared casserole dishes. Sprinkle the feta cheese over top of each.
- Bake in the preheat oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the centre is set and the edges are golden brown. Let set for 5 minutes before removing to heated dinner plates to serve. I like to serve this with toast points and some marinated tomatoes.
Yield: 2
Tomatoes Vinaigrette
A simple side salad which can easily be doubled to serve more.
ingredients:
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 2 TBS Balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp each Dijon mustard and caster sugar
- salt and coarse black pepper to taste
- 1/2 small shallot, peeled and minced
- 2 - 3 large ripe tomatoes, sliced
instructions:
How to cook Tomatoes Vinaigrette
- Slice the tomatoes and place on a serving plate. Whisk together the remaining ingredients and drizzle over top of the sliced tomatoes. Serve immediately.
Altogether this makes for a lovely and most delicious, light supper. The casserole dishes I use each hold about 1 cup of liquid. If you wanted to double it you could cook it in a pie tin and cut into wedges. It will cook in about the same time.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
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