Filed under: Babelas food, Breakfast (at Tiffany's...), Eggs | Tags: 5 minute recipe, babelas cure, breakfast, closet snare, flapjacks, moreira project, nigella's flapjacks
With the rhythms of the Moreira Project and Closet Snare live at Assembly still echoing fondly in my head from last night, I woke up this morning and felt an intense desire for two things: serious hot chocolate (see Chocolate Concoction for Churros) and flapjacks. As flapjacks are synonymous with the domestic goddess’s image, I paged through Nigella’s guide and found a flippen fantastic flapjack recipe. It takes 5 minutes to mix and 5 to cook. Thus making it the ultimate pick-up, no matter what your state of being is at the moment…
For about 12 fat flapjacks:
Two cups (500ml) flour
1 Tablespoon (15ml) bicarbonate of soda
1 Teaspoon (5ml) of sugar
A pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups (325ml) milk
30g Butter
2 eggs
To serve, your choice of what you feel like, here are a few suggestions:
Honey/syrup
Cream/full cream bulgarian yoghurt
Bacon/parma ham
Cheese of sorts
Banana/fig/raspberries/strawberries/peaches/blueberries
To start:
Step 1: Put on some music (the CD that you bought last night at the concert…).
Step 2: Melt the butter. Measure all the ingredients into a blender. Whiz until all the ingredients are incorporated.
Step 3: Get a medium sized pan out (non stick if you have). Spray with non-stick baking spray or alternatively melt a teaspoon butter, but the pan must be on a medium to low heat (don’t turn the temperature too high, otherwise you’ll have nicely blackened flapjacks instead of beautiful golden ones).
Step 4: With your hand, feel just above the surface of the pan if it is heated. Spoon a big dessertspoon full of the mixture into the pan, let it ooze into its freeform and continue until you have three. When you see bubbles slowly emerging on the surface of the flapjacks, and the bottom becoming slightly loose from the pan, flip each one over sperately with an egg lifter. The surface should be remeniniscent of a golden caramelised colour. Continue for about 30 seconds on that side. When finished, wrap in a bowl with a clean tea towel. Continue until the batter is finished. Don’t hesitate to try some with butter and syrup before you actually sit down and eat… life is too short and you never know what could happen with it in the meantime, especially with siblings/lovers floating around with a hungry look on their faces …
On the photo:
A dincum stack of friday-night-recovery flapjacks for breakfast with:
Bottom: fresh figs
Middle: banana
Top: crispy fried bacon
All over: full cream bulgarian yog
hurt and honey
Where: eaten in bed
*This recipe has been loosely adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a domestic goddess, Chatto and Windus.
Caroline solely ran a guesthouse for an Englishman for 4 years. She even entertained guests and cooked for them, while having to run the budget as well. This is her totally original recipe, with which had guests from all over the world coming back for more.
Her secret ingredients for 12 big muffins
2 cups orange juice
3 ½ cups Cake flour
1 T Baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 Eggs
½ cup fruit cake mix
All you need to do is:
First turn on the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Take out a muffin pan and grease it well with butter inside, or spray with baking spray. Whisk the orange juice, eggs and sugar together in a medium bowl. Next sift the baking powder and flour into another smaller bowl. Using a metal spoon, fold in the dry ingredients you have sifted into the liquid mixture. Check so that everything is mixed evenly, and then fold in the fruit cake mix. Spoon the mixture so that it fills about ¾ of each hole in the pan. Pop it in the oven, start checking at 25 minutes, if the point of the knife comes out wet when you insert it in the middle of one muffin, let it go for another 5 minutes. That’s it! Have it just like that, or with some honey and butter, jam and cheese…
Grandmothers are legends – and from them we inherit legend recipes. This lemon tart is much like my ouma Awe (pronounced A-wwwie, with the kind of friction in your throat an Afrikaans ‘w’ would make) – a twist on the traditional, utterly unforgettable, and clever – on top of all that! In memory of my ouma Awe from Brandfort, a town in the Free State.
For one piece of Ouma’s inheritance:
One packet of Tennis – of Marie biscuits
150g butter
1 tin Condensed milk
2 eggs
4 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 T castor sugar
How to go about using the inheritance:
Firstly, turn in your oven on 200 degrees Celsius. Put your biscuits in a sealable bag (for example a large ziplock bag), let all the air go out and seal it. Using a roller pin or empty wine bottle, roll over the biscuits and crush them into very fine crumbs. Next melt the butter in the microwave for about 1 minute on high or in a small pan. Shake the biscuit crumbs into a medium-sized bowl and add the melted butter, then stir to combine well. Take out your tart tin, or any dish similar, and pour roughly 3/4 of the mixture into the tin. Now -hands on – press! Spread it out so that it builds up out to the sides, but keep a good base as well. All-in-all try to get some all over, as even as possible. Place it in the fridge to set a bit.
Pour the condensed milk into a bowl. Next take out a smaller spotless bowl of stainless steel, and separate your 2 eggs, the whites in the stainless steel bowl and the yolks in with the condensed milk. How to separate? Crack the egg carefully in the middle against the side of a bowl, while holding it in your hand. Keep the stainless steel bowl under you and using both hands, carefully open the egg and let the white slide down into the bowl. Next slide the yolk, keeping it whole, in your one hand and let the white run through your slightly open fingers. Place the yolks in with the condensed milk. Don’t let the yellow spoil the whites’ complexion – it will make it incapable of becoming stiff! Using an electric whisk (using your hand and a whisk is extremely labour-intensive, tried and tested!) whisk the egg whites until turn white-white and can hold soft peaks – when you lift up the whisk, it stays. Add the castor sugar and whisk another round. Next swop your bowl for the condensed milk and yolks and whisk well until it is well combined. Keep going and add the lemon juice a bit at a time. Take out a metal spoon (to keep the air) and fold in the egg whites with the other mixture in circular, voluptuous movements until no white streak remains. Spoon this out into the tart base. For the final touch, sprinkle the remaining quarter of the biscuit crumbs on the top. Bake it in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. It is ready when the top has coloured to caramel slightly and you can smell it. You will not believe how good this is!
Roulade, roulade, roulade, roulade rolls from your tong and plate. This recipe was inspired by one of my all-time hero’s, Sam Stern, being a teen himself, wrote a teen’s survival cookbook. This one I made for Helette, a small something to say happy 21st!
Makes one big cake for 10 people or 3 small ones
You need:
Sunflower oil or Cook ‘n Spray, for greasing.
250 grams dark chocolate
160ml castor sugar
5 eggs
4 ½ T espresso or strong coffee, freshly made
Icing sugar, for dusting
One carton (250ml) double cream or mascarpone
250g strawberries or other berries, as you wish
To make someone’s wish come true:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Take a tin about 23 x 33 cm or 3 loaf tins and line with greaseproof paper, and grease it. Fold it so that it fits nicely; let the paper stick out around the sides. Separate your eggs with clean hands, no oil, the whites going into a small stainless steel bowl and the yolks in another. Whisk the whites until they form stiff peaks, about 3 minutes with an electric whisk. Add the castor sugar to the yolks and whisk them until it turns light in colour and resembles what would be eggy mousse. Break the chocolate finely into a heavy-bottomed, non-stick pan and add the espresso. Let this melt over a very low heat, take care not to burn at all, and keep whisking! This will only take you less than one minute. Add the melted chocolate to the yolks and fold in with a big metal spoon. Next fold in the egg whites with the spoon. The odd spot of white is does not matter. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 25 minutes for the big tin, if you insert a knife in the middle and it comes out clean then hey! It is ready! The loaf tins will take approx. 15 minutes. It may be cracked at the top, that is fine, and it will also sink after it cools down. Let it cool down for at least 15 minutes. Whisk the double cream so long, and add some orange zest if you like it. Smooth it over the roulade with a knife, not to thick, not to thin, just right. Lift the short end of the roulade and roll it away from you so that it looks like an odd Swiss roll. Peel off the baking parchment as you roll. Take it easy, it may crack and break but it is not the end of the world. Keep rolling until you come to the end of it, transfer to a plate, cut and toss a few strawberries around it and dust with icing sugar (use a sift). Happy eating!
This is the Catalonians’ version of crème caramel, adapted from the recipe book The Love of Spanish and Mexican Cooking. It dates back to 1981 and has personal notes written by my paternal grandmother, Adele de Waal. My grandparents on both side (and both my parents for that matter) lived in Brandfort, a small dorp (village) in the Free State. I never knew my paternal grandmother, but the stories I hear of her make me want to cook more and more just to be a bit closer to her. I have heard stories of her making basil pesto (in Brandfort!) before pesto become the vogue. When I paged through the book, my eyes could not miss the Crema Catalan. Here is my version… make it yours.
For 4 people you need:
2 ½ cups milk
1 stick cinnamon
Rind of one lemon, finely grated
6 eggs, separated (instructions follow)
3 T cornflour (Maïzena)
½ cup sugar
Half a vanilla pod, cut in half, or ½ t vanilla essence
How to go about it:
Heat 2 cups of the milk in a small saucepan, together with the lemon rind, vanilla pod and cinnamon over a medium heat. When you can see it bubbles on the surface or at the sides, it is boiling, so turn down the heat so that it heats slowly over a low heat, which is to simmer. Take care that it does not start foaming and rising over the pan, the heat is the a bit too hot. This will take about 5 minutes; turn off the heat after that.
Have two bowls (a deepish one is good for the yolks, as not to make a mess when whisking), separate the eggs. Take one egg in your hand; give it a light crack in the middle with a knife or at the side of your egg white bowl, a stainless steel bowl one. Turn the egg lengthways again like you want to open it, and then open it slowly and with the uttermost care so that the white spills out into the stainless steel bowl, then slide the yolk back into the other half of the egg shell so that only the yolk remains. Throw the yolk into the other bowl. Watch out that you do not get any yolk in with the whites (vice versa is not a problemo), if you want to have a go at meringues. Check for any egg shells in between. Next whisk in the remaining milk (½ cup) with the yolks and add the cornflour. Make sure there are no lumps of flour, so whisk like your arm twists of! It’s only for 10 seconds, though.
Strain the milk through a sift into a clean pan. Add 2 T of the sugar and the yolk mixture, stir constantly with your whisk while you through this in. The egg-mix should not be to hot, otherwise it may scramble. Turn the heat on, the lowest possible setting you can go, and whisk the mixture all the time, while it thickens, about 5 minutes. It may seem labour-intensive, but it has been done before and you can do it! It is ready when you are able to coat the back of a wooden spoon with the glossy mixture. Please don’t let it curdle, the heat is too hot! Save it by whisking hard, placing the pan in some colds water to cool off, or whizzing it in the food processor – a bit of a cheat there but sometimes it works.
Pour into shallow heatproof serving dishes (4 small individual ones) or one big all rounder, allow to cool in the fridge for 1 hour. Put the grill on high, put a rack directly under the grill, the nearest you can go.
When the custard had set, sprinkle the remaining sugar over with a teaspoon, evenly over the surface. Place it under the very hot grill for 1-2 minutes to caramelize and melt the sugar until brown. Remove and let it cool down a bit and the sugar harden again.
My mom likes it hot, straight from the pan to the oven to the table, while it is very hot. You can do it either way.
Is that a trick question? It is just that there are so many different strokes for different blokes. To name a few: Antonio Carluccio, Giorgio Locatelli, Michel Roux and Delia Smith, all of them big-time chefs, have their own ways of cooking their perfect boiled egg. Even though it only consists out of one essential ingredient (with exception of any accompaniments) – a free-range or organic egg of a large size – cooking it just the way YOU like it may seem like a (baked) Alaska at first. It is all about the timing and the egg, really. First try it this way and then experiment a bit more until you know you’ve got it right.
For one person you need:
One egg! Preferably a large, fresh, free range or organic one
A small pan
Some salt, tomato sauce and toast sliced in fingers and buttered, to serve
How to go about it:
Place your pan, filled up ¾ with water, on a high heat and bring to the boil (usually about 5-10 minutes, if you place a lid on the pan it will go a bit faster). When water is rolling with bubbles, turn it down a bit to a medium-low heat. Using a big spoon, handle the egg as if it were a baby and gently place your egg in the water and let it slide off without knocking against the pan. (Sounds quite harsh, I know, but it is meant to be eaten!) It may crack out of pure pressure, but at the end it would not harm your egg that much. If you find the white is escaping too freely when cracked, add 1t of white wine vinegar next time when you pour the water in the pan. Otherwise, definitely try this tip – make a small hole with a needle on the pointier part of the egg and add to the water. Now put on that timer – while you make the toast – 4 ½ minutes for a soft center, but firm white, 30 seconds less if you like a totally velvety and oozing yolk. For a hard boiled egg, which still has some life in it though, boil it for 7 minutes. When we traveled to Grahamstown for the Arts Festival we boiled some eggs the previous night, let them cool down, then we put them in the fridge to take with for brekkie on the road the next day and they were a hit. I associate hard boiled eggs only with padkos (food eaten on the road) and salad nicoise.
That is how I boil my egg.
Nah, just kidding. The science involved in creating an omelet for does not require a degree, it only asks for a good flip of the hand and some nice eggs… padah! Somehow it was always something I only considered when in a restaurant, until Caroline, a proud Sotho woman, showed me how to make a light omelet. She was the driving force behind a guesthouse for many years until it was sold, and made all the courses, including breakfast, herself.
For one person you need:
2 large free-range eggs
One tablespoon butter
One handful of grated cheese (cheddar works best for grating, as it is a hard cheese) or filling of your choice (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste
How to:
Break the eggs in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper, then whisk with a whisk or fork until all is well combined. Place the butter in a small frying pan, about 20cm in diameter, let it melt on a medium heat but not burn or turn brown. Next add the eggs and cook quickly, while whisking lightly, not to scramble, but just to stir the setting a bit. Shake it to loosen it up at the sides. This would that about 2 minutes. Toss your filling on the one side of the omelet, now using an egg lifter (which is broad and flat). Remove from the heat and fold the omelet in half. Turn over the pan so that the handle is facing upwards and slide it carefully onto a plate, using the egg lifter to loosen and help this action.
Your omelet is ready for action (meaning eat)!
You can do it yourself! Another spectacular way to use eggs, rather than just plain scrambled eggs (although that can be extra creamy and good to) and it looks really impressing when you bring it out for breakfast.
For 4-6 persons you need:
2 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced into rings
6 medium eggs
pinch of saffron, steeped in a medium bowl and about 1 T freshly boiled water
salt and freshly grinded pepper
Bring a pan with salted water to the boil on a high heat, add the potatoes and then simmer for 8 minutes. Next drain the potatoes in a colander. While you let the water srain out of the potatoes, heat a swish of olive oil over high heat in a non-stick pan of +/- 25cm, add the potatoes and onions and turn the heat down. Cook this for about 10 minutes, while stirring every now and agagin, but very gently as not to break the potatoes. The onion should be soft, but try not to burn it, add another few drop of oil if you see it is sticking. Add the eggs to the saffron and beat lightly with a fork/whisk. Pick up the pan with the onions and potatoes in eat, shake lightly to distribute it evenly, place back on the heat and pour the eggs over. If you need to, flatten the potatoes out to the sides a bit. Once the egg-mixture is set at the sides, about 1 and a half minutes, loosen the sides with a spatula. Turn off the heat. Put a big plate, enough to cover the whole pan over the pan and holding with both hands, 1, 2, 3 tip it over so that the tortilla lands on the plate. Next slide the tortilla back into the pan so that it cooks on the other side. Serve cut up like a cake, at room temperature or still warm.
