baked eggs with chorizo & cannellini beans

As someone who used to work for a cereal company, I know more than I could ever possibly have dreamed about the importance of breakfast. And while I think that it’s a bit unfair to good old lunch and dinner to go crazy and call breakfast the most important meal of the day, I do agree that life without breakfast is just no where near as good.

During the week I’m a big fan of my homemade muesli with natural yoghurt and possibly some banana and a drizzle of honey or even a decadent spoonful of my quickly diminishing stash of my Mum’s plum jam. But come the weekend my breakfasts tend to take one of two forms.

If there’s a big lunch on the horizon, I tend to just go with a fresh apple or pear to tide me over until the feasting begins. The other possibility is to make breakfast the highlight of the day, more of a brunch if you will. I love a café breakfast and we Sydneysiders are spoiled for choice when it comes to good breakfast options.

Or then there’s always the luxury of the home cooked brunch. Whatever the variation, there tends to be something to do with eggs. Possibly poached on a virtuous bed of steamed asparagus, or scrambelled along with a tasty fry-up of sausage, mushrooms and bacon.

But my latest favourite has the eggs baked on top of a tomatoey sauce fortified with spicy chorizo and tempered with soft cannellini beans. With a spike of red wine vinegar to freshen things up it takes baked beans to a whole new level, just the thing for a drizzle of rich runny egg yolk… all good things.

baked eggs with chorizo & cannellini beans

serves 4

Inspired by Karen Martini’s husband’ favourite hangover cure from Where the Heart is.

It’s up to you whether to go with mild or spicy chorizo, I tend to hedge my bets with a mix of both so you still get the chilli kick without it being overpowering.

The first time I made this dish I did as Karen suggested and scattered over about 100g marinated feta which worked well and I was planning to make it this time with some crumbled ricotta but we ended up eating the ricotta on Bourke St Bakery raisin and walnut toast for breakfast the day before so that wasn’t going to happen. To be honest the cheese was a nice touch but we didn’t really miss it at all. I mean with all that lovely chorizo and tomato to compliment the eggs a bit of cheese is hardly here nor there.

2T olive oil

4 chorizo, sliced

1 large red onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced

4 sprigs oregano, leaves picked

1 x 400g tin tomatoes

4T tomato paste

1/4C red wine vinegar

2 x 400g cans cannellini beans, drained

4 eggs

green salad, to serve

sourdough toast, to serve

Preheat oven to 200C. Heat oil in a large flame proof casserole dish or frying pan. Cook chorizo over a medium heat until well browned. Remove chorizo from the pan and reserve. Add onion to the pan and cook for 10mins or until softened and not browned. Add garlic and cook for a few more minutes before adding oregano, tomatoes, tomato paste and vinegar. Season and bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for 15mins or until sauce has thickened so it is no longer watery.

Stir through beans and chorizo and smooth over top. Bring back to a simmer and remove from the heat. Using a spoon, make 4 egg sized indentations in the bean mixture and crack and egg into each hole. Bake for 15mins or until egg whites are just cooked but the yolks are still lovely and runny. Remembering that this dish holds it’s heat so the egg will continue to cook after you remove it from the oven.

Divide between 4 warmed plates and serve immediately with toast and salad passed separately.

a really good lamb sandwich

There are few better ways to spend a sunny Spring Sunday afternoon than lazing on a picnic blanket in a harbour side park with the one you love. Think blue skies, warming sunlight tempered by a large shady tree, a styling black picnic blanket, the weekend papers, a bottle of red and a really good sandwich….all good things.

  Read the rest of this entry »

…to make icecream, that is.

rich dark chocolate icecream

Yes my friends, I’ve finally found it, a chocolate icecream recipe that doesn’t require any fancy specialized equipment to get that gloriously silky melt-in-the-mouth smooth texture that we icecream lovers crave. A chocolate icecream recipe that just requires a bit of mixing on the stove, then a bit of time for cooling and 8 or so hours of undisturbed freezing…almost too good to be true.

When it comes to dessert, icecream is by far my favourite thing. Some people have a separate stomach for sweets, but my spare space is reserved solely for icecream. As a serious fan, I always used to be so disappointed when I would come across a recipe for a tasty looking icy confection in a recipe book or magazine. I’d skim to the end of the instructions just on the off chance, but invariably hopes were dashed by those aweful instructions: freeze in an icecream machine as per the manufacturer’s instructions.

I had experimented with the tedious alternate method of freezing then pureeing in a food processor before returning the mix to the freezer to repeat again and again, but the results were never even close to the icecream perfection I was seeking. So one Christmas a few years ago I decided to splurge and invest in an icecream machine of my very own.

Suddenly a whole world of possibility opened up in the dessert arena. Icecream, sherbert, gelato and sorbet you name it, I gave it a go. As a quick browse through the following list from the stonesoup archives will attest, Mr Icecream and I have churned out some magic together.

*black pepper icecream
*olive oil icecream
*chocolate sorbet
*dulce de leche icecream
*yoghurt sorbet
*rhubarb sorbet
*super vanilla icecream
*fresh fig icecream with pistachio praline
*dried fig icecream with fresh figs & pistachios
*passionfruit & banana sorbet
*apricot sorbet
*lebanese lemonade sorbet 
*pistachio nougat icecream
*rosemary scented icecream
*cardamom icecream
*malted chocolate icecream
*homemade vanilla icecream
*brown bread icecream
*sourcream icecream
*cinnamon icecream
*honey roasted macadamia icecream
*burnt honey icecream
*passionfruit & lemon eggless icecream
*raspberry gelato

But over the last year or so my icecream making workhorse has started to slow down. Sure his internal compressor still works like a charm, freezing just as it should, but unfortunately Mr Icecream has decided of late to stop churning when the mixture is only just starting to chill. As a result I’ve resorted to hand stirring while the icecream freezes away. And while it only takes 20minutes or so, Mr Icecream and I both know that it isn’t going to be a sustainable relationship.

Which is how I happened to try the simple ‘leave it to freeze’ method on my latest icecream experiment. To be honest I was a little nervous that I’d end up with an icy mess but trust me gentle reader, this is one icecream recipe where those of you who don’t happen to be blessed with a friend like Mr Icecream, will be able to get the icecream of your dreams….. now I just need to work on a non-chocolate version…watch this space.

rich dark chocolate icecream
serves 4-6

Inspired by Skye Gyngell in her latest offering, My Favourite Ingredients.

Apart from good quality chocolate, the secret ingredient in this icecream is the cocoa powder which has the double benefit of adding the rich dark flavour and providing solids which must do something to retard ice crystal formation and encourage the lush silky texture.

If you do happen to be the proud owner of a working icecream machine,feel free to churn this mixture in it. My first attempt with this recipe was whipped up in my old icecream making friend with good results but I found my second attempt using the method below yielded as good, if not better texture, an opinion which was seconded by my favourite Irishman, a tough icecream critic himself.

100g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70% cocoa solids), chopped
6 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
1t vanilla extract
pinch salt
300mL double cream (approx 48% milk fat)
300mL whole milk
3T alkalized (dutch process) cocoa powder

Whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt together until pale. Place cream and milk in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and stir until melted. Pour hot cream mixture over the eggs, sift in cocoa powder and combine. Return to the saucepan and cook over a low heat for a few minutes, stirring continuously until the mixture has thickened slightly.

Remove from the heat and strain into a clean container and allow to cool. Cover and freeze overnight or for at least 8 hours. Best if eaten over the next few days, if you have the discipline to let it last that long.

salmon kibbeh

When it comes to evolving a good nickname, my mate Ades (short for Adrian…not so creative there but then you can hardly come up with a nickname for yourself) is a bit of a master. One of my all time favourites is the one he came up with for our Swedish friend, Malin. Read the rest of this entry »

birthday flowers arranged by missy helgs

monday morning sleep in
pressies in bed
a scenic walk to bondi beach
cristening a new knife on sour cherry bread with butter
milky irish breakfast tea
a harbourside picnic with a bourke st bakery chicken sandwich
rhubarb & almond tart
dozing and reading in the spring time sun
an evening ferry ride to circular quay
four courses of heaven at the restaurant of the year
crisp clean sheets
birthday girl happy

pork sung choi bau

When I was first getting into cooking during my uni days living in a share house, Asian food was something that we were really excited about cooking. Somehow it seemed far more exotic and felt like it required far less timing skills than knocking up the traditional meat and three veg that we had mostly grown up on. Read the rest of this entry »

summer white anchovy & tomato skewers

I know, I know, I really shouldn’t complain. I know it was only a little over a month ago that I was talking up soup and Sydney winters in these very pages. But right now I’m well and truly over the whole winter thing. Right now I’m just hanging out for Spring. Read the rest of this entry »

the tiger pizza

If I had to pick a food that truly represented Australia it would just have to be Vegemite. I used to think that you really had to grow up with it to even contemplate that it may be suitable for human consumption and had given up even thinking about trying to convert new comers to the Vegemite way. But a few weeks ago, without even intending to, I managed to get not one, but two Irishmen to eat and actually enjoy it. Read the rest of this entry »

rice pudding brulee

They say that timing is everything when it comes to comedy and politics but I’d like to propose another to add to that adage. Yes my friends, timing is everything when it comes to food blogging. I know it may not seem like there’s much to it, I mean you cook something, take a photo of it, eat it and then write a bit of a story  about it. Simple right? Read the rest of this entry »

beetroot curry

It’s said that we eat with our eyes first and as someone who works for an organization in which one of their most successful products has the by-line ‘flavour you can see’ I whole heartedly agree. I know I’ve banged on about my love of beetroot in the past but let me tell you, there’s a whole new side to beets that I’ve been immersing myself in… and well, I just can’t get enough. Read the rest of this entry »