Baghdad Eggs - possibly the perfect breakfast?

These spiced fried eggs made for a really fresh and interesting brunch dish and they were a welcome change from the more usual scrambled or poached. Eggs go so well with herbs and spices and this dish used both in abundance.

Pitta crisps are easy and delicious, and so useful that I often make a double or even treble batch. They store brilliantly in an airtight tin for a week or two and are great with all manner of dips or just for snacking on when you feel peckish. So much tastier and healthier than reaching for a bag of regular crisps. I normally add chilli flakes as I can’t resist the opportunity to spice them up a bit them but do leave them off if you prefer.  

Served 2

for the pitta crisps:

3 pitta breads

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper 

for the herb yogurt:

160g greek yoghurt

a generous handful of mixed fresh herbs, finely chopped (coriander, mint, parsley & chives are all great)

a little salt & freshly ground black pepper

for the Baghdad eggs:

2 tsp cumin seeds

50g unsalted butter

a splash of olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tsp paprika

4 eggs

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Slice the pittas into 3cm wide strips and peel apart the 2 layers of each strip. Lay in a single layer on a baking tray, drizzle over the olive oil and scatter on the cumin seeds, chilli flakes and a generous seasoning of flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until completely dry and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack

Make the yoghurt sauce by stirring through the herbs and seasoning to taste with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spoon onto two plates and set aside.

In a large frying pan, dry fry the cumin seeds for just a minute or so. As soon as you smell their aroma lifting from the pan tip them into a pestle and mortar and grind coarsely . Add the butter to the pan, along with a little drizzle of olive oil to help prevent it burning.  When it has melted and starts foaming, stir through the garlic, paprika and ground cumin and fry for a couple of minutes. Then crack in the eggs, and fry, basting in the spiced butter until they are cooked to your liking.

When the eggs are cooked use a fish slice to lift them out onto the serving plates, two per person, and drizzle over the butter. Serve immediately, with the pitta crisps to dunk in both the yolk and the herby yogurt.

Easy peasy lemon curd

At last a new recipe post from me. I am on the home straight now with writing A Good Egg, the book that this blog has turned into, and have been a little focussed to say the least. A few days ago I received the next instalment of photos from the super talented photographer Jason Ingram and it prompted me to finally post something. And here it is, lemon curd. Possibly the easiest, and nicest, preserve ever invented?

You won’t believe how straightforward lemon curd is to make, just fling it all in a pan and warm it gently over a low heat until it thickens then pour into clean jars. Compared to the shop brought stuff, the taste is phenomenal and, like me, you’ll be cursing yourself you haven’t done it before. Provided you store it in sterilized jars and in the fridge it will last for several weeks. But to be honest I doubt it’ll be there for that long.

makes 3 jars

4 eggs

4 large lemons, juice & finely grated zest

370g caster sugar

250g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes

1 tbsp cornflour

Begin by sterilizing 3 standard sized jam jars. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Wash both the jars and the lids in warm soapy water and rinse well. Shake off the excess water and stand in a baking tray. Slide into the oven and leave until they are completely dry.

Whilst the jars are sterilizing, add all the ingredients together in a heavy based saucepan. Set over a low heat and warm, whisking gently but pretty much continuously until it thickens. This should take around 10-15 minutes, give or take a minute here and there depending on the depth of your saucepan. You are looking for a consistency like natural yogurt. The lemon curd will thicken a little further on cooling.

Carefully pour the hot lemon curd into the clean hot jars and screw the lid on tightly. Once cold store in the fridge.

Cheese & tomato scrambled egg - a hearty breakfast for a hungry day

I am not normally a breakfast person, my only true necessity being a bucket of strong coffee to get me going first thing. In contrast my husband, Rob, can devour 4 weetabix in a single (and indeed brief) sitting, a fact I have never quite got my head around. But just occasionally I feel ravenous in the morning. Today proceeded in its usual chaotic, flying by the seat of my pants fashion - two kids fed & watered, two packed lunches, a bit of shouting to get a move on, cleaning up after the not-quite-toilet-trained puppy - and once I returned home from the school run I found my thoughts greedily turning to food. I found inspiration from the bowl of shiny super ripe pomodorino tomatoes sitting on the worktop. Its such a perfect time of year for tomatoes, ripened sweetly over a long period of time I think they are at their most delicious in September. Rather guiltily I whipped myself up a breakfast of cheese and tomato scrambled eggs and quickly ate them with a thick slice of toasted rye bread. And I have to say it absolutely hit the spot and kept me going for hours in a way that a bowl of cereal never could. I shall eat eggs for breakfast more often.

Serves 1 (could be be easily scaled up to feed more)

Knob of unsalted butter

5 ripe Pomodorino tomatoes (cherry or baby plum would be good too), sliced in half

2 eggs, lightly beaten, seasoned generously with salt & freshly ground black pepper

Small wedge of mature cheddar (about 40g) grated

a thick slice of toast - ideally wholemeal, granary or rye 

Melt the butter gently in a small heavy based saucepan and sauté the tomatoes for a minute or two until they just begin to soften. Pour in the seasoned egg and add the grated cheese and continue to cook, stirring from time to time, until they are creamy and just set. Eat immediately - so hungry was I that I devoured them standing at the kitchen counter.