Baked Eggs with Bacon, Coriander and Chilli BBQ sauce

One of my favourite things to wake up to is Baked Eggs. It is definitely the tastiest and one of the easiest breakfasts to prepare... and ridiculously diverse, basically throw in whatever you like. Here's one of my faves...

2 Large Free-Range Eggs
2 Rashers Bacon
Handful of your favourite grated cheese
Olive oil
2-3 chunky slices good quality bread (turkish bread or ciabatta works well)
Heaps of coriander, chopped
Home-made Chilli BBQ Sauce

Okay, this is dead easy if you're prepared. Heat a small, oven proof pan over a medium flame, slosh in a bit of oil and chuck in your bacon rashers. Cook for about 3 minutes before cracking your eggs into the pan. Cook for another 2 minutes, coat the entire thing with cheese and whack it under a hot grill alongside some olive oil coated bread until the bread is toasty and the cheese is melted. Take the HOT pan out of the grill, smother with BBQ Sauce and Coriander and serve with the crispy toast.

Make this for me and you've won my heart.

(Goes really well with a good strong espresso or Bloody Mary if you're hungover)

Chilli BBQ Sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup hot chilli sauce
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 fresh birdseye or other hot chillis
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is tender. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 5 minutes. Bang it into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.

Almond Crusted Pork Loin on Coleslaw and Quinoa with Mustard Apples

Got inspired by an incredible whole roast pig at an amazing wedding earlier this year and came up with this creation. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

serves 4

4 pork loin chops

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup plain flour

2/3 cup slivered almonds, roughly crushed

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

Quinoa

1 1/2 cups white quinoa

1 1/2 cup chicken stock

1 1/2 cup water
1 Tbls unsalted butter

Coleslaw

1 1/2 cup finely sliced white cabbage

1 cup finely sliced red cabbage

1 cup roughly chopped coriander

1 granny smith apple, diced

4 spring onions, finely sliced

juice of 1 lemon

Tblsp sour cream

Mustard Apples

1 jonathon apple

2 Tblsp Dijon mustard

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup coriander, chopped

Start by heating some peanut oil in an oven proof pan. Coat the pork loin with seasoned plain flour, then dip into the egg, then coat in crushed almonds. Place the loins in the pan and fry for around 5 mins on both sides. Pre-heat your oven to 200oC.

While the pork is cooking combine quinoa, stock and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook for around 15 min or until tender, adding water as necessary.

Whisk together lemon juice and sour cream. In a large bowl, combine cabbage, coleslaw, coriander, granny smith apple and spring onions and coat with lemon and sour cream dressing, cover and refrigerate.

To finish cooking the pork, place whole pan in the preheated oven for 15 min or until juice runs clear. Remove from oven and let it rest for 5 min. Cooking pork this way keeps it ridiculously moist and tender.

Finely slice the red jonathon apple and coat and coat with mustard and lime juice for a sweet, sour spicy combo. Sprinkle with coriander for an aromatic hit.

To finish, mix butter into cooked quinoa. Spoon into open ended moulds on the plate. top quinoa with a large amount of coleslaw and pack in quite tightly. Place a few apple slices around the plate. Carefully remove the mould from the quinoa and coleslaw. Place a crunchy almond crusted pork loin against the coleslaw. Kick back and enjoy. x

Espresso Jelly with White Chocolate Foam

Hey there. Made these for a high tea/dinner party that got a little out of hand... I kind of want to make them again with Cafe Patron in the jelly and Creme de Cacao in the foam to make it extra fun... will update with results.

Ingredients

Espresso Jelly
- 500ml freshly brewed espresso
- 200g brown sugar
- 3 tsp/ sachets powdered gelatine, dissolved in a little hot water
- Cafe Patron Tequila (optional, although definitely worth it)

White Chocolate Foam
- 250ml Cream
- 1 tsp vanilla paste/ 1 vanilla bean, halved
-220g white chocolate
- 2 egg yolks
- 150g caster sugar

-extra vanilla paste

Okay, I'm really tired. let me know if this makes no sense...

Start by making your espresso jelly. Heat the espresso in a saucepan over low heat and dissolve the brown sugar in it. Remove from the heat and add the dissolved gelatine (it should be a sticky paste). Stir briskly until combined (If you're an alcoholic like me, add the Patron here). Line a baking tray or similar container with cling film and pour the jelly mixture in. Cover, then place into the fridge and allow to set.

Whilst the jelly is setting it's time to make the foam. It's basically a creme anglaise with white chocolate added then put through a cream charger. Start by heating the cream and vanilla over a medium flame, wait until small bubbles start forming around the edges of the saucepan and add the broken up white chocolate to dissolve. Remove from heat. While the chocolate cream mixture is cooling slightly, whisk the egg yolk and caster sugar together until it is nice and creamy. Add a bit of the cream to the egg mixture and stir to combine, then pour the creamy eggs into the saucepan. Put back onto heat, stirring gently until mixture coats the back of the spoon. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before pouring into a cream charger. Charge with two nitrous oxide bulbs and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, I cut the jelly into cubes and placed 2 in each shot glass then filled the shotty with foam, finishing by piping a comma of vanilla paste. You could just as easily serve them as dessert by pouring the jelly into parfait glasses before setting and then top with cream and shaved chocolate.... I'm so making that soon....

Whole Grilled Snapper with Thai Sauce

Cooked this for my house mate a few weeks back. He's been asking for the recipe continually so I figured everyone could use it. Excuse the poor layout- I'm on my phone.

sea salt
2 limes
1/3 cup water
1/2 Tbsp. tamarind paste
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp palm sugar
1 thumb-size piece galangal or ginger, peeled and sliced
1 cup fresh coriander leaves and stems
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1/2 red capsicum, de-seeded and diced
1-2 fresh red chilies
Extra fresh coriander, sliced limes and sea salt to serve.

Prepare fish by rinsing it, then patting it dry. Make 2-3 diagonal cuts into the side of the fish (with the blade of the knife on an angle facing the head). The cuts should be several inches apart (this will make the fish easier to eat and give it more flavor). Squeeze the juice of 1-2 limes over and inside fish. Stuff the squeezed limes and coriander inside the fish. Sprinkle surface with sea salt and set aside while you prepare the sauce. Place water, tamarind, garlic, sugar, galangal, coriander, chili, and fish sauce in a food processor. Process well. Pour the sauce into a sauce pan. Add the diced pepper and simmer over medium-low heat for 5-8 minutes. Taste test the sauce for salt and sour-sweetness (it should taste tangy), adding more fish sauce if not salty enough, and more sugar if you find it too sour. Cover and keep warm while you cook the fish. The capsicum should keep some of its crunchiness. Grill the fish on the barbecue or on a stove-top grill. Allow to fry about 5 minutes on each side, or until the flesh has browned and flakes easily.Don't flip the fish too early, or the skin will stick to the pan/barbecue. Allow it to cook at least 2 minutes before turning (the natural oils of the fish will then come through and "unstick" it).
Plate the fish and pour the sauce over. Garnish with sprigs of fresh coriander and wedges of lime.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with my niece

I've escaped Melbourne for a few days to hang out with my family. Made these beauties with a little help from my niece. Recipe will be up soon.

Alrighty. It's been a while but I thought you all could do with some indulgence. So get into these beauties as soon as you get a chance. Like I said earlier, my niece and I made them back in April, so they're dead easy.

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 1 1/2 caster sugar

• 1 cup milk

• 200g melted unsalted butter

• 2 eggs, lightly whisked

• 1 tbls white vinegar

• 1 tsp vanilla paste

• 1-2 tsp red food colouring

1/2 cup icing sugar

200g unsalted butter, softened

Juice of 1/2 fresh Orange

Orange zest

Shredded coconut

• 
  

Turn on your oven and preheat oven to 160°C. Line your mini patty cake pans with paper cases. Sift flour, cocoa powder and bicarb into a big bowl and stir through the sugar. Whisk the milk, butter, eggs, vinegar, food colouring and vanilla in a large jug. I got my niece to do this and got the mixture all over my sisters kitchen, but couldn't get angry at her because she's just too cute. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the hot pink milk mixture and stir until just combined so that the mix is nice and velvety.
Divide the mixture among the lined pans. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the icing simply mix together the icing sugar and butter. Add orange juice until you get the desired consistency then stir through the orange zest. 
To finish, wait until the cupcakes are cool, then spread with the orange icing mixture and sprinkle over with shredded coconut. Delicious velvetty goodness.

Indulge Me.... I need these tonight. So I made them.

Okay.. so these beauties didn't turn out as well as last time. But they were delicious none the less. plus I needed the sweetness after what I've done tonight. They make me feel like I'm not such a bad person after all. Hope you can all share them with someone special.

Chocolate Souffle

Ingredients (For 6. I divided it in my head so I think thats where I messed up... I ended up with far too much chocolate sauce. Not that that's a bad thing.)
 
4 tablespoons caster sugar
70g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
2/3 cup milk
250g good quality dark chocolate, chopped up
3 eggs1/2 cup cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla paste 


Get your ramekins ready, place them on a baking tray on a sheet of baking paper- makes it heaps easier to take off later- trust me. Melt half the butter in a small saucepan and with a pastry brush coat the inside of the ramekins with some of it- use upward strokes on the sides, for some reason it stops the souffle from sticking so much. Dust the butter coated ramekins with the castor sugar and put the whole tray of them in the fridge to chill.
Add the flour to your already melted butter and give it a stir with  wooden spoon until its bubbling away. Slowly pour in the milk and bring back to the boil, stirring constantly. It should look a bit like a bechemal sauce. Add half the chocolate and stir until melted. Pour the mix into a bowl and add the yolks of your eggs- leaving the whites to one side for the time being. give the chocolatey mix a good stir. Taste it... go on...I dare you.
Whisk the whites of the eggs until theyre as stiff as you can get them. Fold a spoon of the whites in with the yummy chocolate mix with a metal spoon then add the rest. You've got to do this gently or the souffle won't be light and silky.
Get your tray of ramekins out of the fridge and spoon the mixture into them. Resist temptation to fill them all the way or they will over flow, plus this mixture is pretty good to eat uncooked anyway. Put them in the oven for around 20 minutes at 180°C.
While they are cooking make the chocolate sauce. Heat the cream and vanilla in the saucepan until it simmers. Dissolve in the brown sugar and chocolate. To make the sauce really silky put in the rest of the butter. I swear butter make everything better. Pour into tiny little jugs for each person and finish with a drop of vanilla paste for an extra vanilla-y kick.
When the souffle's have risen nicely (i.e. not overflown like mine did) place them onto a serving plate. This is heaps easier if you've got a nice metal spatula and slide them from the baking paper onto it. Trickier than it seems. When you serve them , dig a little hole in the top of the soufflewith the back end of a spoon and pour in some of the rich velvety chocolate sauce.
Excuse me while I eat my second for the evening- they may have overflowed but god they still taste amazing. 

Late Night Dinner- Roast Duck Agnolotti with Beetroot Pickle. Micro-salad of Red Shiso and Purple Queen Beans

Hey again. Last night I got home and all I really wanted to do was crash on the couch, but then I realised I have a blog to write and Duck Agnolotti (from toscano's) that really needs eating. So I cleared out the near empty fridge (I swear there is only mustard and pomegranate left in there) and came up with this surprisingly good dish. Inspired by a beetroot pickle a friend taught me how to make and using some incredible olive oil he bought on a great night out- even though the food was not. Seriously, the quality of the ingredients can really make a meal. Thanks MAAAAAATE.

Duck Agnolotti with Beetroot Pickle

Ingredients
Roast Duck and Wild Mushroom Agnolotti
1 Beetroot, peeled
Apple cider vinegar
Brown Sugar
1 Garlic clove, crushed
Bunch of Thyme
Sea Salt
Some nice olive oil
Lemon Juice
Red Shiso sprouts
Purple Queen Beans (or any broad bean type thing)



Finely dice your beetroot into 3-5mm cubes. It really needs to be this small to cook through properly. Plus it looks real pretty. Lightly sauté the crushed garlic in a frying pan  with a good slosh of olive oil. Add in the beetroot and cook for 3-5 mins. Strip the leaves off the thyme and add it to the mix- the more the better. Pour in enough apple cider vinegar to moisten the sauce. Whilst that's simmering away, throw the Agnolotti into salted boiling water. This should take about 6 mins, you'll know it's cooked when the pasta rises to the surface. (I know it's not home made but this is really good quality store bought stuff. I'll post up the brand as soon as I remember it.)
While the pasta is cooking, quickly saute the broad beans and coat in a little olive oil, sea salt and lemon juice. Place on plate along with the red shiso. I <3 microherbs.
Add the brown sugar to the beetroot pickle mixture and stir until dissolved.
Drain the agnolotti and toss in another slosh of olive oil. Place the pasta on the plate beside the microsalad and top with with a good helping of the pickle. Tastes like Autumn.
(I swear I'll leave some for you next time.)

A Start to Swallowing Melbourne

As I am sure many of my friends are aware I am highly passionate about food, and as I have recently discovered, many of them are sick to death of me posting shots of my food to facebook. Hence the start of swallowing Melbourne.
I was hoping to start the blog with a post of an amazing meal I created last week, but the photo that I took of it somehow went missing, so that will have to wait until I remake it. Instead I'll show you all one of my all time favourite desserts... Wait for it.... Chocolate Souffle....

Okay... so i don't have pictures of that either, so you'll have to settle for Brulee French Toast with a Vodka Raspberry Syrup.

So this was something i whpped up a couple of weeks ago when I was home alone on a Monday and a little peckish.


Ingredients

The Toast
Some good quality White Bread
2 Eggs
1/3 cup Milk
Vanilla Paste or pods or essence
Butter
Sugar

The Syrup
1/4 cup Vodka
Handful frozen Raspberries
Star Anise Pod
1/2 Cup Sugar


Cut yourself a couple of slices of bread and let them sit whilst you make the egg mixture, they will dry slightly and take on the moisture more fully. Grab a big bowl and crack your eggs along with your milk and vanilla and whisk until it's combined. Dunk your bread in this and leave covered while you make the syrup.
Get a small saucepan and bring the vodka, star anise and the raspberries to a slow boil. Add the sugar and reduce until syrupy.
While thats bubbling away it's time to do your toast. First, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat whack in your egg soaked bread and fry until nice and golden. Flip it over and do the other side then take it out to rest. There should be a little butter left in the pan, if not add a little more along with a bit of sugar. Heat up the butter/sugar mixture until its all gooey and chuck your toast back in to coat it in yumminess.
 Pile your bruleed toast on a plate and pour over some of that syrupy goodness.
Seriously Satisfying.

Hope you like it,  will do something more wanky soon.
xx