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

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.

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