Anglesey Eggs

This is such a lovely dish and well worth making, despite being quite labour intensive!  It involves one pan to cook the leeks, another for the potato, another for the eggs and yet another for the cheese sauce – BUT, there are corners that you can cut and it freezes like a dream so you can bulk cook for the freezer.  If you do that, to ring the changes, you could add some grated cheddar to the mashed potato and leek to make a cheese and potato pie for the freezer (link to recipe below)

 To make things simple, I cooked the eggs the day before I wanted to make it and used a ready-made tub of cheese sauce.  It’s a dish that you can prepare well ahead of time, as long as you don’t put the cold eggs and cold cheese sauce onto the hot mashed potato it will come to no harm.

 Quantities will depend on the number of people you are serving, but for four serves I used :

 3 large potatoes

4 small leeks

A generous knob of butter for the leeks

4 hard boiled eggs

 1 x small tub of ready-made cheese sauce

 2 oz or so of grated cheddar for the topping

 Salt and pepper to taste

 Peel and boil the potatoes.  While the potato is cooking clean and dice the leek and sauté in a generous knob of butter.  Grate the cheese for the topping.

 When the potato is cooked drain and mash then and add the buttery leek, combine together before turning into an ovenproof dish. 

 Peel and coarsely chop the hard boiled eggs and distribute evenly over the top of the mashed potato.  You could slice the eggs if you prefer.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 Pour over the cheese sauce into a thin layer and then top with grated cheddar cheese

 If you are eating straight away simply pop under a pre-heated grill until the cheese sauce is heated through and the grated cheese is golden and bubbling.  If it has been prepared ahead and is cold it will need about 30 minutes in a hot oven.

 http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/cheese-and-potato-pie.html

Ham, Leek and Goat's Cheese Tart

Over the years I’ve made all manner of quiches, but this one really is my absolute favourite.  Leeks are a real feature in Welsh cooking, and a firm standby in my kitchen – they put an appearance in dishes often. 

This quiche really is a winner.  The buttery sweetness of the leeks, the subtle tang of the goat’s cheese and the creamy unctuousness of the cheesy duck egg custard were a perfect combination.  Do look out for Welsh goat’s cheese if you can, it has a much better flavour; ditto good Welsh Cheddar cheese.  Collier’s is my favourite.

 For an 8” (20cm) tart I used :

 ½ a 500g pack of ready-made pastry

 3 thick rashers of bacon, cooked and then chopped (or use cooked ham)

1 baby leek
4 slices of Welsh goat’s cheese
2 – 3oz (60 – 90g) cheddar cheese
½ pint (250ml) milk
2 eggs (duck if you can find them, they make a much better quiche)
Salt and Pepper to taste

 Roll out the pastry and line a greased flan tin.  You can part-bake the pastry case, but I’ve never had any success doing it so have long abandoned this step!

 Halve the leek and wash carefully, then dry as best you can before slicing up and sweating gently in a little butter for 5 minutes.  You just want the leek to soften, not brown.

 

Scatter the chopped cooked bacon or ham into the bottom of the pastry case, then add the cooked leek.  Slice the goat’s cheese and then add that and finally scatter over the grated cheddar.

 Combine the eggs and milk together with the seasoning and then pour over the contents of the flan tin. 

 Cook at 180^oC / 350^oF / gas mark 4 for 35 to 40 minutes, until the quiche is golden and set.

Egg & Bacon Flan

Over the years I have made many, many quiches with all sorts of ingredients and a quiche remains one of my favourite comfort foods.  In recent years I have re-discovered the classic quiche Lorraine, or egg and bacon flan as my Grandmother used to call it!

It’s a very simple dish, using refrigerator staples – bacon, eggs and cheese and really quite a frugal dish.  But such a classic combination and it can be taken to all new levels of tastiness by using really good quality ingredients.  Make it with best quality, oak or applewood smoked bacon, really strong cheddar and what I call proper eggs (from properly free-range hens) and you have yourself a real treat.  Nothing, but nothing can bring cheer to the weary soul like a very good, very simple quiche. 

The method below is pretty much the basic one I’ve been using for umpty tumpty years and will never let you down.  The only adaption I’ve made is to incorporate Delia’s tip of using a little parmesan cheese just before it goes into the oven.   

Like all my recipes, this is far from set in stone.  You can, of course, vary the basic recipe with whatever assortment of meat, fish or veggies takes your fancy. 

A small flan for two people : 

Grease and line a small flan dish with pastry.  The one I used was 7" in diameter and produced a nice deep quiche.

2 eggs

½ pint of milk (you can use a mixture of milk and cream for very best results!)

2 or 3 oz of good cheddar cheese (Welsh by preference please!!)

Salt and pepper to taste

4 slices of bacon, cooked and cut into strips

1oz or so of parmesan cheese 

Simply grate the cheddar and add to the bottom of your lined flan dish.  Add the cooked and chopped bacon.  Beat the eggs and add the milk (or milk and cream mixture), seasoning to taste.  Gently pour the egg and milk mixture onto the bacon and cheese and add a final grating of parmesan cheese. 

Cook at 180^oC / 350^oF / gas mark 4 for 35 to 40 minutes, until the quiche is golden and set.

Poached Eggs

I don’t want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs (or poach them in this instance!), but this is such an easy way to poach eggs that it deserves to be shared. 

It came about because I’m a bit of a farty with poaching eggs in pans of boiling water – I’ve never been able to do it properly (!) and I’m far, far too impatient to wait for an egg to poach in a poacher or a poach pod.  

One day I tried doing it this way, and it was such a roaring success that I’ve been doing it this way ever since.  It takes as long as the toast takes to cook so have everything ready to roll! 

Firstly, fill and boil a kettle. 

Then smear a deep frying pan with a little oil and break the eggs into the pan.  Put on the hob (stove) to cook and then put the toast into the toaster.   

As soon as the egg whites are beginning to set (i.e. the bottoms are completely white in the pan) pour in the boiling water gently.  Spoon the water over the yolks to set them as you like them.  I like mine runny so I turn the heat under the pan off as soon as the boiling water goes in.  If you like your yolks set, spoon the boiling water over the yolks until they are cooked through. 

Butter the toast and lift the eggs from the pan with a spatula – you may need to separate the whites though.  I’m not very keen on the whites so I always cut most of them away – I use a cookie cutter.

Grampa's Creamed Cheese

I love this!  My Grandfather used to make it for me when I was a little girl, it was always a real treat!  I often make it today – as a light lunch, or tea.  I usually make it on toast, but I only had muffins in the house today so they had to do instead! 

It’s very quick to make, and can be done in the time it takes to toast the bread, or muffins.  Have everything ready before you start! 

Per person : 

• 2 eggs, beaten with half a teaspoon of English mustard powder (or made mustard) and a pinch of cayenne pepper. 
• 2 or 3 oz of grated cheese – I prefer it with strong cheddar 
• Small knob of butter
• Salt and pepper to taste 

• 2 slices of bread, or one English muffin halved

Toast the bread/muffin 

Melt the butter in a small pan and add the eggs, swirling them around.  As they begin to set stir with a wooden spoon to scramble them and add the cheese.  Stir until the cheese is melted and season to taste. 

Spoon onto the toast/muffins and eat hot! 

Bacon, Leek, Potato and Cheese Omelette

This little baby contains three of my favourite ingredients – bacon, eggs and cheese – how could it fail!  It’s more akin to an Italian frittata than it is a traditional omelette, but I like it thick and substantial as a main meal rather than a light supper.  It’s another one of those convenient one-pot wonders that I love so much and if you have leftover cooked potatoes even more convenient; not that it’s a lot of work if you don’t! 

I’ve been feeling out of sorts and really quite fragile for a few days but had a craving for this yesterday!  This is really not hubby’s cup of tea, frankly he’d rather chew his own arm off than eat cheese or eggs so I made it for myself while he was out playing cricket!  The recipe (such as it is!) below served one person but can easily be doubled, or more depending on how many people you are cooking for. 

As always in my kitchen, this is a very adaptable little dish. I treat a frittata as a fridge clearing exercise a lot of the time; anything and everything that needs using up can be tossed in! 

Today I used : 

2 small new potatoes

The green part of a medium leek

3 rashers of bacon

2 eggs

½ tsp English mustard powder (or ½ tsp of made-mustard)

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

1 or 2oz of grated cheddar cheese

Small knob of butter 

·         Firstly, cut the rashers of bacon into strips and cook over a low heat until browned.

·         At the same time, cut the potatoes into chunks and pop in a bowl with a little boiling water and microwave for a few minutes until cooked.

·         Remove the bacon to a dish and add a small knob of butter to the pan and melt.

·         Cut the leek in half lengthways and then slice widthways, add to the melted butter and cook gently for a few minutes.  Add the cooked potato pieces and cook gently together. 

·         While the leeks and potato are cooking together, beat the two eggs with ½ tsp of mustard powder, a pinch of cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste.

·         Add the bacon to the pan and combine everything together.

·         Add the beaten egg to the bacon, leek and potato mixture and stir in, swirling around the pan until the egg is evenly distributed.  Add the grated cheese to the top of the mixture.

·         Cook gently on the hob until the egg is set and then pop under the grill to finish cooking and brown the cheese. 

A dusting of cayenne pepper after it comes out from under the grill finishes this off a treat! 

You could serve a nice light salad alongside this but I usually just go with the traditional Welsh Valleys accompaniment of good bread and butter!   

This is the sort of dish that always reminds me of my grandparents.  It’s the sort of thing that the old ladies would prepare for a late supper for the menfolk – not that they ever called it anything as fancy as a frittata in those days!

Spaghetti Carbonara

This is a bowl of comfort food at its absolute best for me!  Bacon, egg and cheese – what’s not to like!  It takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, including boiling the kettle to cook the pasta, and takes only 10 minutes to cook.  What could be simpler than that. 

I feel faintly embarrassed giving a recipe for this, but it’s such an easy and tasty little number that it’s a shame not to. 

For two people : 

200g spaghetti or linquine 

4 rashers of bacon

2 eggs

Grated parmesan cheese (approx 2oz or so, to taste)

Freshly grated nutmeg

Freshly ground black pepper

Small bunch of flatleaf parsley 

Cook the spaghetti or linquine in salted boiling water according to packet directions, usually 10 minutes. 

At the same time, cut the bacon rashers into strips and brown gently in a small pan. 

Break the eggs into a bowl and beat together lightly, season with a little ground black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.  Add a generous handful of parmesan cheese and mix together with a fork. 

Wash and roughly chop the parsley. 

Drain the pasta and return to the pan, add the eggy cheesy mix and stir around and then add the bacon and parsley.  Toss everything together until the egg has cooked in the heat of the pasta and the residual heat of the pan. 

Instead of cooking bacon you can, as I have this time, use cooked ham.  The dish pictured above was made using cubed leftover cooked Christmas ham.  The green parsley gave it a lovely festive finish!

You can, if you wish, make a little extra and keep it aside in the fridge to make a delicious frittata in a day or two.  If you do that, simply chop up the spaghetti with two knives, beat a further two eggs together and mix well through the pasta mixture, adding a little more grated parmesan cheese if you wish.  Then simply tip into a small frying pan and cook until the egg has set, popping under the grill for a few minutes to cook the top of the frittata.  I have made that a number of times, it’s particularly nice with a fresh goose egg!