Breakfast for Dinner – Baked Eggs with Spicy Beans and Tomato

This is a twist on the ever growing popular breakfast dish Shakshuka. A bowl or dish of eggs baked in a spicy tomato sauce. It’s hard to get a straight answer as to the origins of this dish as everyone claims it as their own so let’s just say it originated in the Middle East and everyone has their own version of it.
My sister travelled through Israel a few years back and sampled different versions of shakshuka as she went. Her conclusion – they’re all delicious.
I consider this spicy bean and tomato casserole a base recipe. To it I either add more spice and cook it out longer to serve as a filling for tacos, burritos, nachos etc. or as a topping for baked whole potatoes or as is on crusty toasted bread.

We usually have this for dinner with lots of buttered crusty bread and, depending on the mood, either a glass of red wine or a good cup of tea.

Of course any beans are suitable for this recipe but we love black beans and I added a can of mixed beans as well.

 

What you’ll need:-

2-3 Tblsps olive oil

5-6 big cloves garlic – grated or finely chopped

1/2 brown onion – finely diced

2-4 red chillies (depending on how spicy you like it) – finely chopped

400g can diced tomato

2 cans or 800g of whatever cooked beans you have or like

1/4C red wine (optional)

1 tsp brown sugar

2 Tblsps balsamic vinegar

1 Tblsp worcestershire sauce

2 bay  leaves

1 tsp each ground cumin, smokey paprika and ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

salt

eggs

a little feta cheese (optional)

In a medium saucepan heat oil over medium high heat then add the onion, garlic and chilli and saute for a minute or two. Add the tomato and wine and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the beans, seasonings and sugar and bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer gently with the lid on for about an hour and half, stirring occasionally.

Once the beans a soft and the sauce has thickened a little stir in the balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce and take off the heat. If the sauce hasn’t thickened much then leave on a simmer with the lid off for another 15 minutes or so.

Ladle beans into individual heat proof deepish dishes, crack a couple of eggs on top of the beans and crumble a little feta cheese over the top of the eggs then place on the bottom shelf under a preheated grill for 2 – 3 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to your likings.

Serve with crusty bread for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Enjoy…

 

 

Long Time No Post but I Did Bring Quiche…

Wow! It’s been 2 whole months since a post from me. I know. That’s pretty bad but when inspiration doesn’t hit it really doesn’t hit. Not that I haven’t been creating and cooking, it’s more like….um…okay….it’s laziness….

I haven’t been writing things down as I do them or taking photos of what I’m doing while I’m doing them.

Part of this here personal laziness stems from having a new job. Most of my creativity is used up between the hours of 7am and 2pm where I’m in someone else’s kitchen baking away so by the time I finish work and get home I don’t have an awful lot of creativity left.

I did however manage to document this recipe (only because I had a couple of days off)

Zucchini and Sweet Potato Quiche.

There they were…all green and bright sitting just so on top of each other. How was I supposed to walk by them. In the shopping trolley they went. Next, the sweet potato. We love sweet potato everything in our home.

Then I thought…

Why not bring these two fantastic veggies together and make one fantastic meal…

So I did.

To make it even more fantastic I added some sheep’s milk feta that we bought home with us from a weekend away at Mudgee in central west New South Wales. What a winning combination.

Zucchini and Sweet Potato Quiche

Shortcrust pastry pie case – blind baked- (recipe here)

4 large zucchini – coarsely grated

1 medium sweet potato – coarsely grated

2 spring onions – thinly sliced

6 free range eggs

100ml cream

salt, pepper – to taste

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

80 – 100g Feta cheese

Squeeze out as much moisture as you can from the zucchini and sweet potato. Put in a large bowl and add the spring onion.

In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, cream,salt, pepper and curry powder. Pour this over the veggies, give it a really good stir then pour the whole lot into the pre-baked pastry case.

Crumble the cheese over the top and bake in a pre-heated 170oC oven for about 55-60 minutes or until the middle is no longer wobbly.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes before you slice it up and serve.

Here’s hoping it won’t be another 2 months before I manage another post.

As always…

Enjoy…

Kale, Spinach and Haloumi Quiche.

I love making pastry and dough. This recipe uses a really simple shortcrust pastry which can be doubled or halved very easily. It’s pretty much half the amount of butter to flour with a few tablespoons of cold water added at the end to bring it all together.

For a 23cm quiche tin I used:-

200g plain flour

100g wholemeal plain flour

150g butter – cut into small cubes

6-7 Tblsp cold water

Mix the two flours together then rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix until combined. You don’t want to over mix or you’ll end up with a tough crust instead of a melt in the mouth crust. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap, flatten it a little then wrap and put in the fridge to rest for about 30 minutes.

Now roll  the dough out large enough to cover the base and sides of your tin. If you’re feeling creative you can crimp the edges.

If not, don’t.

Put it back in the fridge for another 20 minutes to rest again (it’s very tiring being dough).

Next, cover with a sheet of baking paper, weigh down with baking beans or rice and bake for 20 minutes at 180oC then remove the beans and paper, prick the bottom with a fork and bake again for another 15 minutes until lightly browned all over

While the crust is baking make the filling:-

7 free range eggs

200ml thickened cream

2 stalks of Kale – leaves stripped off the stalks

a couple of handfuls of baby spinach

250g haloumi cheese – cut into strips or cubes

2 Tblsp freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional but tasty)

1 tsp sweet paprika

1/2 tsp ground cumin

Salt and pepper

Lightly blanch the kale in hot water, drain well the roughly chop.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs and cream together. Season with salt, pepper, paprika and cumin  then add the kale.

Take the crust out of the oven scatter the haloumi over the base, then the spinach leaves and finally pour over egg mix. Flatten down a little with a spoon or palette knife and bake at 180oC for about 50 minutes or until the centre of the quiche is firm and the top a lovely golden brown.

Serve with a fresh salad and a glass of wine.

The combination of texture is great. You have the creamy eggy and spinach bits, the chewy haloumi bits and the flaky, crunchy pastry. Lovely…

Perfect for lunch boxes the next day…

Enjoy…

Breakfast in Minutes…Spinach Omelette

Wow. It has been a long time between posts. Lets see if I remember how to do this.

Spinach omelette…

Another super quick egg based breakfast that can easily be made into a super quick dinner by adding cheese and serving with a salad (or with some bacon or smoked salmon)

Melt a little butter in a small non-stick fry pan then toss in a couple of hands full  of baby spinach. Let them sauté for a minute or so until they’re wilted. In a small bowl lightly whisk 2 eggs with a tablespoon of cream and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Pour the egg mix over the spinach and let it cook over a medium high heat for about a minute then carefully scrape the cooked egg into the centre allowing the uncooked egg to run to the sides of the pan and cook.

Once it’s almost cooked either flip the omelette over or top with a little grated cheese and pop under a hot grill to finish of the cooking.

Served with some buttered toast and a few slices of fresh tomato or with some bacon or smoked salmon, this is a super quick and delicious meal.

Enjoy…

Mmmm…where did I leave my coffee???

Super Quick Breakfast II. Onion and Tomato Omelet

Another quick and super delicious breakie.

All you need to do is melt  a little butter in a small non-stick fry-pan. Throw in few very thinly sliced brown or red onion wedges and let them cook on a medium high heat until soft. Add 1 small tomato that you’ve cubed and stir it around for a couple of minutes until the tomato starts to break down.

Season with salt and pepper.

Pour in a couple of eggs that have been lightly whisked with 1/2 Tblsp cream. Gently push the cooked egg from the outside into the centre of the fry-pan and carefully tilt the pan so that the uncooked egg runs to the edges and cooks. (I sure hope that makes sense!!!)

I had a few baby bocconcini in the fridge so I sliced them up and added them just before everything was nearly cooked.

You can flip the whole thing over if you want the eggs cooked all the way through or shove it under the grill for a minute.

It took less than 10 minutes and breakfast was on the table.

Now…Where’s my coffee???

Enjoy…

Super Quick Breakfast – Tomato and Kale with Egg.

Fancy a quick and healthy breakfast?

Its really easy, chop up a stalk of kale and dice up a small tomato. Throw them into a small fry pan with a small knob of better and a tiny drizzle of olive oil. Sauté on a medium heat for about 3 minutes then pour over a couple of lightly whisked free range eggs.

Season with a little salt, a grind of pepper and a sprinkle of sweet paprika.

You can either practice your tossing skills and flip over the omelette or simply place it under a hot grill.

Serve with toast and coffee or juice or tea or water or…………

Enjoy…

It’s easy eating greens….especially when your mum’s neighbour grows lots of it.

Spinach and Feta Pie

My mums across the road neighbour has a green thumb and a generous hand to go with it.

No matter what she pushed into the dirt, it grows and so my mum gets all these wonderful freshly harvested veggies.

Last week there was bags of silverbeet, kale and lettuce on my mums kitchen table when I went to visit.

‘Take what you want’ is all I needed to hear and I descended on those veggies with a bag of my own.

And so a wonderful filo pastry pie is on tonight’s menu.

Unfortunately I didn’t really measure ingredients for this recipe but I’ll approximate.

After washing and draining maybe half a bunch of silverbeet and half a bunch of kale I finely sliced them up and added them to a large bowl with 2 thinly sliced spring onions (mostly the green parts, the whites I put in the salad), 200g fresh ricotta cheese, 120g crumbled goats feta (cows feta works well too), a little sprinkle of salt (the feta can be salty, taste it), 1/2 tbls coarsely ground black pepper(put less if you not a big fan of pepper, we are), 1 tbls fennel seeds (yum), and 4 free range eggs.

Mix really well until thoroughly combined.

Next, melt some butter and brush a sheet of filo pastry with it, cover it with another sheet and brush with butter. Repeat this with another 4 sheets of pastry. Fold the buttered sheets in half and line a buttered deep medium oven proof dish.

Spread the spinach filling over the pastry and butter another 6 sheets as before. Cover the filling and tuck in the sides and edges. Brush liberally with butter and bake in a pre heated 180c oven for 45-50 minutes or until lovely and brown.

Serve with a fresh salad and for the grown ups a chilled glass of white wine.

Mmmmmm…

Enjoy…

Mushroom, Leek and Goat’s Cheese Quiche

It’s been quite warm for so early in spring. Hard to know what the weather is going to do next.

Casserole and soup time didn’t last very long at all.  Being a big soup and casserole fan, I feel like I’ve missed out.

Oh well, good thing I like salads and quiches too.

My favourite is Quiche Lorraine but I had a leek in the fridge ( that doesn’t sound too good, but you know what I mean) and I couldn’t go past the mushrooms at the green grocer.

The good thing about quiches is you can put just about anything in them, as long as you have enough egg and cream to keep it all from falling apart.

Hope you try and like this veggie version.

Pastry : 250g plain flour

120g butter – cubed

2 – 3 Tbs ice cold water

Filling : 30g butter + 1 Tbs olive oil

1 large leek – finely sliced (about 300g)

200g sliced mushroom

6 eggs

180g thickened cream

salt, pepper and sweet paprika

as much goats feta or cheese you like.

I make the pastry in a food processor. It’s so easy and so much faster. Simply put the flour and butter into the food processor bowl and pulse for a minute until butter and flour resemble breadcrumbs. Add the water and continue mixing until it comes together. Roll the pastry out to cover the base and sides of a 25cm loose bottom tart tin and chill for an hour.

Blind bake tart shell by covering with some baking paper and pouring in some dried beans or rice and baking in a pre-heated 170c oven for 12 minutes. Remove the beans and paper and prick the bottom of the shell with a fork. Put back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

For the filling :

Heat the butter and oil in a large fry pan.  Add the leek and sweat for 8 – 10 minutes , stirring often, until wilted but not browned.

Remove from the heat and spread evenly over the baked tart shell.  Arrange the mushroom on top.

In a bowl or large jug, whisk the eggs, cream and seasonings until well combined. Pour over the mushrooms and leeks.

Dot with your goats cheese and bake at 170c for 35 – 40 minutes.

This will easily feed 4 – 6 people with a big salad on the side.

Enjoy…

Mushrooms..

Had a bit of a mushroom week this week. 

There was mushroom and caramelised onion tart  ….. 

 

There was sautéed field mushrooms with eggs and toast for breakfast….

 

and there was cauliflower, leek and mushroom soup with freshly made wholemeal soda bread….

 

Yes , we had a fungi-licious week.

The question is….which recipe goes up???