A Late Foodie Friday - My Twist On Nigellas Eggs In Purgatory

The plans of mice and men, or women and cats in my case! Yesterday's Foodie Friday post was curtailed by a very poorly Jakey cat. Thankfully after some emergency surgical intervention, he's home and doing well, so I'm now slightly less stressed and relaxed enough to get my blog on.

As it happens the recipe that I was going to share with you yesterday, is a perfect one for when you're feeling stressed or fragile. Whilst it's not a comfort food in the traditional sense, Eggs In Purgatory is a quick, one pan dish that really hits the spot, when you need a bit of boost. I know it a super popular brunch or quick lunch dish but for me it something that you could eat anytime of the day or night.

The premise of eggs and tomato is a staple of the traditional English breakfast but for me it brings back memories of Friday night teas, or evening meals with my dad, all be it with the volume turned up. Nigella Lawson's recipe for Eggs In Purgatory (which you can find here) is quick simply the best and the simplest, and more often then not that's how I make it, but this is my slightly spicier version, that easily feeds two, and that's perfect for the colder weather x

My Twist On Nigella Lawson's Eggs In Purgatory

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Clove Garlic

Chilli Flakes or Fresh Red Chilli

Chorizo or Vegetarian Chorizo or Pepperoni

A Sprinkle Of Salt To Taste

2 x 400g Tins Of Tomatoes

2-4 Eggs

Grated Parmesan Or Any Other Hard Cheese

Bread To Serve

Chilli Oil To Taste

1. Take a large frying pan or saute pan, and then add your olive oil, then grate, crush or finely chop your garlic clove and add it the pan, Then turn you pan on to a medium heat. Like the original recipe then either add a sprinkle or two of chilli flakes depending on how you hot you like it, or if you have them or you like the freshness and heat add as much finely chopped red chilli as you like.

2. Cook it for about a minute and then you can either move onto the next step or you can do what I like to do and add a bit more spice with some chopped chorizo or spicy salami sausage.

Obviously I'm vegetarian so I tend to use either a vegetarian chorizo or some vegetarian pepperoni. I normally use Quorn but if you fine with wheat Realeat also do a really good, hot and spicy, vegan chorizo. Cook it for about a minute till the red / orange spice filled oils start to come out of the meat or meat substitute.

3. Then add your tinned tomatoes - I'm serving two people here so I'm adding two tins, and a sprinkle of salt to taste.

Then give it a stir to combine all your ingredients, and cook for at least 5 minutes until the tomatoes have reduced slightly, and their hot and bubbly.You want tomatoes to be hot enough to poach an egg in.

4. Then carefully, without breaking the yolks if you can add your eggs into the bubbling tomatoes. I'm using 4 eggs for two people. I find it easier to crack the eggs into a cup and then add them into the tomato mix.

Sprinkle a little bit of Parmesan or any suitable vegetarian cheese (I'm using cheddar) over the eggs and partially cover with a lid till the eggs are cooked.

5. Ideally your yolks should still be a little bit runny, but it depends how you like them :)

And your done - remove for the heat and either eat directly from the pan or spoon it in to bowls, and top with some more grated cheese, and for some extra spice some chilli oil if you have some. Serve with a spoon to scoop it up, and lots of crusty bread (I using gluten free ciabatta) to soak up all of these spicy, tomato and egg juices.

Over the last few months this has been one of my go to dishes, it's soft, a recent must for me, it's filling and warming, and in a strange way quite soothing. I feel a bit of a fraud calling this a recipe really it's so easy but all hail Nigella, and those other innovators for inventing such a delicious yet simple combination of ingredients x

Christmas Cooking, Celebrity Cook Boots and Nigella Lawson's Triple Cheese And Onion Strata Made Gluten Free

One of the reasons that I think I like Christmas so much is because of the food. I love my food and at Christmas time we seem to eat so much, and so many yummy things that don't appear on the menu at any other time. I'm not just talking about the Christmas dinner itself I'm talking about all those little treats that make Christmas, Christmas. For us it's the inevitable cheese board, an assortment of spicy and creamy dips, homemade sweets, cakes and pies, those overpriced party nibbles that you would normally baulk at and an array of meals, nibbles and bits that are either too complicated or too expensive to make that any other time of the year.

Yes a lot of things that we make and eat are traditional and have been part of my family Christmas for what seems like forever but over the years we've introduced a lot of new things that fall under that same celebratory banner. A lot of things are made up recipes and concoctions but we do get inspiration from elsewhere, mainly Christmas cookery programmers, and Christmas themed cookery books.

Both me and Mummy Lou have been pretty much glued to Good Food and Food Network since November, revelling in droolworthy, festive recipes from esteemed cooks such as Delia, Nigella, The Hairy Bikers and Nigel Slater. Yes they can over complicate things at times, but we've been so inspired by the delights on show, that we actually now have a couple of festive cookbooks in our rather extensive collection.

Delia Smith's Christmas is probably my mums favourite. First broadcast in the 1980's the TV series, was legendary for sparking the country's obsession with lattice pastry cutters, and fresh cranberries. Some of the recipes in this book are designed to impress for example the Chocolate Truffle Torte and of course her Creole Christmas Cake, but this book is a pretty traditional Christmas recipe book with the odd twist.

As much as I love St Delia my favourite festive recipe book has to be Nigella Christmas. I'm a huge Nigella fan at the best of times, but I have a particular fondness for her Christmas offerings. This book pulls nearly all of her Christmas specials pre Nigellisima. The book covers all of her Christmas dinner offerings from her turkey in brine, to her cranberry sauce and gingerbread stuffing but it also covers more general ideas for entertaining over the festive period as well as numerous ideas for edible gifts.

I know it's probably obvious from the rather dishevelled appearance of my copy but we've given this book a lot of love, and we've tried quite a few of the recipes inside. From her Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, to her Chocolate Fruit Cake, and Christmas Puddini Bonbons, her Corn Chow Chow and her fabulous Chilli Jam, there really is a recipe in this book to cater for the spice fiend, or the person with the sweetest tooth on this planets.

Something I tried for the first time last year, was her Triple Cheese And Onion Strata. Cheese is one of my big weaknesses and any recipe that contains it, I'll probably like, but this one is just a little bit special. A cross between a savoury bread pudding and a  cheese souffle, the taste reminds me a little bit of that slightly addictive cheese and spring onion sandwich filling. I'm replicating this recipe almost to the letter here because I don't really think it can be improved. Obviously I'm using gluten free bread but more on that later x  The cheese and cream elements make it a little bit pricey to make but it a great way of using up stale and old bread.

Nigella Lawson's Triple Cheese And Onion Strata

225g Stale Bread - Baguette, Ciabatta, etc.

6 Spring Onions

1 Ball Mozzarella

50g Parmesan, Pecorino or Gran Padano

100g Cheddar Cheese

100ml Sour Cream

6 Eggs

1. Starting about 24 hours before you want to eat this line a large baking dish with slices of stale baguette or bread. Gluten free baguettes are quite hard to find so I'm using a mixture of dry bread buns, ciabatta and a couple of bagels. This dish is great for using up old and dry bread.

2. You can make this recipe by hand but in my opinion it's way easier with a food processor. First of all you want to flake your Parmesan. The original recipe contains Parmesan but any Italian hard cheese will do. If you're vegetarian like mine you can often find Pecorino or Grana Padano which are made with vegetarian rennet.

3.Then roughly chop your mozzarella and your cheddar and add them to the food processor, and give it a quick zap.

4. Next roughly chop your spring onions, and in a small bowl beat your eggs and add them to your food processor bowl.

5. Finally add the sour cream

and zap until you get a smooth, creamy, cheesy, egg sauce flecked with green

6. Then pour the sauce over the bread, pressing it down with a spoon as you go. Unlike what I've done here you might want to leave some edges of the bread exposed so they go crispy when baked.

Then cover the dish with cling film, and either refrigerate it or put it in a cool place and leave it overnight - I normally leave it for about 24 hours. This will allow the bread to soak up the cheesy egg sauce.

7. About an hour before you going to bake take it out of the fridge or cool place (I put mine in our unheated porch) to allow it to come to room temperature. 

8. Then bake for about 30 - 40 minutes in an over preheated to around 180 C until it's gold brown and puffed up.

I'm going to hold my hands up here and say that this one didn't go quite right. I think I used too much bread and being gluten free which absorbs liquid differently it ended up quite solid, but it's horses for courses. If you like it softer and more eggy and pudding like use the amount of bread in the recipe, if you want to make it firmer, drier and slice able use a bit more bread.

No matter it still tasted amazing eggs and cheesy with just a hint of onion. This would easily serve 6 people but it's okay for a day or so in the fridge and is equally nice served hot or cold. We just had it on its own but it would also be nice with a green salad and Nigella herself recommends it alongside some slices of crispy bacon, not for me obviously but I'm sure it would work.

This recipe has became one of mine and Mummy Lou's new festive favourites and it takes so little effort that it's a brilliant recipe for when you just can't be bothered or you don't have much time- just remember to start it the day before you want it. 

Nigella Christmas is filled with mouth watering recipes that are ideal for the festive season and beyond. I've already tried quite a few of the sweet and vegetarian recipes and their are plenty more that I still want to try, which is always the sign of a good recipe book.

Are you a fan of festive cook books and cookery programmes? Leave me a comment and let me know x                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

More Cooking With LouLouLou Via Nigella

Hey My Loves
Here's the last of my scheduled posts for you and this time it's a recipe :) I have to say I love Nigella Lawson  everything she makes looks so edible, some chefs and cooks make things hard but not Nigella everything I've ever made from her works and tastes amazing and this dish is no exception. From the Nigella Bites books section on comfort food, comes the Double Potato and Halloumi Bake - combining some of my favourite things the recipe is a super dish that I always enjoy - I often make variations to the recipe which I'll tell you about as I go on but this is the basic recipe x

Nigella's Double Potato and Halloumi Bake

1 Large or Several Small Sweet Potatoes
1 Large Normal Potato or Several Small
1 Large Red Onion
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1/2 Head Garlic
4 tbs Olive Oil
Black Pepper
125g of Halloumi Cheese Sliced Thinly (you can also use Mozzarella, or Feta) 

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C / Gas Mark 6

2.Wash and cut the Sweet Potato in chunks, and the normal potato into slightly smaller chunks, peel the onion and cut it into similar size chunks usually 1/4 or 1/3 each half, deseed the pepper and cut into similar sized chunks, then separate the cloves of garlic but you can leave the skin on, the cloves will pop out when their roasted. Put the vegetable into a baking dish or roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper, then get your hands in and mix it till all the veg is covered. Put it in the oven for around 45 minutes but keep an eye on it x

2. Meanwhile slice your cheese I've used Mozzarella and Feta here - If you just used Mozzarella you might need to add some salt after cooking x

3. After about 45 minutes your veg should be cooked, tinged a bit brown and lovely and caramelized

4. Take the vegetables out of the oven, now if you have a combined oven and grill like me, switch it over to grill mode, if not whack up your oven temperature. Place the cheese over the top of the veg and place back in the oven / grill

5. Key point here - watch it! - the Mozzarella will melt, the Feta will soften and the Halloumi will start to brown when this is done remove from the oven and serve :)

Hints and Tips

•  As you can see from my pictures I've used a bit more veg than the original recipe - basically you can just add veg to fill your oven tray and alter the amounts of oil and cheese - this recipe serves 2-3
• You can also use other veg but try not to use anything to watery like courgettes, I like squash or pumpkin, and you can also add white onions for colour - I also find the jars of anti pasti grilled peppers work really well if your in a rush. You can also peel the garlic if you want to make it easier to eat
• I often sprinkle some chilli flakes in the veg before cooking for a bit of a kick
• This is great as a standalone veggie dish but you could serve it as a side dish alongside roast chicken all you would do is omit the cheese stage and sprinkle with salt after it comes out the oven

Basically I love this dish I find it so comforting and I'll definitely be making it when I get back from my hols with some great Cypriot Feta and Halloumi - Any questions let me know xx

Holiday Recipe - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Apologies for the lack of posts this week I had so many plans but the evil weather (it's still snowing in Co Durham),and the Christmas preparations have took their toll.
Still never mind I thought I'd share with you one of my favourite sweetie recipes -a homemade version of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups courtesy of the domestic goddess Nigella Lawson's book Nigella Christmas :) (I can't find the recipe online so I'll type it up for you)

Ingredients

Peanut Layer
50g Dark Soft Brown Sugar
200g Icing Sugar
50g Soft Butter
200g Smooth Peanut Butter (You can use crunchy but the texture will be different)

Topping
200g Milk Chocolate
100g Dark Chocolate
Edible Decorations -I used White Chocolate Snowflakes from ebay, White Chocolate Stars from Morrisions, Gold Icing Stars and Snowflakes, and edible holographic glitter from Jane Asher, and silver and gold chocolate beans from a local deli
40-50 Petit Fours / Sweet Cases - (I got gold ones and Santa's from Jane Asher)

1) Mix together both types of sugar, the butter and the peanut butter using a wooden spoon or an electric whisk (I usually start off slowing with the whisk to avoid the icing sugar flying everywhere)

you should end up with a sticky, sandy paste


2)Roll about a teaspoon of mixture into a ball and press it into the paper cases to form a disc



Repeat till all the mixture is used. I find it easier to chill the mixture a bit first and put a bit of icing sugar on my hands to stop them sticking. This is a long drawn out, repetitive procedure - if you have children they might enjoy doing this too


3) Once you have filled all your cases put both bars of chocolate into a bowl and melt it over a pan of boiling water or in the microwave



4)spoon one tsp of the melted chocolate into each paper case making sure it covers the peanut butter layer (this is again quite repetitive work)


5)Sprinkle or add your decorations stars, snowflakes, glitter etc. the the top of the cup whilst the chocolate is still soft




Voila Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups a la Nigella - these also work just as good with milk or white chocolate toppings if you want to really indulge - enjoy xx