Cheat Eggs....

Baked Eggs! 

As seen in many cafes baked eggs are a perfect balance of tasty and decedent. 

You can use any kind of pan to bake them in, as long as its oven safe and easy to eat out of, at my old work we even managed to cook them in muffin cases and pop them out on the plate. 

The flavour combinations are endless, you can go all out vegetarian and pop in your favourite antipasto's like grilled capsicum and eggplant, or try an omnivore approach by adding some bacon and cheese as well. 

Baked eggs is one of those classic recipes that will keep evolving because it can be changed it to suit your mood and the seasonal produce available. A great step in building some confidence in the kitchen, as its a hard one to stuff up.

Simply crack two eggs into a greased non stick ceramic pot, or muffin case and top it off with your favourite fillings. The one i've done above has prosciutto. parsley, cheese, grilled eggplant, chives and crunchy golden sourdough croutons-to save me having to make toast. After you've assembled your personalised eggs add a touch of seasoning a splash of decent olive oil and pop it in an oven of 180 degrees for 8-12 minutes- depending on if you like your yolks runny or stiff. 

When its cooked and crispy on the edges serve it with a glossy salad of rocket and tomatoes. 

Magnifique!

Hocks Of Beans!

We've Bean Missing You!

Beans aren't the most salivating of ingredients, we all know the rhythmic tune that suggests beans are some sort of musical fruit. Sadly shaming the 'fruit' for years, as unpopular and gassy. But its about time we get back into the bean, for they are magical, just for completely different reasons-

and no i'm not talking about giant bean stalks with ducks that lay golden eggs. 

These tiny beans are nutritiously bountiful. Packed with protein and dietary fibre, they are silent assassins for anyone needing good sources of packed-full nutritionally sound food sources. These babies just tick all the boxes in my books. 

And with the addition of a ham hock these two ingredients carry off as a dynamite duo. Ham hock being the flavour enhancer and the beans being the side kick absorbers. 

You see as the ham hock cooks slowly, to that point of being easily pulled from the bone, it oozes its marrow goodness into the cooking liquid where our bopping toppling beans bounce around like confetti.

This kind of slow cooking is what winter should be made of. Delicious hearty meals that can be served  all hours of the day, making our efforts of cooking them in the cold even more well spent and worthwhile. 

While most recipes call for cannellini beans, i found them hard to come by. A cheap and easy alternative is Great Northern Beans, which are a smaller variety of the white bean family. But make sure you get the dried beans and re-hydrate them yourself. This way you can cook them in your stocks and liquids and control exactly what goes in, and more importantly what stays out! 

TIP......

Legumes are great "Stretches" for any dish. Which is perfect for big family's or to avoid wastage and make good use of left over sauces and stocks. Simply keep the cooking liquids and cook your soaked beans with them to impart different flavours. 

Here is a recipe for my own Beans, which i have with toast and sometimes even a fried egg if i'm feeling decedent!

Northern beans cooked in a Spicy Tomato with ham hock.
Ingredients:
400g Great Northern Beans (soaked over night in water)
2 small Brown Onions (Sliced)
100ml Red Wine
3 cloves of Garlic (Smashed)
200ml Passada
2tsp Harissa
1 long red chilli chopped fine (Seeds removed if you want it to be less spicy)
1 Ham Hock
Thyme
Oregano
Method:

1. Cook off your onion in a large pot with olive oil for a few minutes until caramelised and translucent.
2. Add a splash more olive oil and add your garlic, chilli and Harissa. And cook till aromatic.
3. Deglaze with the wine and cook off for two-three minutes
4. Add the passada, ham hock, herbs, beans and soaking water. 
5. Bring to the boil then let simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the beans are tender and cooked. 
6. Serve with toast and chopped parsley.