Prawn and celery omelette

Serves 1 or 2

1 stick celery, washed, peeled, cut straight across into 5mm bits
As many prawns as you fancy from a bag of frozen jumbo king prawns, shell on.  I saw these in Sainsbury's (TTD) and can say they are excellent
1 clove garlic, chopped
Butter
Salt
Pepper
2 or 3 eggs

Defrost the prawns and prepare in a batch process.  Head them, shell them, wash them, slice them all the way down the back, pull out the digestive bit, wash them again thoroughly, dry or drain.

In the pan you will later use to make the omelette, saute the celery for a few minutes in butter, seasoning at the start.  Remove to a bowl.

Saute the prawns again in butter having seasoned.  Avoid over-cooking them, but also avoid stirring too regularly.  Just before they are done, toss briefly with the garlic then add to the celery.

Cook the omelette again in butter and top with the mixed prawns and celery.

Courgette frittata

If you have not picked up this particular bit of info yet then allow me to fill you in... the key to a frittata is to get your pan pretty hot, pour in the mixture, but then turn it right down to cook the thing long and slowly, also allowing it to gradually brown underneath.  It takes around 20-30 minutes final cooking time.

I have been cooking some things in rapeseed oil recently which gives them a lovely yellow colour, here combining in yellowness with some TTD Sainos 'golden yolk' eggs.

Those with circa 25 centimeter non-stick frying pans will probably be more interested than others!

5 large courgettes, washed
Fine salt
Pepper
1 tsp white wine vinegar
6 eggs

50g butter
3 tbsp rapeseed oil

Cut just the very base off the courgettes.  Use the stem attachment as a handle to grate them coarsely (I believe I used a 'cheddar hole' size).

Place courgettes in a colander.  Salt very generously eg. with 2 tbsp fine salt.  Toss with a metal spoon and leave for 30 minutes to drain, mixing regularly.  It is not absolutly essential to leave them for 30 minutes, but I would leave them for at least 10.

Wash with cold water (otherwise your frittata is going to be pretty salty), and squeeze into a ball with your hands to dry.

In the frying pan you will later use to cook the whole thing, saute the courgette in half the butter and oil just until it is slightly wilted.  You don't need to colour it.

Empty the courgette into a bowl to cool.  Leave for 20 mins to cool down (otherwise you will cook the egg when you mix them together).

Crack the eggs into a larger bowl.  Whisk briefly and mix well with the courgettes, seasoning and vinegar.

As per introduction, get the pan hot with the remaining of oil and butter.  When the butter stops foaming pour in the filling, flatten out slightly but mainly just turn the heat down and leave.

After say 20 minutes you should see that it's cooked around the edges, and you can lift it up and see how well browned it is.  It may well still be slightly raw on top.  Slide it out, the way it is, onto a large plate.  Then invert the pan over the plate and flip the two together back over together so the frittata has been flipped in the pan.  Cook again for around 5 minutes to brown the bottom.

Slide out and serve warm, or cold from the fridge is very nice too.

Salsa verde mayonnaise

A lovely accompaniment to fish.  The ideal device for making it is a food processer where you can put a smaller bowl attachment inside the lager bowl and pour in the oil while the motor is running.

I find it easier to chop the herbs beforehand, and in the case of the garlic it is definitely neccessary.

2 anchovy fillets - or more to taste, roughly chopped
1 tsp finely chopped garlic - or more to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped parsely
1 tbsp finely chopped mint
1 tbsp finely chopped basil - optional
1 tbsp capers or gherkins
1 tsp fine salt
1 tsp dijon mustard
Generous black pepper


Juice 1 lemon
1 egg yolk

75g extra virgin olive oil
75g plain vegetable oil

Place the ingredients in the top list into the food processer bowl.  Pulse several times to chop things as best possible.

Add the egg yolk and 1/2 the lemon juice.  Pulse again.

With the motor running add the oils, a drop first, then in a thin stream, then more quickly will be fine towards the end.

Add the remaining lemon juice, taste and adjust for salt/lemon.

Scrambled eggs

The best eggs I have ever had came from Tiggy and Jay Greenwood's chickens, which pecked around in grass with clover growing in it.  Absolutely fresh and a bright golden orange, they were very special.

My advice is to buy the best eggs you possibly can.  I believe it is one place where spending money is a good idea - particularly if you are going to eat them simply scrambled like this.  Ultimately scrambled eggs is a cheap meal.  Sitting here today I actually wouldn't know where to advise you to go for a quality scrambled eggs breakfast in London... change from a twenty seems unlikely in any event.

I have recently (August 2012) started using the Duchy Organic eggs in Waitrose and I think they are excellent.

Here is how to go about cooking them.  The garlic technique, and seiving advice are both taken from Jane Grigson's Good Things.  A small, heavy and non-stick saucepan helps with the washing up.

Scrambled Eggs

2 eggs per person.  Preferably at room temperature
Generous amount of butter (~15g per person)
Generous amount of salt - depending on whether butter is unsalted
White pepper
Dash of double cream
1 garlic clove (optional)

Season the eggs in a bowl.  Gently bruise the garlic clove and peel it.  Stick it onto the end of a fork and use this as a whisk to whisk the eggs in a bowl for 3-5 minutes (depending on how many eggs you are doing).  Or use a simple whisk instead. 

Over a gentle heat, melt the butter in a pan, then seive the eggs into the pan to remove any thready bits and fragments of shell.

Cook over a low to moderate heat, scraping the base of the pan as eggs thicken on it, and moving the pan off then back onto the heat as required.  You must not overcook them.  You are looking for light folds held in suspension.  The trick is to remove the pan from the heat when they are not yet done to finish cooking in the residual heat.  Continue to scrape once removed, and the thicker the base of the pan the earlier you should remove it.

Finish with a dash of double cream that will halt the cooking process.  Serve perhaps on thick buttered granary toast, with perhaps black pepper ground on top, some streaky bacon and a grilled tomato?  Or Jane says to add flakes of cooked or uncooked kippers while scrambling the eggs, and "if serving cold as an hors d'oeuvre, it's best to scramble the eggs on their own, and lay strips of kipper across them just before serving".

 

Finished with creme fraiche and served with black pudding (non-Greenwood eggs here though)

Spaghetti carbonara

My housemate James Marshall and I tested a decent number of carbonara recipes while at university.  In fact, we ate little else for about a year.  This is how I cook it these days.  It's actually very similar to the recipes described by both Rick Stein and Marcella Hazan, in ingredients.  Rick Stein's fantastic YouTube video is available here but I have spelled out a few details below.  Note that with regards to the spaghetti, fresh pasta is possibly too rich and eggy for a rich and eggy sauce, so use dried, and leave it firm to the bite when cooked.  Chewing releases the flavour.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Serves 2

Dried spaghetti of a good brand
1 egg plus 1 yolk
Grated parmesan (or pecorino or half-half)
Pancetta or streaky bacon strips
Olive oil
Butter
1/2 small clove finely chopped or crushed garlic (depending on strength)
Finely chopped parsley

Begin by boiling the kettle to get the spagetti cooking as soon as you can.  Get the pancetta pieces frying with a bit of olive oil in a small saucepan.

Meanwhile prepare the sauce by combining the egg and yolk with around a tablespoon of grated cheese and some black pepper in a mug.  You might not need salt given the salty cheese and bacon.  Note that the recipe can easily be done for one person (post work?), in which case I would use one egg and break it gently over a sink to dispose of a small amount of white and keep the right balance with yolk.

If the well cooked bacon has thrown off a huge amount of fat you may like to remove some of it, otherwise proceed by adding a tablespoon of olive oil, a knob of butter and the garlic and parsley.  Return to a low heat to just infuse the oil with the garlic.

By this time the spaghetti will be cooked, so you can drain it, however here comes a crucial detail.  You are going to add the spaghetti and the egg mixture to the pancetta pan, however you must allow the pancetta pan to cool first otherwise the egg will scramble.  And note that if it is a thick, heavy based saucepan you will probably need to let it cool for a good few minutes.  If the pan is already cool enough you can transfer the pasta straight into it with tongs and spoon in a little of the salty pasta water to boost the sauce.

All the recipe books tell you not to put the pan back on the heat once you've added the egg, but I don't agree with this.  It's fine, as long as it's a very low heat and you keep stirring the contents.  Of course the aim is to thicken the sauce without scrambling the egg.

One tip is to grate some parmesan onto the plate before placing the spagetti on top (with more cheese and black pepper).  It's not heathly but it is cheap, quick and delicious!