Sweet Potato, Bacon and Egg Bake (Dairy Free)

We go through lots of eggs in this house, at least 2-3 dozen or more if I'm doing lots of baking. We love them boiled, scrambled and fried. Turned into omelettes, quiches, custard and french toast.

A quick flick through an old Woman's Weekly cookbook called Cheap & Cheerful and I came across a Kumara, Bacon and Egg Bake. We had everything on hand it was such an easy and delicious dinner! Itwas somewhere between a quiche and a frittata and would work really well if you happened to have some leftover steamed veggies in the fridge already. I used sweet potato and regular potatoes but really you could use anything you have.

We had this for dinner but I think it would be a perfect brunch dish, especially as it could be prepared ahead of time and then popped in the oven at the last minute.

Sweet Potato, Bacon and Egg Bake
Adapted from Cheap & Cheerful (Australian Woman's Weekly, ACP Books, p50-51)

1 large sweet potato (about 500g)
2 large potaotes (about 500g)
5 bacon rashers (about 350g)
8 eggs
1/4 cup milk (I used rice milk)
1 ts ground cumin
2 tbs nutritional yeast

Chop the sweet potatoes and potatoes into a 2-3cm dice and steam until just tender and then set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees / 160 degrees fan-forced. Grease a baking dish ( mine was 20 x 26 cm) with olive oil.

Roughly chop the bacon and fry it in a pan over medium heat until just starting to crisp up. Sprinkle over the cumin and toss to combine. Spread the potatoes over the base of the baking dish and scatter the bacon over the top.

Whisk together the eggs, milk and nutritional yeast in a medium bowl and then pour over the potatoes and bacon. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm or hot with a green salad.

Bacon and Egg Pie

I am very lucky that my boys have a great relationship with their nanna (my mother in law). She is always happy to watch them when we need her to and has them over for a 2 night sleepover every holidays. I'm also lucky that she doesn't give them too many treats but they still come home telling me all about the yummy things they ate for dinner.

One of Oscar's favourite meals from Nanna's house has been bacon and egg pie, so I decided to make it for him at home too. A quick google search led me to this recipe from Taste which looked easy and tasty and we even had all the ingredients already.

The original recipe for this includes sun-dried tomatoes in the filling, but we prefer to serve it with a big dollop of homemade relish or chutney. This pie can be served warm or cold and is brilliant for feeding a crowd if you are having friends around for brunch. Oh and its perfect for the lunchbox too as it doesn't need to be reheated.

There's a reason why classic recipes like this are still popular - they are delicious!!!

Bacon and Egg Pie
Adapted from Taste

Pastry:
1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour
1 3/4 cups (265g) self-raising flour
220g cold butter, chopped
1/2 cup (125ml) iced water

Filling:
450g bacon, rind removed and chopped roughly
12 eggs
1/2 cup milk
pepper
pinch nutmeg

2 tbs milk, extra

To make the pastry, place the flours into the food processor and blitz for a few seconds to remove any lumps. Add the butter and pulse until combined into a chunky breadcrumb. Add the water and pulse a few times or until it starts to clump together. Squeeze a small amount in your hand and if it comes together it is ready. If you feel you need more water add just a teaspoon or so at time because you can't take it back out!

Divide the dough into 2 portions, making one a little bigger than the other. Shape each piece into a disc then cover in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/350 F and grease a deep-sided 17 x 26 cm baking dish.

Roll out the larger of the pastry discs into a rectangle large enough to line the base and sides of the baking dish. Line the dish with pastry and trim the edges.

Scatter half the bacon over the pastry then crack 6 eggs over the top. Cover with remaining bacon then 4 more eggs. Beat the remaining 2 eggs with the milk and nutmeg then pour over the top.

Roll out the remaining pastry into a rectangle large enough to fit the top of the dish. Lay over the filling then fold the edges in to seal. Brush the top with the extra milk and then bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Serve warm or cold.
Serves 8-10

Happy Father's Day!

It's Father's Day here in Australia so I wanted to give a shout out to all the Dads and Grandpas on this important day. And a special mention of course goes to my wonderful husband who at this moment is off at the chemist with Oscar and Charlie buying medicine for me. I've been sick for a week now and still feeling lousy. Despite that I made Eggs Benedict for him to have breakfast in bed this morning.

My version of Eggs Benedict includes a toasted English muffin topped with freshly sliced ham, spinach sauteed with garlic, a wedge of omelette (the only way my husband eats eggs), hollandaise sauce and a scattering of chives on top. Yum!

I also have a gorgeous chocolate and strawberry dessert planned for tonight which I will post about later in the week.

Have a great day Dads!

Meatless Monday - Leek and Cheese Tart with Olive Oil Pastry

I live in a house full of boys and yet this tart still went down a treat! Perhaps it's because I didn't call it a quiche.

While the filling was smooth and creamy and packed with leek and cheese goodness, it was the pastry that was the real revelation. Having run out of butter (gasp!) I trawled the interwebs for a pastry recipe that used oil instead and came across this beauty. It was my favourite part of this tart and could become my go-to recipe for savoury pastry. Absolutely delicious!

Leek and Cheese Tart

4 large leeks, washed and sliced thinly
1 tbs butter

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 eggs

1 cup (250ml) full cream milk

125g strong cheddar cheese, grated

Olive Oil Pastry

Recipe adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

125g plain flour

125g wholemeal flour

1 ts salt

60ml olive oil

100-120ml cold water

Lightly grease a 28cm tart dish (mine is pyrex). Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (180 degrees fan-forced).

To make the pastry, place the flours and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Pour in the oil and stir with a fork. Add the water and continue to stir with a fork until it is just absorbed then start to knead with your hand, until the dough forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to fit a 28-30cm tart pan. Transfer the dough to the pan, trim the edges and place in the fridge for 30 minutes (I actually forgot this step and had no problems).

While the pastry is chilling, make your filling. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic and cook, stirring often for about 15 minutes or until the leeks are softened and creamy. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes or so. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and milk along with salt and pepper to taste.

Blind bake the pastry for 10 minutes (I line the pastry shell with baking paper then fill it with rice that I keep just for this purpose) then remove the rice and paper and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until the edges are golden and the base is totally dry to the touch. Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

To assemble the tart, fill the pastry shell with the cooked leek mixture, sprinkle over the cheese and then pour over the egg mixture. Bake for approximately 25 minutes. The filling should be just set and the edges of the pastry a deep golden brown. Cool for a few minutes before serving with a green salad.

This post is linked to Veggie Mama's Meatless Mondays:

Scotch Eggs

So Scotch Eggs are pretty retro. I remember them from childhood dinners but I had never attempted them before, partly because I was put off by having to deep fry them. Luckily there are an abundance of  baked versions out there. I took a photo of this recipe from an old Better Homes and Gardens magazine and then promptly lost all other details. 

The verdict? Really tasty! The kids loved the surprise egg in the middle and I loved that they tasted just as good cold from the fridge the next day. Perfect for school lunches or a picnic. I guess some things are a classic for a reason!

Baked Scotch Eggs

Better Homes and Gardens Magazine

6 large boiled eggs

500g pork and veal mince

2 rashers of bacon

1 small onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 ts dried oregano

1 tbs worcestershire sauce

1 tbs tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs

olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 180 / 160 degrees celsius fan-forced. Lightly grease a baking tray with oil spray and set aside.

In a large bowl add the mince, bacon, onion, garlic, oregano and sauces. Add some freshly ground black pepper and mix well to combine. Use your hands for best results. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions and roll each into a ball. 

Using wet hands, flatten out each ball into a large patty, place the egg in the middle and wrap the mince patty around the egg, making sure it is completely enclosed. Repeat with remaining mince and eggs then roll each of them in breadcrumbs and place on the baking tray.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Tuesdays with Dorie: (Not) Tarte Noire

No your eyes don't deceive you, that is definitely not a chocolate tart! This week's pick was an epic fail for me, resulting in a bowl of black sludge oozing fat. Yech. I have made ganache many times without any problems so I can only think the fat content of my cream was too high. Whatever it was it was totally unusable and ended up in the bin.

Having now run out of both cream and chocolate (soooo glad Lindt was 50% off this week so I only wasted $6 on chocolate instead of $12) I had to come up with another use for my tart shell.

Inspired by the Mystery Box challenges on MasterChef I searched the fridge/pantry and came up with condensed milk, sour cream, eggs, vanilla and lemon. Voila! The baked lemon custard tart was born!

As my tart shell was already fully baked I was a little worried it would get too dark upon baking again but I kept a close eye and had no problems.

Baked Lemon Custard Tart
(makes enough filling for 2 tarts)

400ml sour cream
1 tin of condensed milk
2 eggs
1ts vanilla paste
juice and rind of 1 lemon
2 tbs strawberry jam
Fresh strawberries and icing sugar to serve

Preheat your oven to 180/350 degrees. Place your prebaked tart shell on a baking tray. Brush the base with strawberry jam and set to one side. Combine all other ingredients in the food processor and blitz until very smooth. Pour the filling into the tart shell and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until set (firm but with a slight wobble in the middle). Tent with foil during baking if the crust is becoming too dark.

Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature then refrigerate for a couple of hours.

To serve, carefully remove the tart from the pan and place on a serving plate. Cover the top with sliced strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

The taste test ...

An absolute winner! The filling tastes almost exactly like a lemon cheesecake but a lot lighter (obviously without all the cream cheese). The lemon and strawberries complimented each other perfectly and the sweet tart crust was delish as always. Hubby was really looking forward to chocolate tart but even he wasn't too disappointed to get this instead!

My apologies to Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life for completely stuffing up her pick this week! To see how it should have been done visit the other TWD bakers here.

** Blogger seems to be eating my comments for some reason. I'm not sure who you are, but if you were one of the 7 or so people who commented this afternoon and your comment isn't here, that's why! Anyone had this happen before??**

Daring Bakers May - Croquembouche!

I have been in love with the croquembouche as long as I can remember! And really, what's not to love? Choux pastry filled with smooth vanilla cream and smothered in crunchy, sweet caramel.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

This month's challenge brings me full circle, as my very first Daring Bakers' challenge was chocolate eclairs. It was my first time making choux pastry and I definitely had a few dramas. This time around I'm happy to say they were worked perfectly.

I made just 10 cream puffs and half the caramel glaze. I was keen to try the spun sugar effect but I had just 20 minutes of Oscar-free time so after assembling my 'tower' I just poured the remainder over the top.

The result?

Amazing. Just as good as anything I've tasted elsewhere for surprisingly little work. When I have more time and a special occasion to bake for I will definitely be making a full size croquembouche with spun sugar. But for now, this hit the spot and I can cross it off my to-make list.

Thanks for a fabulous challenge Cat!

Daring Bakers February - Tiramisu

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was called 'heaven on a dessert plate' and boy was it ever!

The official lines - The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

I've never really been a fan of tiramisu but I know now that's only because I hadn't tasted the real deal. Apart from the light-as-air ladyfinger biscuits the filling for this version contains four different elements - homemade marscapone, zabaglione, vanilla pastry cream and whipped cream. Whew. No wonder it tastes so good!

The homemade marscapone was a revelation. Never again will I buy marscapone knowing just how easy it is to make and how delicious. We're not keen on marsala so I flavoured the zabaglione with coffee which resulted in a wonderful latte coloured cream. The hint of lemon in the pastry cream worked beautifully with the coffee flavours.

The taste test ...

Oh. My. God. Absolute perfection. I think I uderwhipped the cream so the filling was a little soft but otherwise this truly was heaven on a plate. I won't bother ordering it at a restaurant, I don't think it could ever match up to this!

Thank you Deeba and Aparna for a wonderful recipe this month. I think this is my favourite DB challenge so far!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cafe Volcano Cookies

A really interesting pick this week for TWD. MacDuff of The Lonely Sidecar chose Dorie's Cafe Volcano Cookies and without a photo, I had no idea what I was actually making! I had to laugh though when I read the storing instructions, essentially 'Humidity will make these go soggy.' Living in Brisbane in December, high humidity is pretty much a given!

So what are volcano cookies? Very similar to a coconut macaroon but with nuts instead of coconut, these cookies aren't exactly photogenic. Probably why there's no picture in the book! I used cocoa instead of espresso powder so my cookies are a rich chocolately colour.

I made a half batch and kept a close eye on them while baking. Just 16 minutes and they were done.

The taste test ...

Totally unexpected but absolutely delicious! I ate 3 before I could stop myself! Very light, the meringue disolves on your tongue leaving crisp toasty nuts and a hint of chocolate. I knew these would be really sweet so I'm glad I added just a pinch of salt. These were a real winner.

Thanks for a great pick, MacDuff! You can find the recipe at The Lonely Sidecar under today's date.

Daring Bakers October - Macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Oooh boy, this month's DB challenge was a doozey! For the first time since I joined the Daring Bakers over a year ago I don't really have a finished product to blog about.

So many bloggers seem to have a macaron obsession that I was really keen to try them myself. After all, I'm not a complete novice now. How hard could they be?

Attempt #1 - I followed the DB recipe for a plain macaron. I weighed and measured everything carefully, aged the egg whites and ended up with these ...

Now I know they're not terrible but they're also not macarons. I didn't bother filling them since I had to scrape them off the baking paper (they were stuck like superglue) and I naievly assumed my next lot would be better. Ha!

Attempt #2 - I tried a different recipe (chocolate flavour) which called for them to be rested on the bench for an hour before baking. This time I didn't even make it to the baking part. Once I folded in the dry ingredients my mix turned almost solid. I could have rolled the dough into balls it was so stiff and dry. It just seemed like the ratio of eggwhites to dry ingredients was completely off. It all went straight in the bin.

Attempt #3 - Same recipe as attempt #2 but this time I added only half the amount of dry ingredients (I stopped as soon as the consistency seemed right).

Dry ingredients weighed, blitzed in the food processor and seived

Aged eggwhites at room temperature whipped with sugar until thick and glossy

Piped onto trays and hoping the peaks will soften

After 1 hour - nope, they look exactly the same

After 15 minutes at 150 deg C

Definitely not right

The best 2, sandwiched together with rosella jam

I am completely in awe of everyone else who made these successfully. Some of the results were absolutely stunning! But for me it was stressful, frustrating and a waste of time as I don't feel any closer to mastering them. I can't even learn from my mistakes because I have no idea what I did wrong.

As much as it pains me to say it, the macarons won. Final score Macarons 3: Susan 0.

Bring on November!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Souffle

Is it just me or is it really hard to photograph a souffle?? Nevermind, this was my first time making one and I'm more excited by the fact that it actually worked!

Souffles have always seemed really daunting and the sort of thing you would only ever order in a restaurant. I made a half recipe and that gave us 4 good servings. It puffed up beautifully but I think it would have looked more souffle-ish if I had collared the dish. Next time.

The taste test ...

Yum! Light, sweet, intensely chocolatey and definitely moreish. Next time I will try individual souffles and now that I have mastered the technique I would love to try a savoury version as well. Watch this space!

Thanks to Susan of She's Becoming DoughMessTic for a great pick this week. I probably wouldn't have made it on my own. You can find the recipe on her blog.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise

Wow. Seriously WOW. Andrea of Andrea In The Kitchen chose this amazing concoction and I'm so glad she did. I was a little daunted by this recipe as I don't make meringues very often and I find white chocolate very overrated. But boy was I pleasantly surprised. In fact I think this may be my favourite TWD recipe of the 47 I've made so far!

Basically what you have is an almond and coconut meringue with white chocolate ganache and roasted pineapple. I explained it in just those words to our friends who were over for lunch and I sounded like a contestant on Masterchef bringing their invention test dish to the judges. (Are there any other Aussies totally addicted to this show?!)

Anyway, I did have a few problems making this, mostly because I was incredibly tired and I didn't start making it until dinner time. Big mistake.

The drama started when I had made the meringue and as I came to spread it on the trays realised I was out of baking paper. N offered to get some more but I was in meltdown mode with Oscar and didn't want him to leave. I stupidly decided to go with greaseproof lunch wrap instead. I'm sure you can guess what happened. It superglued itself to the base of the meringue. HUGE thanks to N who spent probably a good half hour picking off the paper in teeny tiny little pieces!

I managed to avert a catastrophe with the baking. I always bake using the convection setting on our microwave as our only other option is a dodgy 30 year electric with broken seal (made worse by the fact that the last time we used it the loose end of the seal was actually inside the oven touching the element and we nearly burned the house down). While the recipe called for baking at 100 degrees our oven has preset temps of either 70 or 130. I went with 130 and only belatedly realised maybe they wouldn't take 3 hrs to cook at a higher temperature! I checked them at 2hrs and pulled them out immediately.

I'm a little bit funny about white chocolate. What with it not actually being chocolate at all and tasting sickly sweet. This time I went with Green & Blacks Organic and hallelujah! That stuff is dangerous and we ate our leftover half a block while prepping dinner.

The taste test ...

Oh. My. God. I think I have now found my go-to dinner party dessert! The contrast between the chewy, slightly crispy meringue, smooth as silk ganache and bite of the pineapple was sensational. Rich but not sickly, this is one awesome recipe. I did just a half batch and it made 6 generous serves. We had barely finished eating when we tried to think of the next occasion I could make this for. Definitely no leftovers with this one.

Make sure you check out Andrea's blog for the recipe!

Classic Custard Tart

I've had custard on my mind ever since I decided not to make last week's TWD selection of Floating Islands. I absolutely adore custard and while I wholeheartedly avoid the bright yellow goop that passes for custard at the supermarket, strangely I don't make it very often at home.

I decided it would have to be baked to pass my food safety limitations at the moment, so custard tart it was!

What elevated this from the mundane was the fact I used whole fresh nutmeg for the first time. I know, where have I been?? Just like when first I tried a fresh vanilla bean, this was spectacular.

We loved this tart. So simple and elegant and not too sweet. You can find the recipe I used here. The only change I made was to the pastry - leaving out the egg yolk and water, replacing them with just enough apricot juice to bring it together. This added a lovely subtle flavour and most importantly, meant I could eat some uncooked. I love pastry!!!

N's First Omelette

When I first met him, N was allergic to egg. This was staggering because it meant he had never tried cake, quiche, custard, meringue or pancakes. Can you imagine?? We did some research and found a treatment which cured his egg allergy (and yes it was a true, medically diagnosed food allergy from birth which played havoc with vaccinations etc) once and for all.

I'm amazed I hadn't cooked one for him before but he assures me that after more than 6 years together this was his first omelette. And he liked it!

After all my whinging about the weather the temperature has dropped about 10 degrees since yesterday which made it perfect to have an omelette on hot buttered toast for dinner.

We filled them with sauteed onion, garlic, mushroom, ham and asparagus with a smattering of chedder.

Delish!