My favourite snack for approximately the last ten years has been a soft boiled egg with anchovy soldiers. Fact. That’s a long time in service; I feel I’ve earned my stripes and the right to experiment with something that is nigh-on perfect already. It’s time to take things to the next level.

A baked egg has the added indulgence of butter and cream and of course, increased size on its side. The spinach in this one was almost a bridge too far but I got away with it, no doubt due to my lengthy service to the cause. The anchovy soldiers need no introduction – just don’t be shy with the butter.

Baked Eggs with Anchovy Soldiers

Personally, I won’t bother putting the spinach in next time but if you do fancy it, just wilt it down in a pan first, then squeeze out as much moisture as you can before adding to the ramekin, otherwise it will be watery.

Butter
Single cream
One large egg
Salt and pepper

Add your spinach to the ramekin if using and then carefully break in the egg. Add a splash of cream plus a little dab of butter on top and season well with pepper. You may want to add a little salt but remember those anchovies. Bake in the centre of a 180C oven until the egg is just cooked. Serve with toasty dippers slathered generously in butter and topped with as much anchovy fillet as you dare. Sometimes I use white pepper instead of black. Rock ‘n roll.

Is it just me, or does anyone else spend their time in the pub this way? Debating important and potentially life-changing conundrums such as – ‘pork or beef?’ (if you could only eat one for the rest of your life), ‘tomato ketchup or brown sauce?’ (in a bacon sandwich, naturally) and now this – the probability of turning out a decent, oven-baked scotch egg*. Instinct says it can’t be done, but then I started wondering – maybe we should be giving the baking a chance? Just how well could they really hold up against traditionally fried counterparts? There’s only one way to find out for a geek like me.

I used a recipe from Paganum’s food blog, fitting because they also supplied the meat (me gushing about them here) and followed the basic gist, swapping parsley for sage and employing a cheeky little clingfilm method for the assembly.

Lay out a meaty bed for your hard-boiled egg on a piece of clingfilm.

Plonk the egg in the middle.

Gather up the sides and squish the meat around the egg.

And, they are ready for a good egging and crumbing…

…like so. Except, FAIL #1: I didn’t have enough oil for deep frying and so had to shallow fry and cross my fingers instead. They looked great, an excellent golden colour, so I carefully spooned them out to let the excess oil drain off.

Then an excruciating wait (at least three minutes), before I finally gave in and cut one open. Only to find…raw sausagemeat – oops. I made the sausage layer too thick, leaving it still uncooked in places. Either that, or the shallow frying method failed me. Probably a bit of both (FAIL #2).

So, they go in the oven with the baked eggs anyway, which basically ruins the experiment. In the interests of all being right and good however, here’s the results.

As you can see, the oven baked egg looks anaemic in comparison to the fried and it doesn’t have the same calibre of ‘crust’. That said, those baked eggs are pretty damn crispy anyway (I turned them during cooking) – still immensely satisfying. And inside?

The baked is on the right in this picture and I can honestly say, no difference whatsoever within the crumb – both as perfectly juicy and delicious as the other. So all things considered, there ain’t much between them but you’re going to go for the fried, right? Right. Because the golden crunch is important dammit! All of which means that here we have yet another example of why you don’t bother making a low fat version of a high fat snack. It’s never going to be the same, you’re missing the point.

And so what advice can I actually pass on after all that fuss? Don’t eat three scotch eggs all to yourself, that’s what. Not all in the space of an hour anyway. The after effects are not desirable and include nausea, guilt and an extra inch on the waistline. On the upside, the taste and texture is out of this world – a totally different experience to those supermarket fakes – yucky egg mayonnaise inside grey, textureless flesh (God knows what that’s made from), and don’t forget the suspiciously hued crumb.

Next time, I’ll either stick with the frying or try misting the baked eggs with oil to brown them up more. I’ll also be having another bash at making home made salad cream to go with them, although I won’t be using this recipe, which needed so much adjustment on my part, it’s too complicated to pass on.

In the meantime, Chris has made some pork and apple ’sausages’ with the leftover meat, which will later be transformed (I am told), into a toad in the hole, with onion gravy.  Considering Chris’s gift for making perfect Yorkshire puddings, this is a very exciting prospect for my tummy – not to mention perfectly suited to the unusual winter weather!

* Yes I realise all three of those examples involve pork.

Sorry for the pause, I know it’s been a week – I’m taking exams at the moment. Right, it’s time for another asparagus recipe before I get distracted by all the other food ideas floating around in my head. In my last asparagus post, I mentioned how I wanted to re-discover it and that I did, by eating it thinly shaved and raw as a salad. Now I’m going to the opposite end of the spectrum with some roasted asparagus. Eating it raw retains a fresh, pea-like flavour which I recently read is “partly caused by 2-alkyl-3-methoxy-pyrazines” – I’m sorry, what?! Anyhow, roasting it draws out the water and intensifies the flavour, a totally different experience.

For this recipe, I also roasted some garlic, as I wanted the mellow cloves to add to my caramelised lemon dressing (you could just use a very small amount of fresh garlic if you don’t want to do this – 1/2 clove). To caramelise the lemons you simply cut them in half and cook them flesh side down in a hot pan for a few minutes until charred. You can then squeeze their golden, sweetened juice into your dressing or whatever else you fancy. It’s a great way to jazz up the humble lemon a bit and is something we always fling on the barbecue for drizzling over grilled meats and fish.

I’ve made a ‘mimosa’ with the eggs – or pushed ‘em through a sieve, which I think is a great way to add a little richness to vegetables without covering them in butter. There is also something about the process of making eggs mimosa that I find extremely satisfying. If you ever made ‘hair’ out of clay and a sieve at primary school then you know what I’m talking about. A touch of parmesan goes in with the eggs for extra flavour and saltiness and the final flourish is some crispy, chilli fried breadcrumbs - a welcome kick and a great textural contrast. So we have intensely flavoured roasted asparagus, rich, slightly salty eggs, sweet lemon dressing and those spicy crumbs. It’s a bit like a really lazy gratin with less sauce.

I was also inspired by one of my favourite bloggers this morning (Sophie from Mostly Eating), when I read her post about what she will be eating this week. Sophie is a nutritionist and her blog is full of healthy recipes and tips for maintaining a balanced diet. Believe it or not, healthy eating is something I feel pretty strongly about and so I thought I’d give you a little snapshot of the kind of thing I eat on a day to day basis because I don’t sit around eating Opera cake all the time – honest! For lunch today I made this courgette, parsley and olive farro with lemon and chilli.

It’s basically a combination of things that I had available so I’ve given the recipe below although you could just adapt as necessary. I must say that the courgette-parsley-olive combo makes great pasta sauce too, especially with plenty of garlic and parmesan. Yum.

One last thing – there is now a link in the left hand side bar to ‘Eat the Seasons’, a great resource highlighting ingredients that are at their best in the UK right now (with an option to switch to the US and Canada). There’s also time for a brief update on my urban garden which you can see is coming along just great, in fact, it’s growing abnormally quickly.

The tomatoes and potatoes are totally unstoppable and I have some exciting new additions arriving this week too.You can see in the pictures that we had rain overnight in London but, hang on a minute – what’s that bright, light stuff? Oh yeah, that’s SUN! Remember that, UK residents?! I think it might possibly be back……

The asparagus recipe was originally intended as an entry for Scott and Julia’s event – In the Bag, which showcases seasonal ingredients but I missed the deadline. Hey ho.

Asparagus with Parmesan – Eggs Mimosa, Caramelised Lemon Dressing and Chilli Crumbs

2 ‘bundles’ green asparagus (around 20 spears in total)
4 hard boiled eggs
Parmesan to taste
1 large lemon, halved
1 slice stale bread, crusts removed and blended to make crumbs
1 red chilli, de-seeded (or not, I didn’t!) and finely chopped
Olive oil for frying

For the dressing

3 fat cloves roasted garlic (or 1/2 clove fresh, crushed)
1 level teaspoon wholegrain mustard
Juice of one caramelised lemon
Black pepper
Extra Virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas4/350F

- Bend each asparagus spear until it snaps and discard the woody ends. Put the asparagus in a roasting tray, drizzle lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for around 15 minutes, depending on thickness – they should be just tender.
- Meanwhile, peel the eggs, put them in a sieve with a good grating of parmesan and then push through the sieve into a bowl.
- Heat a pan for the lemon, halve it, add a little oil and char it, flesh side down until blackened. Then, set aside while you begin to make the dressing, below.
- For the dressing, mush the garlic in a pestle and mortar with a little sea salt. Add some black pepper and the mustard and stir to combine. Add the caramelised lemon juice and scrape some of the nice caramelised bits from the surface of the lemon half into the dressing too. Add a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Whisk to emulsify and adjust the quantities to your taste.
- To make the crumbs, fry the chopped chilli with the crumbs in a little olive oil until golden and crispy.
- Serve the asparagus with some of the dressing poured on top, then the eggs, more dressing and finally those crispy crumbs.

Farro with Courgettes, Parsley and Olives

250g farro
3 small courgettes, grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely sliced or diced
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked
20 kalamata olives, halved
Parmesan and lemon zest, to serve
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper

- Put the grated courgettes in a colander, sprinkle with a little fine salt and put a plate on top to weight them down. Either put this in the sink or over a bowl to let the water drain out. I left them for about half an hour then got bored but they were fine.
- Cook the farro according to packet instructions.
- Soften the onion in olive oil until starting to caramelise, add the garlic and chilli for a couple of minutes and then add the courgettes (as soon as you smell any hint of the garlic burning, put your courgettes in).
- Cook the mixture for 10 minutes (ish). This is to lightly cook the courgettes and get rid of any remaining moisture.
- Whisk together the honey, lemon juice olive oil and some black pepper.
- Mix everything together in a serving bowl, pour over the dressing and finish with a good grating of parmesan and lemon zest.

As soon as the first asparagus appears I jump on it and consume as much as possible during the short 8 week season. It’s partly the delicate flavour which I find slightly addictive, partly the firm texture and the way it goes SO well with ingredients like ham, egg and cheese – but I’m sure my fascination owes a lot to novelty. I know that once the season is over, I can’t eat these delicious spears again until next year. Have you ever tried out of season, imported aspragus? It’s a load of rubbish. Asparagus from Peru? What?!

I’ve been lovingly gazing at the new quiche dish since I bought it, patiently waiting for the asparagus to appear. I bought the dish a few weeks ago in a charity shop, for a few pounds. Bargain. I buy a lot of my dishes in charity shops actually – you have to be in the mood though, it’s quite a skill rummaging through all the stuff you (really) don’t want just to find that diamond in the rough. I have the whole process down to a fine art now. It’s akin to the Londoner travelling mentality, which, if you are not familiar, involves every man and woman for themselves. Well, we’re not all like that of course, but there is an element of it in every Londoner – you know it’s true! It’s just that some of us can still manage to turn the corners of our mouths upwards into a SMILE and others have fogotten the art. Some of us can also manage to be polite and considerate, but now I’m sounding preachy so I’m going to stop.

So, quiche. I used pancetta in this one, together with some melting Gruyere, sautéed shallots and vibrant radish and pea shoots. Everything is held together with an unctuous dairy mix and finished with a fine grating of fabulous pecorino, a gift from a friend recently back from Italy. This pecorino is strong and studded with peppercorns.
I wanted something to cut through the richness of the quiche and thought this might be a good time to make my entry for Pixie and Rosie’s new event, ‘Putting Up‘. My entry is basically a variation on a previous pickle recipe that I loved so much I couldn’t wait to make again. I’ve just adapted it to the season. So, here we have a courgette, radish and kohlrabi pickle. It’s slightly mustardy and sweet-sour with cider vinegar and a touch of sugar. Its like a variation on Italian pickled veggies. It gave me an excuse to break out the Kilner jars again after last years chutney and pickled onions. I also used a good pinch of the ‘long peppers’ I bought at The Real Food Festival, crushed in the pestle and mortar but you can easily leave them out.

They have a sour taste and are quite different to a regular black peppercorn, fragrant and strong. I’ve mentioned before that they are catkins, isn’t that cool? The pickle will keep for months in the fridge – at least I think it will but I don’t anticipate it lasting that long.

Courgette, Radish and Kohlrabi Pickle

600ml cider vinegar
100g sugar
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1.5 teaspoons black mustard seeds
1.5 tablespoons salt

20 red radishes
3 medium courgettes
2 small kohlrabi
1 very small onion
1 small sprig of dill, finely chopped

2 regular kilner-type jars or alternatives, sterilised (to sterilise your jars, wash them in hot soapy water and then rinse under very hot water. Put into a preheated oven (140C/275F/Gas 1 – minus any rubber seals – for 10 minutes).

- Cut all the vegetables into strips by hand, with a julienne peeler or using a grater.
- Put the veg in a large bowl, add the salt and cover with cold water. Stir to dissolve the salt and leave for around an hour or so. Drain the veg and pat them dry.
- Put the dill, vinegar, sugar, mustard and mustard seed into a saucepan and gently heat to a simmer. Let simmer for a few minutes and then cool until warm.
- Pour the liquid over the vegetables then decant everything into jars. Refrigerate.

Spring Quiche

Short crust pastry (I used ready-rolled, shocking! And I can’t remember how much I used, it was enough to line a 10″ quiche dish – sorry)
150g pancetta, cubed
13 asparagus spears, trimmed (hold at each end, bend gently until they snap, discard the woody end)
2 largeish shallots, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
A small handful of radish shoots and the same of pea shoots. You could substitute any leafy shoots here, or peas.
A small handful of chives, chopped
150ml milk
150ml double cream
3 large eggs
100g Gruyere cheese, grated
A grating of parmesan (optional)

A 10″ quiche or flan dish

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4

- Roll out the pastry to cover the dish and carefully line it, patching up any holes, even the smallest, really well.
- Line the pastry with baking paper or foil and fill with baking beans, uncooked pulses or uncooked rice.
- Cook, middle shelf for 15 minutes. Remove, take out the paper and baking beans and prick all over the bottom with a fork. Cook 10 minutes more and allow to cool while you make the filling. turn the oven up to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
- Fry the shallots with the pancetta in a dry pan for a few minutes. Add the garlic for 30 seconds or so to soften, be careful not to burn.
- Mix the milk, cream, eggs and chives together with some black pepper (no salt, the pancetta is salty).
- Add the pancetta and shallot mixture to the pastry case and spread evenly. Sprinkle the shoots on top and then the cheese. Pour over the egg mix and arrange the asparagus on top, pushing down slightly to nestle them in. Grate some parmesan over if using.
- Cook, middle shelf for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and just set in the centre.

Frittatas are probably better than pasta for using up leftover bits and bobs, chuck it all together with some well beaten eggs and you’re sorted. The ingredients in this case are leftover from my Jersey Royal, Watercress and Feta Bread. I swapped feta for this ash-coated goat cheese, threw in some of my now-beloved Greek basil and drizzled it with some chunky black olive tapenade.

As ever, I like a slice of frittata much better cold, for lunch the next day. I guess it would be fairly healthy too, as long as you don’t cover it in cheese like I did. You’d be missing out though – on the golden crusty layer formed from a flash under the grill.

The trusty cast iron skillet has got to be the frittata maker’s best friend, in fact, it’s got be one of the most useful kitchen items ever. There’s nothing it can’t take – heat, soil, force, it’s indestructible. I am not however and the sheer weight of the thing has overwhelmed my puny wrists many a time.

I’m making the most of PSB (purple sprouting broccoli) season at the moment, it won’t be around for much longer and is just so much more exciting than it’s regular counterpart. A frittata is a perfect way to incorporate the flavours of the season without having to put in any effort at all.

I’ve been using a lot of kohlrabi this year too as I think it is such an underrated vegetable. For me, it’s best eaten raw to preserve that freshness and crisp texture. If you are lucky enough to find kohlrabi with leaves, don’t discard them, they are delish. Use them as you would spinach or other greens – I finely shredded them for this recipe.

Goat Cheese, PSB and Jersey Royal Frittata (with Black Olive Tapenade)

150g Jersey Royals, well washed and cut into bit size chunks
The leaves of one kohlrabi (or a handful of spinach or other greens), finely shredded
A small handful of watercress, chopped roughly
A small handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
A small handful Greek or regular basil
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, chopped (fairly chunky)
150g goat cheese log (not the really soft spreadable kind), cut into think slices
8 large eggs, beaten with a good grind of pepper and sea salt
A handful PSB

- Blanch the PSB in boiling salted water for a couple of minutes, then drain and refresh under cold water.
- Saute the onion in a little olive oil until softened, add the potato chunks, greens (and watercress) and garlic and saute for a couple more minutes.
- Spread this around in the pan to distribute evenly and lay the PSB on top, then sprinkle over half the herbs.
- Lay the goat cheese slices on top, then mix the remaining herbs into the eggs and pour over. Let cook gently for about 15 minutes or so until mostly set (apart from the top)
- Finish under a grill.
- Drizzle with black olive tapenade

Another frittata -

Salmon frittata with salsa verde

Kohlrabi -

Radish & Kohlrabi Pickle
Fennel & Kohlrabi Salad
Kohlrabi, Fennel and Beetroot Salad