Love Your Eggs

I didn’t used to like eggs much, I only really ever ate them in cakes and it was only when I was pregnant that I missed having them.. I know you can still eat them but having to cook them into submission didn’t really appeal.
In the last few months I have developed a real addiction to poached eggs and recently I have started trying eggs in new recipes..not just cakes!

One of my favourites is Frittata I was going to share this recipe soon as part of one of my eating on a budget blog posts but here it is sooner than planned.
The best thing about this dish is you can throw anything in, leftover boiled potatoes, peppers, meats,spinach, onions.. I could go on. Let me know if you have any special combos that you use.

This is what I used in my last frittata recipe so adapt however you like:

You will need:

1 large cazuela or pan you can use in hob or in oven
Olive oil
Chopped boiled potatoes
Chopped ham
Chopped peppers
Chopped onions
Chopped spinach
6-8 eggs beaten (dependant on size of pan)
3 or 4 tablespoons of cheese. I use pilgrims choice. Yum.

Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.
Warm a little olive oil in a pan and add all ingredients apart from the eggs and cheese, sauté for 5 minutes then add your beaten eggs and cook until the mixture has set on bottom and is starting to set on top,sprinkle with your cheese and some cracked black pepper & herbs of choice and put in oven for 10-15 minutes until completely set.

When this has cooled slightly you can cut like you would a pizza or quiche and serve with a nice big salad for a healthy, budget friendly lunch. This is also great chilled and taken on picnics.

Another eggcelent (sorry I had to put it in somewhere) recipe I have recently made is spaghetti carbonara.

You will need:

1 large saucepan and 1 frying pan or cazuela
Olive oil
250g bacon, diced or roughly chopped ( I used lardons)
300mL single cream
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese ( I have substituted other cheeses and its just as good)
3 egg yolks
Salt and pepper, to taste
350g spaghetti or tagliatelle ( I used Lidl egg spaghetti last time and it was tremendous)
Seasoning

Start to cook your pasta by the packet instructions whilst frying your bacon in a little olive oil until golden, add your cream and cheese and remove from heat to stir through. Return to heat for 2 mins before adding your egg yolks and again removing from heat to stir through.
Remove from heat, drain pasta and combine. Serve immediately with fresh grated Parmesan and black pepper.

Its so good.. This serves 2 with leftovers.

After the carbonara recipe I had 3 egg whites leftover which I didn’t want to waste so I made a quick Baileys chocolate mousse which I’d never made before but it worked really well. I adapted this from a weight watchers recipe and simple to make but very tasty.

You will need:

1 microwaveable bowl and 1 mixing bowl
Electric whisk
100g of good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
3 egg whites
2 tsp of Baileys

Break your chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave I do in 30 second bursts to make sure it doesn’t burn. Leave your chocolate to cool slightly and whisk your eggs until stiff ( the peaks should stay up when you pull the whisk out). Put a tablespoon of the egg whites into the chocolate to loosen and mix well. Gradually mix the rest of the whites in, not too fast as you lose too much air. Once it’s all mixed in add your baileys, mix once more and spoon into 4 ramekins or glasses. Refrigerate until set, mine took an hour or so to set but I left them there until the following day.

These taste so scrumptiously naughty it’s hard to believe its a low fat recipe. One is more than enough to satisfy a sweet tooth and you don’t feel overly full afterwards.

If any of you have any more egg recipes to share please do!

This should go without saying but please only use free range 😀