We have 4 hens at the moment and we're getting a few more over the coming weeks. They're really easy to keep and they're lovely to have around. When I'm in the vegetable garden and they're clucking around me it's so calming.
They're like our dustbins. They eat anything that is left on our plates along with fruit and vegetable peelings, grass cuttings and weeds and they turn it all into the most delicious eggs.
As well as the obvious - fried, poached, scrambled and boiled eggs - I make omelettes and frittatas, pasta, pancakes, Yorkshire puddings...you name it.
I make poached eggs for breakfast most days and add them to lots of other dishes. If you fancy a weekend treat with your poached egg, try my fail-safe hollandaise sauce and you've got homemade eggs benedict. It's certainly not slimming but it's seriously yummy.
Melt 100g butter.
Separate 2 eggs. Put the egg whites in the fridge or freezer, for future use.
Add the juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper to the egg yolks.
Using an electric whisk, beat the egg yolks on a medium speed until they go paler and start to thicken.
Up the whisk speed and gently pour the melted butter into the egg mixture until you've got a nice thick, creamy consistency.
Pour it over your freshly poached eggs and serve immediately. Now, shut your eyes and pretend you're sitting in a trendy cafe in downtown New York. That might just be my daydream, though. Sorry.
Want a good recipe to mop up the odds and ends that are hanging around and making your fridge look messy? A frittata is a great choice. It serves 4 and is really easy, fast and the added bonus is there is very little washing up required!
I like to use cooked potatoes, chopped into chunks, pretty much any cooked veg, chorizo, chilli flakes, spring onions and herbs.
Cook the chorizo, potatoes, and veg in some oil in a frying pan. When the potatoes are starting to brown, turn the heat down and add 6 beaten eggs (seasoned with salt, pepper and chilli flakes). If you're not as greedy as we are, you might get away with 4!
Sprinkle in some herbs of your choice. Some chopped chives or dill, or dried mixed herbs or oregano are nice.
I often pop in some halved cherry tomatoes at this point too. Sprinkle cheese over the top. Any cheese is fine. I happen to love feta though.
Cook for around 8-10 mins until the the bottom and sides are set. Then pop it under the grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese is melted and the egg is cooked.
Serve warm or cold. It's great for picnics.
Or how about this? Combine flour and an egg and you've got pasta. Add some herbs or wild garlic and you've got something really special. Tweaking it with whatever you fancy can create a unique dish that you'd be proud to serve to friends.
This is so worth the initial kneading. It's so tasty and really easy. And really, you can't get much more frugal than this so your piggy bank will thank you too.
Wild Garlic Pasta
Serves 2 people. Easily doubled.
Ingredients
150g Plain flour
1 egg
1 tbsp oil
Handful of wild garlic
Salt and pepper
Method
Put all the ingredients in the food processor and whizz. It should be a nice green dough now.
Pop it on an oiled surface and stretch it, turn it over and stretch it again to make it more workable. Then knead until your dough is nice and smooth and elastic.
Roll the dough out as thinly as you can (if you have a pasta machine, you're luckier than me! Use it!) and slice it into the shape of your choice. I like long fat strands, a bit like tagliatelle.
Pop it all in a pan of salted, boiling water and cook until you reach the desired texture. About 5 mins should do it.
As it's already flavoured, I would favour a knob of butter and a scant sprinkling of Parmesan to a sauce but if you were desperate for a sauce, a tomato base would probably work the best.
If you like pancakes (of course you do! Who doesn't?), why not try stuffing them (sautéed leeks or mushrooms are particularly good) covering with a sauce (I love a cheese sauce) and some crunchy breadcrumbs, and baking it. It's real comfort food and about as cheap as it gets.
Talking about comfort food, toad in the hole is a particular favourite in our house. We often have it as a roast dinner substitute. I also like to add extra flavours such as sautéed leeks, onions or peppers into the dish just before I pour the batter in. You could also add some robust herbs to the batter - rosemary or thyme would both be great.
Here is my basic toad in the hole recipe that always provides a fantastic rise and never hangs around very long in our household. We usually serve it with peas and gravy. It's the law, right? It is quite a naughty dish so feel free to serve with loads of veg to lessen the guilt! A nice walk might also be in order!
Toad in the Hole
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 fat sausages
3 eggs
115g/ 4oz plain flour
285mls/ Half pint milk
Pinch of salt
(This can be easily be doubled, and usually is in our house!)
Method
Preheat the oven to 230c/ gas 8.
Heat some oil in an oven tin. Add the sausages and cook them for around 15 mins or until very lightly browned.
Meanwhile, mix the other ingredients together and whisk until you have a smooth batter that just coats the back of a spoon.
Pour the batter over the sausages and cook for 30 minutes. Do not open the oven for at least 20 minutes or it will deflate.
Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get too brown. Turn the heat down slightly, if it does. When it's huge, golden and crispy it's ready.
Remove from the oven and enjoy!
If you've enjoyed the eggs feature of my 'ways with...' series and would like to see an ingredient featured, feel free to tweet me and I'll do my best to come up with some tasty, yet thrifty, dishes.
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