Monday, May 19, 2008

Sunday Breakfast - Spanish Eggs and Blueberry Pancakes


I often do brunch on Sunday mornings with my friend Veronica. We live fairly close to each other, so there are a number of local cafes that are our favourite regular spots for brunch. It's a great, relaxing way to spend a Sunday morning, chatting over food and coffee, and catching up on each other's weeks.

Last Sunday, I offered to cook brekky and bring it to V's house, and V accepted. The menu planning was easy - a couple of weeks ago, we had great Spanish eggs at Kanteen, on the banks of the Yarra River at South Yarra. Neither of us had tried Spanish eggs before, and we were initially surprised by them when they arrived. However, the surprise was soon overtaken by that "oohhh, good" feeling - they were delicious! We also saw (but did not order) some fabulous looking Spanish eggs at Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder the very next weekend. Accordingly, my fate was sealed - I had to make my own Spanish eggs.




After a quick Google search (easier than wading through cookbooks), I found a recipe for Spanish eggs here. For two people, with my variations, it is as follows:

2 teaspoons olive oil
90g chorizo sausage
75g chopped red capsicum
200g tinned tomatoes
2 eggs
2 tablespoons heavy cream
40g grated cheese
pinch of paprika

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Spray 2 ramekins with cooking oil and place them on a baking tray.

Heat oil in a frying pan, and cook the chorizo sausage until the fat just starts to run from the chorizo. Add the capsicum to the pan and cut the chorizo up into pieces and cook until the capsicum is soft and the chorizo has browned. Pour the tomatoes into the pan and continue to cook the mixture until the tomatoes are heated through.

Divide the sausage mixture evenly between the two prepared ramekins. Crack an egg into each ramekin on top of the sausage mixture, and drizzle each with a tablespoon of cream. Season with salt and pepper, and put half the cheese on top of each egg, and sprinkle each with a pinch of paprika. Bake the eggs for 15 minutes or until the egg is cooked and the cheese is golden.

To go with the Spanish eggs, I made blueberry pancakes, served with the maple syrup that Smita sent me:



Pancakes are not my forte, but I had another shot, and these tasted OK. I used
this recipe from Nami-Nami.

I felt very Nigella-esque walking down the street with my pans of food wrapped tightly in foil and tea towels - it reminded me of an episode of Nigella Feasts where she and the children walk to a friend's house with dinner.

This was a fun Sunday morning diversion, especially as my idea of breakfast at home is usually two Weetbix with milk. I highly recommend trying it some time if you have the luxury of time to do so, and your friends will love you for it!

Seguing into another topic, the very talented Swati of Sugarcraft India has honoured me with the "You Make My Day" Award:


Thanks Swati! You make my day too. For those who haven't yet seen Swati's gorgeous sugarcraft creations, do check out her site - you will be in awe!

I now have the honour of passing this award onto 5 other bloggers who make my day. There are so many people who make my day, so this is a hard job! However, I have on this occasion chosen:
Giz & Psychgrad of Equal Opportunity Kitchen

Whether it be your great recipes, your entertaining writing, your courageous stories or just the fact that you post about something that tickles my fancy, you guys make my day! Best wishes to you all.

6 comments:

ServesYouRight said...

Delightful! I love brunch too :-)

Bestest,

Smita

Barbara said...

Wow thank you so much. I'm honoured to receive the award and to be included in the line up of such fabulous bloggers. You made my day.

Silvia - Magnolia Wedding Planner said...

So congratulation for the award..you deserve them all dear!
And then..what a fantastic breakfast you and your friend had!
Really great
I wish I lived near you too :-D
Have a great day
Silvia

giz said...

I've never EVER in my WHOOOOLE life heard of Spanish eggs - I'm sure I live under a rock. I love the combination - now I want breakfast and you can bring it over any time - I spoke with V - she doesn't mind.

Secondly - you ROCK...thank you so much for the award.. I'm all farklempt.

Anonymous said...

You make my day too, sweety. Thank you very much :)

Rosie said...

Huge congratulations on your award well deserved :)

Just loving your brunch my kinda food!

Rosie x