Harissa spiced eggs on cheesy English muffins

My boss Dora is one of the best cooks I've come across. Till we moved to our professional kitchen a year back, I had the privilege of enjoying some of her cooking during lunch breaks and it was my first foray into the world of French food. Not only are her creations delicious, the fact that she used to whip them up in no time was something that amazed me. Be it a simple puff pastry pizza, or her signature vegetable lasagna- the taste was consistent all throughout, not to mention the copious amounts of mint tea we used to drink during brainstorming sessions.

I mentally wrote down her quick recipes and of course threw so many doubts her way as well. She is the one who made me experiment with aubergines for the first time, and enjoy fish in various forms (Ro secretly thanks her for my tolerance to mackerel now). Dora's Tunisian routes (which is her strong point, even when it comes to macaron flavours) made the dishes even more interesting. She introduced me to harissa, ras-el-hanout, brik pastry and so many other ingredients and dishes that were then new to me.

This recipe or rather creation is truly Dora's. When we were short of time she would whip this up in a matter of minutes and i would devour it without batting an eyelid. I have watched her do it so many times, but even now it just doesn't taste as unique as hers. I remember making it at home the first time and it was an instant hit with Ro. I have then made it at several brunch sessions and everyone s absolutely enjoyed it.

Over time i changed the procedure and ingredients a bit, but it still is hands down one of the best recipes I've learnt from Dora. I have also used the authentic home made harissa paste she gave me, which is as authentic as it can get.. Once you taste the real thing, you will not want to try any of the store bought versions.

On a different note, i think i have cracked my lighting issue. It's still a bit harsh, but i have narrowed down my light source and that is half of the issue sorted there. Now i just have to play around with diffusing and stuff to get it right. Talking about photography, this recipe goes straight to the #happyeggtastemakers challenge this month, which is to cook something using the happy eggs co and photograph it using food stylist and instagrammer Marte Marie Forsberg's top 5 tips for creating the best looking food. I hope i have done justice to the image, seriously, it tasted fab.

This harissa spiced baked eggs are so easy to make, you have to try it out. You can do so many different versions of it, and it would just not go wrong. Thank you Dora, for all those cooking lessons which you unknowingly instilled in me. I really do miss it :)

Serves 2

English muffins- 2, sliced in half to get 4

Cheddar cheese slices- 4

Spring onion greens- 2 tsp (to garnish)

Olive oil- 1 tbsp

Shallot- 1 large, finely chopped

Bell pepper- 1, finely chopped

Garlic- 1/2 tbsp, finely chopped

Harissa paste- 2 generous tsp

Tomato- 2 small, finely chopped

Double cream- 1/4 cup

Salt and pepper- to taste

Eggs- 4

Preheat oven to 175C and line a baking tray with foil paper.

Place the muffins, cut side up and top with the cheddar cheese slices

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet and saute the shallot, bell pepper and garlic till soft, around 3 minutes on medium high heat.

Make a paste with the harissa and some water and add to the pan.

Stir till it loosens and coats the vegetables.

Add the tomato slices and cook till they turn mushy, after which you pour in the double cream and mix it all together

Season with salt.

Separate the mix in a few places and break the eggs into them.

Break the yolk and stir it gently into the mix. This is purely optional, you can of course leave the yolk intact

Bake for 10 minutes, or till the eggs are cooked. 

Around 5 minutes into the baking time, put in the tray with the muffins.

Once done- the eggs cooked and the cheese on the muffins melted, take them out of the oven, wait for a few minutes for the bubbling to settle.

Slice the baked eggs into four and place on the cheesy muffins.

Garnish with spring onions and serve warm.

Notes: You can use bread slices, ciabatta, crumpets (these are the best) and any break of choice as the base

Add prawns, shredded chicken, minced meat etc to the mix before topping with the egg

With thanks to the happy egg co for the voucher

Blueberry breakfast muffins

The husband started complaining about how boring his morning breakfast of toast, butter and cold meats were getting too monotonous and I thought I'll whip up some blueberry muffins for him. The muffins came out ok but our gluttonous minds set to work the moment they came out of the oven and so we were left with around 3 by the next morning. Since its just me and Ro doing all the eating, I usually make small quantities of all the cakes and bakes and cookies and such. This was no exception and yes, out of 8 large muffins, we ate around 5 within a time span of about 3 hours and then resisted the urge to have them as dessert after dinner.

So the muffins lasted for exactly one morning and it hasn't made its way through ever since. But please don't judge them by what I just said. It's got nothing to do with taste, just that blueberries went out of season right after this and the husband went back to having toast and cold meats because the muffins still left him hungry!!!!

I have tried making muffins numerous times before and except for the time I tried them with whole wheat, the rest have all been disastrous. I keep wanting them to taste (and look) like the Starbucks ones, but they don't come anywhere close. These, however, were moist, easy to put together and good to look at, and I was sold. If I ever make blueberry muffins again, I shall be sticking to this recipe. Well unless Starbucks actually gives me the recipe for their mother of a muffin :)

Recipe adapted from here (makes 8 of them)

 

Egg- 1 large

Sugar- 1/2 cup

Vegetable oil- 1/4 cup

Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

Plain flour- 1 cup

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Baking soda- 1/4 tsp

Plain yogurt- 1/2 cup

Blueberries- 1/2 cup (heaped)

 

Mix together flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. Keep aside

In a large mixing bowl, using a wire whisk or a wooden spoon, beat the egg till light and fluffy.

Gradually add in the sugar, while continuously whisking, followed by oil.

Stir in the vanilla extract.

Tip in the dry ingredients alternating the yogurt and mix it all in, without any traces of flour being obvious.

Slowly fold in the blueberries and using a large ice-cream scoop add the batter to a muffin pan, lined with muffin cases/ cups.

Bake in an oven preheated at 200C for about 20 to 22 minutes or till a skewer comes out clean (if you by chance pierce a blueberry, it wont come out clean, so don't take that into consideration)

Transfer the tray on to a wire rack and after about 5 minutes, remove the muffin cups and leave to cool completely.

Stays fine at room temperature for 2 days.

Notes: Original recipe calls for sour cream, but I had only yogurt at hand and used it instead. came out super moist whatsoever.