Egg in a cup

Note: For non-pork eaters, use pastirma or cured beef

It is in my humble opinion that Australia has the best bacon in the world; crispy, only a tad salty and tastes how real bacon should. Australia uses the loin in the middle of the back of the pig which is a lean meaty cut of bacon, with less fat compared to other cuts.  This recipe is a fitting celebration of that.

My little boy treated me like I was the food goddess when I served him this dish the first time one morning. Lol! It  was as if I have moved the famed El Bulli restaurant into our humble abode. When in fact this dish is simply about thinking outside the box or shall I say, pun included, thinking inside a cup.

Enjoy!

*Adapted from http://cafefernando.com

Serves 2

Ingredients

5-6 slices of pastirma (or bacon or ham)

1 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil

1 large tomato

2 eggs, separated

2 tbsp grated cheese

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat your oven to 350F.

To prepare the three minute tomato sauce, peel the tomato and squeeze to remove juice and seeds (if you do this in a bowl, you can use the juice and seeds later in a salad). Chop the tomato finely and cook with 1 tbsp of olive oil for about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and put aside.

Take a muffin tin (if you don’t have one, you can use soufflé cups instead) and oil the cups with 1 tsp of olive oil, place the slices of pastirma inside, leaving a quarter inch overhang from the edge of the cup (be careful not to leave any gaps between or beneath the slices, though). Cook in the oven until crispy, for about 3 minutes.

Take the muffin tin out of the oven, add one teaspoon of tomato sauce on the bottom and place the egg whites on the top. Cook until the whites are slightly stiff (the upper part should still be somewhat transparent, again 2-3 minutes at most).

Take the muffin tin out of the oven again, add one more teaspoon of tomato sauce and place the egg yolks very carefully in the middle. At this point, I recommend to use the lower shelf of the oven (egg yolks cook very quickly and the tops get wrinkled with direct heat). Cook until the egg yolks gently wobble when you shake the muffin cups, for about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle grated cheese on the top and serve hot.

La Paella Mixta (Mixed Paella)

What better way to celebrate Valentines Day than to cook this finger licking pa-e-ya dish! Its so goood! You'll almost forget your name. Lol! 

In my distant past ,   I reckon I have already cooked all the species from the paella family; quick-cook paella, jambalayas, and arroz valenciana(valencia?). But this mixed paella dish we are featuring here sets the bar a notch higher. It is genius of a complete meal; meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables and rice. What more can you ask for? You are also taken aback by the different, dynamic and succulent gustation teasing your taste buds yet meshing together perfectly to create one complete taste in your mouth. What's even better is that you can snack on the leftovers, if there were leftover for that matter.

Perhaps, one key factor why this paella is so good is due to the freshness of  ingredients. Preston Market where we got our ingredients, is like a diamond in the rough for fresh produce. So, don't scrimp on your ingredients. Freshness is the key. Its Valentine's day anyway. Lol!

If I cant be in Spain right now, I can at least bring Spain to me through this paella dish.

What you need: 1 paellera (or other wide flat dishpan or frying pan– around 34cm)

Ingredients:

good olive oil

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

1 pepper, minced

a few thyme sprigs

1 bay leaf

1 small spoonful of Spanish paprika (sweet or smokey, your choice)

6-8 chicken drumettes

1/2 pound lean pork, in bite sized pieces (if you don't eat pork, omit this and add more chicken drumettes)

a generous pour of white wine (dry, table wine)

2 packets saffron threads (about 15 threads or so?)

2 cups arborio or other short grained, rounded rice

4 cups chicken broth

sea salt to taste

1 small to medium sized squid, cleaned and cut into rings–or just buy calamari ringlets from your market

1 pound clams, soaked in saltwater overnight to remove grit

5-6 mussels, soaked to remove grit, beards removed

1 pound prawns, thoroughly washed, (I used green prawns. The taste was just awesome!)

1/3 cup frozen peas

Seafoods overload, we likey!

Preparation:

First, you’ll need to season your paella pan. Buy the regular old metal kind. This means that they need to be seasoned first, much like a cast iron pan or wok. To season it, just lightly oil it, and rub it with a paper towel until mostly absorbed. There should be a thin layer of oil remaining on the surface, but just barely. You’ll need to repeat this after washing, so that your paella pan doesn’t rust.

Let’s get cooking!

Drizzle your paellera with some extra virgin olive oil.

Toss the garlic in first, to lightly brown.

Once the garlic is nice and golden, add in the onion, pepper, thyme and bay.

Give it all a good stir, and keep at it until the vegetables are tender.

Add in the paprika and stir again.

Now push the vegetables to one side, and add in the chicken and pork.

You might want to lightly oil the paellera on that side again first.

Season with salt and pepper and brown.

When the meat is nice and browned, add in the wine. Just enough to coat the bottom…probably a good cup to 2 cups

Add in the saffron and stir around.

Reduce this a bit.

Now add the rice and give it really a good stir.

Add the broth.

Arrange your chicken now, because you need to retire your spoon until the cooking has finished. Resist all urges to stir your paella. It’s imperative for the delicious crust or “costra.”

Notice the costra (crusty and crunchy), probably the outcome of not stirring the paella until cooking has finished

NO MORE STIRRING!

After about, 10 minutes your paella should be bubbly

Now it’s time to arrange the seafood on top.

Just put it on there how you want to

When your paella is just about done, throw on a generous handfull of frozen peas.

Let it cook until done

Once your paella is done, you’ll need to check to be sure there aren’t any unopened clams or mussels. Unopened clams/mussels, throw them out.

Now it’s time to serve!  Just pile a bunch on your plate and serve with a wedge of lemon and a nice hunk of bread.

My little boy's seal of approval, yet again!