Halloween Pumpkin Quiche-white night, pumpkin carving and an extra hour in bed

Hannah's Challange

Halloween is upon us and to celebrate 'The year in Eggs' incorporated this theme into it's egg making challenge.  Friday evening was spent at a pumpkin carving party.  My pumpkin was somewhat put to shame by the excellent artwork of the other guests but I do feel that my pumpkin has a certain juvenile charm about it. On Saturday we went shopping at Emaus second hand emporium, where we stumbled across a perfect musical accompaniment to Halloween Eggs. 

This week we also had a guest to participate in the eating of eggs.  Alan's Dad had joined us this has boosted my score as guests are generous in their rating of eggs.  Alan and his Dad have gone to London to watch and American football match (I must admit I forgot to ask who was playing).

I got the idea for the pumpkin quiche from thelittleteochew.blogspot.com.

Ingredients
 4x eggs

2/3rds of a small pupmkin
150ml creme fresh
50 ml milk
1 red onion
50g spinach (blanched)
1 clove garlic (chopped very finely)
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
small handful chopped fresh corriander
about 75g of Gorgonzola (I just used what was left in the packet)
Packet of short crust pastry (the purists amongst you may wish to make your own)

1. Pre heat oven to 190 degree celsius  Cut pumpkin into slices and roast for 1 hr.  Peel the skin off after and chop into bite size pieces

2. Whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, herbs and mustard. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

3.  Grease the quiche tray and place the pastry in the tray.

4. (Bake the pastry blind for 5 to 10 minutes this is something I did not do and subsequently the pastry on the bottom was slightly under cooked) place the vegetables and cheese on the pastry and then pour over the egg and cream mixture.

5. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes

We sampled this quiche with salad, potato wedges and a glass of Aspall cider.  After this feast we went out and enjoyed the streets of Brighton, as it was White night.

Marking Category	Hannah	Alan	Murray
Presentation	3.5	3.5	4
Innovation	3.75	3.75	4
Quality of egg	4	4	3.5
Taste	3.5	4
Total	14.75	15.25	15.5

Alan- Innovative combo of blue cheese and pumpkin

Hannah- Presentation of the quiche was a bit slapdash, the use of the pumpkin boosted the marks for presentation but without this the presentation was a bit sloppy.

I hope you have a good rest of the Halloween weekend, oh, and Goodbye October

Hannah

Humble fritatta

Postdated entry:
Week 4: Saturday 16th October 2010

Alan's Challenge

Caramelised onion frittata served on a bed of toast

Hurrah! No hangover today. Bright blue autumnal tumble leaf morning. The cotton ball clouds are racing at pace past a humbled jumbo jet. Hannah is a running a stall in the Jubilee square for black history month. This is much to her chagrin as this coincides with the visit of two of her old chums. I am at odds with the tempo of the rest of the world. I have chosen to caramelise onions at length and to slow saute my eggs. I am now languishing in my chair but should be doing homework instead. I have a research proposal to finish, an essay to start and no doubt some old gents to bathe come two when I get to work. Travel back in time to the recipe:

The consistency of frittata (Taylor, 2010)

Recipe

1 x medium sized onion finely sliced
Olive oil
4 x eggs
a handful of roughly chopped parsley
loads of grated parmesan
salt
pepper

Step 1
Slowly cook the onions in olive oil over a medium heat for 15-20mins
strr occasionally

Step 2
While the onions are cooking:
Mix eggs, parsley and parmesan in a bowl

Step 3
Mix onion in with the egg mixture
Add butter to pan until melty
return egg mix to the pan and cook on a low heat for 15 mins

Step 4
When the bottom of the egg is set but the top still runny:
Grill top until solid

Step 5
Slide out using a fish slice.
Cut into quarters and serve on a bed of whole meal toast

Marking Category	Hannah	Alan
Presentation	2	1.5
Innovation	3.5	3.5
Quality of egg	4.5	4.5
Taste	4	4
Total	14	13.5

comments:

Initially Taylor (2010) intended to dock points for quality of egg as she believed that frittata should be creamy in the middle. However, according to Slater (1992) in his seminal work 'real fast food' a frittata "unlike its soft and creamy french cousin (sic) is cooked slowly over a very low heat and is sauteed on both sides and is cut into wedges like a cake" (pg 39) Thus it may be concluded that frittata should have a strong cake like consistancy. Accordingly Taylor (2010) was disproved and subsequently ate humble frittata.

References

Slater N (1992) Real fast food. London: Penguin.

Taylor H (2010) The consistency of frittata. Personal communication: Unpublished.

Your's Alan

Hannah's Eggs Florentine

Postdated entry:
Week 3: Saturday 9th October 2010

Hannah's Challenge 

We woke up early this morning after an early night. We are off to the Eastbourne beer festival this morning so a hearty breakfast is needed. I decided to make 'Hannah's eggs Florentine'.

Recipe
4 x eggs
spinach
Double cream
Ground nutmeg
Wholegrain mustard
Cheddar cheese
English muffin
Small amount of veg stock

Step 1
Heat veg stock and cream in equal parts. add a tea spoon of mustard and a pinch of nutmeg

Step 2
Poach egg
toast muffin
Wilt spinach

Step 3
Place spinach on muffin
Egg on spinach
Pour over sauce
grate cheese on top on serve

Marking Category	Hannah	Alan
Presentation	3.5	3.5
Innovation	4	3.5
Quality of egg	3.5	4
Taste	3.5	3.5
Total	14.5	14.5

Comments: No time for comments Binky is waiting for us at the train station.

Postdated entry:
Week 2: Sunday 3rd October 2010

Hannah's Challenge

A simple scramble

The day after Hanover beer festival. Very very hungover. It's rained cats and dogs all weekened. I've been sick and called off work (very naughty). Hannah was sick on the way home. Heads are pounding. Today we opted for the simple scramble with the works (vegi sausage, beans & toast).

Recipe

2 x eggs
Salt
Pepper
Milk to taste
Salted butter

Step 1
mix eggs and milk in a bowl. add salt and pepper

Step 2
heat the butter in a pan and then add egg mixture

Step 3
Stir constantly on a medium heat

Step 4
Voila! serve with lashings of tea

The works

Marking Category	Hannah	Alan
Presentation		3
Innovation		1
Quality of egg		4
Taste		4
Total		12

Comments:

Alan: A well executed classic.

Hannah: was too unwell to mark or comment.

spicy potato autumnal owl eggs

Week 5 - Sunday 3rd October 2010

Hannah's Challenge 

Behind the globs of condensation on our window panes lies a fresh blue skied autumn morning. We are wearing knitwear indoors which Hannah cobbled together from old spare wool. We are about to venture out to see the photos at the old co-op building on London road.

woolies

Recipe

Ingredients
2x large potatoes
1x onion
lx green chili
4x eggs
small handful of chopped coriander and parsley

Step 1

Grate the onion and then grate the potato. Squeeze moisture from the potatoes. Fry the onions for five minutes and then add the potatoes and chili. Cook for about twenty minutes on a low heat. The potatoes should cover the frying pan to form a cake/omelette shape.

Step 2

Place frying pan under the grill for five to ten minutes to cook the top of the potato mixture

Step 3

Make slight hollows into the potato mixture and crack four eggs into the hollows. Place the frying pan back on the hob. Cover with a lid and cook for another five to ten minutes on a low heat.

Step 4

Sprinkle with herbs and serve

owl eggs

 

Marking Category	Hannah	Alan
Presentation	5	5
Innovation	3	3
Quality of egg	2	2
Taste	3	3.5
Total	13	13.5

Comments:

Alan: The potato was a bit chewy and I didn't get much of the chilli. Presentation was amazing. The owly little egg face gave me much pleasure. As they say the first bite is with the eyes. A good looker.

Hannah: I was a little disappointed with my eggs as I like a runny yolk.

Yours autumnaly Alan 

Leeks and Eggs

Postdated entry:
Week 1 Saturday 25th September 2010

Alan's Challenge 


Today was pay day. We woke up a little hungover after one too many ciders in the office last night. A beautiful day not a cloud in the sky. Alan has decided to start the 'Year in Eggs' challenge with 'Baked Eggs with Creamy Leeks'

Ingredients
15g butter
225g leeks
100ml creme fresh
ground nutmeg
4x eggs
chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat oven to Gas 5, butter the base of the baking tray.

2. Melt butter in the frying pan and cook leeks until soft (not brown)

3. Add 45ml of cream and cook for 5 minutes until leeks are very soft and cream has thickened a little. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg

4. Place Leeks in a baking tray. Arrange eggs on top and pour the remaining cream on top

5. Bake for twenty minutes

Yum Yum: creamy leek eggs with lashings of tea

Marking Category	Hannah	Alan
Presentation	3.5	4
Innovation	4	3.5
Quality of egg	4	3.5
Taste	2.5	3
Total	14	14

Comments

Hannah- The egg yolks were a little hard for my liking a softer egg next time please.

Alan-A little rich for my liking

All in all a brave first effort.