Egg-in-a-hole with charred red peppers and parmesan

The first time I ever saw egg-in-a-hole was in the film Moonstruck, one of my favorite films of all time. It was when Olympia Doukakis cooked breakfast for herself and her on-screen daughter and protagonist, Cher.

That close-up of the eggs being cracked into the cut-out hole in the bread, sizzling in the skillet with what I presume was red peppers on the side and then served on top, was the first time I’d ever experienced food porn. Mind you, I was quite young when I first saw the film and despised eggs at the time, but I was inexplicably intrigued. What was this? Why haven’t I seen it before? Why haven’t I eaten it?

Some years later, when I was all grown up yet still never having tasted egg in a hole, I attempted to recreate it; I have been making it ever since.

It’s a straightforward and simple dish, ideal for brunch or breakfast, especially after a night out drinking, lunch or light supper.

I kept the red peppers from the original dish in the film, which I charred, but also slightly jazzed it up with the addition of garlic and parmesan cheese. The flavors are simple yet so satisfactory. The savoriness of the eggs —cooked however you like, even though runny would suit the dish best— and the smoky quality of the charred peppers, the umami flavor of the parmesan, the earthiness of the whole-wheat bread and the rich smoothness of the butter, is all you need to have a delicious tasting dish that you can enjoy any time of the day.

Egg-in-a-hole with charred red peppers and parmesan

I prefer using whole-wheat bread or rye, preferably sourdough, as it has more depth of flavor, but any country style bread will do. Please don’t use sandwich bread though, it doesn’t do this simple dish any justice.

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients
2 thick slices fresh, whole-wheat bread (from a crusty loaf, not sandwich bread)
1-2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ long red pepper, cut into strips
1 garlic clove, minced
2 medium-sized eggs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A handful of finely grated parmesan


Preparation
Butter the bread slices generously on both sides with the softened butter and using a round cookie-cutter or the rim of a small glass, cut a hole in the center. Keep the centers; you will cook them as well.

In a medium-sized frying pan, non-stick and big enough to fit the two bread slices comfortably, add the olive oil and heat over a medium heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the pepper strips and cook them, stirring often, until they start to caramelize and char around the edges. Be careful not to take them too far and burn them because they will taste too bitter. About a minute before they are done, add the minced garlic and sauté, stirring continuously. Transfer peppers and garlic to a bowl and set aside.

Keeping the pan hot on the stove, still over a medium heat, add the buttered bread slices, arranging the centers you had cut out around the edges of the pan. Cook one side of the bread until a bit crusty and golden, for about 2 minutes, and then flip it over. Immediately break the eggs into the holes of the two bread slices, put a lid on the skillet (any lid you have that fits the frying pan will do, it doesn’t need to be tightly sealed), and cook until the eggs are done to your liking. For the yolks to stay a bit runny, they’ll need about 4 minutes.

Transfer to individual plates, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and add the charred peppers on top. Finally, sprinkle with the parmesan and eat immediately.

Persian herb omelette (Kuku sabzi) with feta

I’ve always appreciated the magical qualities of eggs; their ability to turn into fluffy meringue, to create a thick and rich crème anglaise and of course add volume to cakes of any kind.

Eggs are one of the few foods I would gladly eat every single day. They are so versatile: poached, on top of avocado toast; scrambled into silky ribbons and gently placed over toasted sourdough or mixed with freshly grated tomatoes thus creating the incredibly delicious Greek strapatsada/kagianas; fried in extra virgin olive oil, sunny side up, yolks oozing golden liquid, whites all lacy and crispy; soft boiled and burst open onto a bowlful of chicken fried rice. The possibilities are endless, and exciting, much like this omelette. A Persian herb omelette with feta. An omelette unlike any other, because let’s face it, the Iranians know how to eat.

It is called Kuku sabzi and I have found many interpretations of this dish around. This one is my favorite. It’s a dish that’s traditionally served on the Persian New Year and it involves copious amounts of herbs being held together by eggs, because that’s what this is, herbs with eggs rather than eggs with herbs.

There’s walnuts, turmeric and dried fenugreek in there, and also barberries, a very traditional Iranian dried fruit that’s acidic, quite tart and a tiny bit sweet. There’s also feta which is not traditional but I am Greek and a feta-fiend so of course I had to add it, and it bulked up the omelette as well, making it even more filling and satisfying. I served it with Greek yoghurt sprinkled with some more fresh herbs and it was the best meal ever.

The herbs I used in this dish are parsley, dill, mint and chives. Coriander is usually added as well but I am categorically opposed to adding this herb in my food, so I omitted it. It’s a very easy dish to make and the only thing that’s tricky is flipping the omelette. Υou’ll surely need a nonstick pan that you trust, otherwise I would suggest you finish the omelette in the oven for a couple of minutes so you don’t run the risk of it breaking up.

It’s a delicious and savory omelette. The aromatic herbs are very fresh and vibrant, the walnuts give their crunchy texture and earthy flavor, and there’s a gentle spiciness from the turmeric and the fenugreek which is absolutely essential in this dish as it makes it incredibly fragrant. The fruity burst of tangy flavor, acidity and sourness of the barberries blends well with the rest of the ingredients, and the soft feta adds creaminess and saltiness.

As it cooks, the omelette creates a nice thin crust around and at the bottom, yet it remains slightly soft, juicy and creamy in the middle. It is like an herby, fluffy cloud that would be a crime to overcook. It is such a treat and a special dish to serve for brunch, lunch or light supper with some good bread. Hope you enjoy it!

Persian herb omelette (Kuku sabzi) with feta

If you can’t find barberries, you can substitute with dried sour cherries or cranberries; however, they’re not the same.

The size of the pan makes a difference as to how many minutes the omelette needs cooking and how thick/thin it will be. My pan has a 24 cm in diameter bottom and I would suggest you use the same sized frying pan. Also, use a frying pan that has curved wide edges, not straight edges, because you will need to slide the omelette onto a plate in order to invert it.

Fresh, young spinach leaves can also be added in this dish so feel free to experiment.

Yield: 8 pieces (enough for 4 people)

Ingredients
6 large eggs
2 tsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (if your feta is very salty, use ¾ tsp salt)
Freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp fenugreek powder (ground dried fenugreek seeds)
1 cup (20 g) fresh, flat-leaf parsley leaves and thin stalks, finely chopped
1 cup (25 g) fresh chives, finely chopped
1 cup (10 g) dill leaves and thin stalks, finely chopped
Fresh mint leaves picked from 3-4 stalks, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 large garlic clove, mashed
1/3 cup (35 g) walnut halves (preferably toasted), chopped coarsely
2 Tbsp (12 g) dried barberries
120 g feta, crumbled
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

A few extra chopped herbs, to scatter over the top
Edible dried rose petals, to scatter over the top

Greek yoghurt, for serving (optional)

Special equipment: wide, non-stick frying pan (if it a light pan, it’s even better, because you can easily maneuver it), heatproof soft rubber/silicone spatula


Preparation
In a medium-sized bowl, add the eggs and whisk them lightly. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper, turmeric and fenugreek, and whisk well to dissolve and incorporate them in the eggs. Then add all the chopped herbs, spring onions and garlic to the egg mixture followed by the walnuts, the barberries and the crumbled feta, and mix lightly with the whisk to combine.

In a frying pan (see specifications above) add the olive oil and heat over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the egg mixture, spread it evenly with a heatproof, soft rubber/silicone spatula, shaking the pan at the same time. Turn heat down to medium and cook for 4 minutes, then turn heat down to low and cook for a further 6 minutes until the omelette has set at the bottom and around the edges, and when you shake the pan, it moves, which means that it is not stuck to the bottom of the pan (it should have a very thin crust on the bottom). It should have set on top a bit as well.

Note: While the omelette is cooking, run the spatula a few times around the outside of the omelette as this will give it a nice round edge and will prevent it from sticking to the pan.

Now you need to invert the omelette. To do this, first remove the pan from the heat. Then slide the cooked side of the omelette carefully onto a large and wide enough plate that will fit it all in. Then invert the pan, placing it over the omelette, and with one swift and smooth move, invert the plate so that the omelette falls back into the pan, with the cooked side now up. Return the pan on the heat and cook over a low heat for a 2-3 more minutes. It should be cooked through but remain moist and soft in the center, not dried out. It is a fluffy omelette.

Note: If you’re worried that your omelette will break up if you try to invert it, you can certainly just put the omelette in the oven to finish cooking without having to invert it. Just preheat your oven to 180°C and after the initial cooking based on the instructions above, instead of inverting it, place it on the top rack for 2-3 minutes or until set to cook the top part.

Slide the cooked omelette onto a serving plate or invert it onto the plate, depending on which side looks better (if that matters to you).
You can serve it hot, warm or col, cut into wedges, like a pizza, sprinkled with some more fresh herbs and a few dried rose petals.
Accompany it with some Greek yoghurt and fresh bread or whatever else you wish.

Sourdough bruschetta with cherries, ricotta, seeds & nuts and miso dressing

Lately, my clothes, my face, my hair, my hands have all been covered in flour, because lately I’ve been making bread almost twice a week. It happens to me from time to time, this bread obsession, and each time it happens I enjoy it even more because we get to savor real bread, homemade bread, bread that has flavor and texture.

But what to do with all this bread, apart from eating it warm from the oven which is my absolute favorite thing to do? Well, bruschetta, what else? Seasonal fruits and vegetables are the best choices of course and since it’s cherry season, with the ruby red fruits taking over the markets and my fridge, I chose to top my bruschette with them.

Cherries, ricotta cheese, rocket, nasturtium leaves (picked from my very own (!!) plant, and those who know me understand what a feat this is since I manage to unintentionally kill every plant that enters my home within 24 hours), a mix of nuts and seeds —pumpkin seeds, black and white sesame seeds, hazelnuts —, and a flavor bomb which is the miso dressing. How I love miso you can’t even imagine!

This is a summer recipe, meaning it needs the minimum amount of effort to get an incredibly delicious outcome and there’s a plethora of flavors and textures going on in this seemingly simple bruschetta. There’s sweet flavor from the cherries, fresh, peppery and slightly bitter notes from the rocket and nasturtium leaves, nutty and earthy from the seeds and nuts, umami, salty flavor from the miso paste, while the sour flavor of the bread complements all the rest.

The textures dance from crispy (nuts) to creamy (ricotta), from juicy and plump (cherries) to crunchy (seeds), from smooth (dressing) to hard (bread crust) and they give you pleasure with every bite.

Get out your bread and your cherries and get on it!

Sourdough bruschetta with cherries, ricotta, seeds & nuts and miso dressing

Miso is a fermented paste made predominantly with soybeans but can also be made with rice or barley. I absolutely love its deep, umami flavor and I’ve been using it for years in savory and sweet dishes. There are numerous kinds of miso paste and here I used white miso (shiro miso), which is made with rice and has a milder flavor that’s suitable for dressings. Miso has a very interesting and multi-dimensional flavor but make sure to use good quality miso paste, otherwise the only flavor you’ll get will be that of salt.

The dressing is a marriage of sorts between Japan and Greece. All the ingredients were Japanese apart from the oil. I used Greek extra virgin olive oil because that’s the kind of oil I always have in my kitchen and the one I always use unless it seriously affects the flavor of what I’m pairing it with, which is rare. You could certainly use a more neutral oil like vegetable, sunflower or peanut if you’d like.

I used my own white sourdough bread to make these bruschette. You could use a darker sourdough that would be even heartier.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

for the miso dressing
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp rice vinegar (without sugar)
1½ heaped tsp white (shiro) miso paste
1 tsp mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
Freshly ground white pepper, 5-6 turns of the pepper mill

for the seeds and nuts mix
A handful of blanched hazelnuts, roughly chopped
2 tsp white sesame seeds
2 tsp black sesame seeds (not Nigella seeds)
1 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

for the bruschette
4 large and slightly thick slices of sourdough bread, toasted
Fresh ricotta cheese, or Greek anthotyro if you can find it (250-300 g)
Fresh sweet cherries (I used Greek cherries), rinsed, pitted and cut in half (3-4 cherries per bruschetta)
Rocket leaves, rinsed and dried
Nasturtium leaves (optional), rinsed and dried
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper


Preparation

for the miso dressing
In a small bowl, add all the ingredients for the dressing and using a small wire whisk blend everything well until you have a smooth mixture. It will a little bit thick, like runny honey.

for the seeds and nuts mix
You can toast the hazelnuts (before you chop them) and the pumpkin seeds in a dry pan over medium-low heat until they start releasing their aroma, or you can use them raw.
Mix all the seeds and nuts together in a small bowl and set aside.

assembling the bruschette
Take your bread slices and smear a good amount of ricotta cheese on top to have a thick layer. Season the ricotta with a little salt and white pepper.
Top the ricotta with a few rocket leaves and then arrange the halved cherries on top. Scatter each bruschetta with the nuts and seeds mix and pour the miso dressing over the top. Finish off with some nasturtium leaves, if using, and enjoy!

Eggs in spicy tomato sauce with brie

This was yesterday’s dinner. Eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce with lots of Greek extra virgin olive oil and a few slices of brie added on top at the end of cooking to melt slightly and be as seductive as they can be to our palates.

A couple of days prior, I had baked two loaves of sourdough bread and a couple of thick slices were the best thing to dip into the rich, deeply yellow-colored egg yolk and spicy sauce.

I posted a photo of this on instagram last night, right before diving into it, and many asked for the recipe. As simple as this recipe is, I thought it was blog-worthy as well, so here it is.

I hope you make it and enjoy it with a cold glass of beer.
Cheers!

Eggs in spicy tomato sauce with brie

I made this in individual saganakia (saganaki is a small, Greek, two-handled pan) and it fits as much as you see in the photos ie. two eggs per pan. You can use one large pan that will fit all 4 eggs. The instructions are for that option.

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

for the sauce
2 large, ripe and juicy tomatoes (about 400 g in total) (or if you make this during the winter, a 400 g can of whole Roma tomatoes)
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp tomato paste
½ tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper) or dried red pepper flakes (or less if you can’t handle the heat of chilli)
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, 5-6 turns of the pepper mill
A pinch of Demerara sugar

4 (or 6) large eggs
Brie cheese, cut into thin slices (about 8 slices)
Garden cress
Pul biber or dried red pepper flakes
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Special equipment: box grater, non-stick pan


Preparation

for the sauce
In a medium-sized bowl, grate the tomatoes (on the large holes of the grater). As you grate them, the skin will remain in your hand, so throw that away. If you are using whole canned tomatoes, pulse them in a food processor (don’t puree them, you want some small pieces too).

In a medium-sized non-stick pan, add the olive oil and heat over a medium-high heat. When it starts to shimmer, add the grated tomatoes, tomato paste, pul biber/dried red chilli flakes, black pepper, a little salt and a pinch of sugar and stir well with a spoon. Allow the sauce to come to the boil and immediately turn heat down to low.
Simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time and making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan, until you have a thick-ish sauce. You don’t want it to be dry but you don’t want it to be overly wet either. You can see the consistency in the photos.
Check the seasoning, adding more salt if you find it necessary. Turn heat up to medium and crack the eggs in the pan. Cook the eggs to your liking (we prefer runny yolks) and 2 minutes before they are done, add the slices of brie between the eggs.
When the eggs have cooked and the brie has began to melt, remove the pan from the heat and serve immediately, drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with some more pul biber, salt and some garden cress.
You can eat it straight from the pan, as we usually do, or serve in individual plates. Have some good sourdough on hand for the all important dipping action and enjoy!

Soda bread

I love long-fermented sourdough bread and breads that take hours or even days to prepare and develop flavor. I love making all kinds of sweet, yeasted breads like Greek tsoureki and French brioche, and even my doughnuts get a long overnight proofing in the fridge. But I don’t always have time for that, no matter how delicious and enjoyable the outcome.

There’s something to be said about a bread that takes only an hour from start to finish, a bread that has a beautifully crunchy, hard crust and a soft and fluffy, closed crumb. With a nutty flavor from the whole wheat flour, a sharp edge from the buttermilk and a subtle, bitter tang from the baking soda, it’s a delicious bread that is hearty and light at the same time, but don’t expect it to be like a yeasted bread, because it’s not. It’s a different animal; it’s the Irish soda bread.

The most common kind of soda bread in Ireland is made only with whole wheat flour, that’s why they call it simply brown bread or wheaten bread, but the addition of white flour brings a lightness to it that is rather welcomed.

For me, it’s the kind of bread that I would make on a Sunday morning to promptly have for breakfast or brunch, slathered while still steaming hot from the oven with the best butter I can find. Or use it to make a nice hearty sandwich with a few slices of ham or salami, good fatty cheese like Emmental, Gruyère or Cheddar, or go the Greek route and serve it with some feta, olives and juicy tomatoes, especially if I make it in the summer.

Hope you enjoy it too!

Soda bread

It’s the easiest and quickest bread to make when you’re pressed for time or when you simply don’t want to spend the whole day tending to your bread dough. It takes no more than a minute to put together, which means no kneading at all is required, and takes 45-50 minutes to bake. Within the hour, you have bread!

This quick bread is made without yeast and the leavening agent is only the baking soda, so how fresh your baking soda is, makes a difference in the resulting texture and flavor of the bread. I would suggest that you use a freshly opened package, because baking soda tends to get stale and less active easily and sometimes, even if it is still active and your bread rises, it may give off a strong and weird smell and taste.

Yield: 1 loaf (750- 800 g)

Ingredients
250 g all-purpose flour
250 g whole wheat flour
1 level tsp baking soda, sieved (to avoid lumps that won’t break and will cause an unpleasant flavor in places inside the bread)
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
420 ml buttermilk
Whole-wheat flour for dusting the dough and baking surface

Special equipment: fine sieve, wire whisk, baking sheet, baking paper


Preparation
Preheat your oven to 200°C.
Line a baking sheet with baking paper and dust with plenty of flour the center where you’re going to place the bread dough.

In a large bowl, add the flours and the sieved baking soda, and whisk. Add the salt and sugar, and whisk again. Make a well in the center with your fingers and pour in the buttermilk. Mix with your hands to moisten the flour for a few seconds with the buttermilk and empty the sticky dough on a clean and lightly floured work surface. Gently fold and roll the dough a couple of times to bring the mixture together and shape it roughly into a ball (you can use a dough scraper if you like). Don’t knead or fuss with the dough, just bring it together and form a ball. This whole process of making the dough will not take more than 1 minute.

Transfer the dough onto the floured baking paper, flatten the top gently with the palm of your hand and cut with a long knife the dough ball into four, almost all the way down. You do this in order to ensure that the inside of the bread will bake properly. Dust the bread with plenty of flour and place on the middle rack of the preheated oven.
Bake the bread for 45-50 minutes, until it has taken on a nice and rich, dark, golden-brown color (perhaps even darker than you would think it should have). It should also sound hollow when tapped at the bottom.

Take it out of the oven and put it on a wire rack to cool slightly.

Eat it while still warm with plenty of butter, use it to mop up the juices of your favorite stew, soup, braise or salad, have it for breakfast with your desired toppings, or have it plain.
It’s best eaten the day you bake it but it keeps well the next day.