Perfect boiled eggs

Once upon a time I was so annoyed by my boiled eggs that I went out and found how to make the perfect boiled egg. I wanted a method that would not crack the shell and that would create less mess, use less energy and, of course, not make my yolk black (or green for that matter). And although I found the perfect method it was still not good enough for my daughters. They never liked eggs even before they knew what eggs were. My oldest would not eat cakes or quiches or anything with eggs in it when she was very little. And I mean so little that she didn't know what an egg was! After a lot of effort we managed to get them to eat eggs. Some times we just feel that they need a bit of protein and this is our quick fix. Up until recently one of them would only eat them scrambled and the other fried!

I still like my boiled eggs so I decided to make a few for dinner. I was feeling tiered so I only cut up two eggs. I figured only me and my husband were going to eat them so why spend the time and effort to make more.

So I was a bit surprised when the girls asked me to pass the boiled eggs. Since they were interested I passed them over and, after asking if it was okay to eat the whole egg since there were only two (they can be super sweet some times), they devoured them. I was okay with that. I trotted back to the kitchen and procured two more eggs for us adults.

I asked my kids, why now. What made them even want to try the eggs? The answer I got was that "well when they look that good how can we not like them". I mean I know people say that you eat with your eyes but this is a bit extreme. Going from "do I have to?" to "can I have more?"

So because of this surprise, and because Easter is around the corner, I figured I'll just share my egg boiling/serving method.

To boil your eggs place them in a saucepan so that the eggs are in one layer on the bottom. It's best if there are enough eggs to cover the surface. Pour in cold water until it covers the eggs + 1 inch or 2.5 cm. Put on high heat without covering and bring the water to the boil. Once it boils remove the pan from the heat, put the lid on it. Let it stand for 6 minutes. With a large egg this will give you an egg that is halfway between a soft boiled and hard boiled egg. For a hard boiled egg leave for 10 minutes.
Remove from the water, cool (to stop the cooking process), shell and eat.

Vegetarian Easter Brunch

This year was an early Easter, why it was not even April yet. The flowers had not started blooming and nor had the trees. An Easter egg hunt in the garden was out of the question since our garden looks like a pig sty, literally! Its just missing the pigs (although when my kids go out to play .... ). We invited all my husbands siblings to come over this Easter so that they could check out our new house (or so we could show it off maybe, or maybe just force ourselves to finish the details!!). So we had an Easter brunch. I don't know why but we always have brunch for Easter.

Ham and lamb are of course not on the menu!!

This is what we had:

Hot Cross Buns:

Going fast, as usual! I make these delicious spicy buns once a year on account of their time consuming preparation. Let to rise around 4 times they are super light and fluffy but you need a whole day to make them. Of course you could stress yourself out (like I did this year) and try making them early morning! If you do plan at least 4 hours (needless to say brunch was more like lunch!). Easter would not be the same without them.

Roasted New Potatoes with Rosemary

Super easy and gone before you can get a second serving! Scrub the spuds, put them in a oven proof dish, drizzle with olive oil and add salt, pepper and fresh rosemary to taste. Mix everything up and bake at 180 C in a fan oven for ... oh lets say ... until they are tender (depends on the size of the spuds, mine took around 50 minutes). Give them a turn after around 20 minutes to make sure everything is coated with oil.

Baked Tomatoes Stuffed with Mushroom Risotto

My very own recipe! Inspired by my Georgian friend who stuffed tomatoes for us the week before. They look oh so pretty. I made a mushroom risotto to fill them with using 3 different types of mushroom, portobello, brown button and oyster. Then I topped them with Parmesan cheese. I loved them but I couldn't get my kids to touch them. "Mum what's inside the tomatoes?"; "mushroom risotto"; "Yuck!". At some point I will post my mushroom risotto recipe but it might take a while because I've given up cooking it since this is the usual response. See "Risotto and My Kids"

Mini Cheese Omelets

Made in my pancake pans filled simply with grated Swiss Emmental. For the batter whisk 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of milk (you can use soy or lactose free) and a pinch of salt to make one small omelet. Rub the frying pan with oil, pour in the batter and then sprinkle it with cheese. To make sure that the top of the omelet also cooks put a lid on the frying pan. When it is almost cooked fold the omelet in half pressing down to make it stick together. If you wait until the omelet is completely cooked it won't stick together. Put the lid on again if necessary and cook until done. Simple and delicious!! And yes, my kids ate them :)

Boiled Eggs

Easter would not be Easter with out these. I did have more, I didn't have everyone on a diet, but they got eaten before I was done with the rest of the food. As I said, the hot cross buns took a bit longer and we had lunch instead of brunch!

Boiled eggs are simple to make but here is how to make them so that the egg yellow does not turn that dark grey colour.

Put the eggs in a pan with cold water. The water level should be one inch higher than the eggs. Put the pot to boil without a lid. Once the water boils remove the pan from the heat, cover with a lid and let it sit for 6 - 8 minutes. Then wash the eggs under cold water to stop them from cooking. You will find that there is no grey colouring :) 

Have fun next Easter and try to make it a vegetarian one!