Low-Carb Double-Bacon Cheese & Herb Mini Quiches

I have called these cheesy puffs 'Double-Bacon' quiches because they contain two doses of what is arguably the world's most delicious ingredient. There are crisp bacon bits on the inside, and more strips to line the muffin pans. If you're a vegetarian, or don't eat bacon for whatever reason, you can use fine courgette 'leaves' as a casing for these easy quiches - please see my Cook's Notes at the end of this page. Serve these hot and puffed for breakfast, or warm as a light lunch, with crisp green leaves.

Low-Carb Double-Bacon Cheese & Herb Mini Quiches. The two at the
back of the platter have been lined with courgette slices (see above).

One of the things I miss on my  low-carb diet is quiche with feather-light pastry, so I've spent some time this past week dreaming up recipes that are satisfying and delicious, but that can be made without a pastry case.

This is a quick and easy recipe that will fill your tummy with joy if you're on a low-carb, #LCHF, banting or diabetic regime.

The ingredients for this easy dish: eggs, cream, fresh herbs and crisp bacon bits.

Use good-quality back bacon in this recipe, because it's perfect for tearing apart to line the bases and sides of the hollows in a muffin pan. The 'oyster' of each bacon strip goes on the bottom of each hollow, and the fattier strip is pressed around its edges.

Here are two more of my low-carb tart recipes you might enjoy: Double-Egged Crustless Spinach & Bacon Tart and Easy Crustless Courgette, Mint and Feta Tart.


Low-Carb Double-Bacon Cheese & Herb Mini Quiches

2 x 250 g packs back bacon
the juice of a lemon
7 extra-large free-range eggs
¾ cup (180 ml) cream
a small bunch of chives, finely chopped (about 3 Tbsp/45 ml)
a small bunch of parsley, finely chopped (about 3 Tbsp/45 ml)
1 cup (250 ml) grated Cheddar, and extra to top
salt & milled black pepper
small herb sprigs, to garnish (I used oregano from my garden)

Heat the oven to 200 °C, with the fan on, or 210 °C if your oven has no fan.

First prepare the bacon bits for the filling. Cut 8 rashers of bacon into a small dice, put them into a dry non-stick frying pan and crisp them up over a medium-high heat. Don't allow them to burn - the trick here is to take your time and keep a watchful eye, turning the heat down under the pan if the bacon is browning too quickly.

Drain all the fat from the pan, set it back on the heat and add the lemon juice. Stir briskly to dislodge any sticky golden bits, and when all the lemon juice has evaporated, remove from the heat and set aside.

Line the bottoms and sides of a non-stick muffin pan as follows:  pull away the big non-fatty 'oysters' of bacon from each rasher, and press them neatly to the bottoms of the depressions in your pan.

Now wrap the remaining strips of bacon - fatty side up - around the edges of the hollows, stretching and pressing them so they stick to the sides and form a cup.  If you find your rashers are curling inwards, make a few small vertical snips, using sharp scissors, around the uppermost edge of the fat.

Whisk together the eggs, cream, chives and parsley, and season to taste with salt and black pepper.  I usually whisk my quiche mixture by hand for at least a minute, because this helps to incorporate air and produce a puffy result.

Put the crispy bacon bits into the muffin pans, and divide the cup of grated Cheddar between them.   Gently pour over the egg mixture, filling each bacon 'cup' to about two-thirds of its depth.  Top each quiche with another little heap of Cheddar.

Bake at 200 °C for 10-12 minutes, or until the quiches are well risen, golden and just set in their middles.

Run the tip of a sharp knife around the edges of each quiche to remove it from the pan, and serve immediately.

Serves 4 as main meal with salad, or 12 as a starter or snack.  

Cook's Notes

• If you don't fancy bacon, use courgette (baby marrow/zucchini) strips to line your muffin tins. Here's how: rinse the courgettes under cold running water to remove any grit, then slice them horizontally into thin (3 mm) 'leaves'.  I do this using a mandolin, which produces beautiful even slices. Place the slices in a hot pan - or on a very hot griddle - with a little olive oil and fry them until they are lightly brown and just pliable.  Line each of your muffin pans with two slices, pressing them firmly against their sides.
• You can add any other ingredients you like to these quiches. How about finely sliced fried mushrooms, wilted spinach or nuggets of feta or blue cheese?

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Waterblommetjie and Pepper-Feta Quiche

I didn't grow up in the Cape, so I'm not a big buyer of waterblommetjies, and nor am I a keen eater of waterblommetjie bredie. This traditional mutton stew, a treasured winter dish here in the Cape and a great classic of South African cuisine, has as one of its chief ingredients Aponogeton distachyos, a pretty aquatic plant also known as Cape Pond Weed and Water Hawthorn (see pictures below).

I'm not mad about them in stews because they tend to collapse into a muddy green heap when cooked for any length of time, but they are lovely stir-fried, with an intriguing crunchy texture and a taste that has been described as reminiscent of young green beans and asparagus.  (If you'd like to try a traditional waterblommetjie bredie, you cannot go wrong with my friend Michael Olivier's authentic recipe.)

There isn't much you can do to prevent waterblommetjies from losing their vibrant green colour after you've heated them - even plunging them into iced water, which I have tried, has little effect.

But please don't be put off trying them, because I think you will like them a lot.

With the pack of very fresh buds I bought at Woolies this week, I made a simple quiche, adding plenty of peppery, creamy feta, which I thought would contrast well with the slight astringency of the waterblommetjies.

The sweetly scented flower of Aponogeton distachyos.
Photo by J.F. Gaffard, via Wikimedia Commons 

Usually I test recipes a few times in order to improve the dish, but I don't think this recipe needs any tweaking.  It's substantial, yet light in texture, and the waterblommetjies add a most interesting and pleasant crunch.  Some little sautéed cubes of smoky bacon might add an extra layer of luxury, should you wish to go the whole hog.

I have given quite detailed instructions for making an easy, light and crumbly shortcrust pastry, because a good pastry can make the difference between an okay quiche and one that knocks your socks off.  If you're a dab hand at pastry, skip these paragraphs.

Here are some of my top tips for making shortcrust pastry.

If you're not in South Africa, try this recipe with fresh asparagus or broccoli.

And if you can't find peppered feta cheese, add plenty of extra freshly ground pepper to the quiche filling.


This quantity of pastry and filling is suitable for a 20 x 30 cm rectangular non-stick metal quiche pan.

As you probably don't have one of these beauties (I bought three at my local Chinese supermarket for a paltry R35 each) I asked the maths boffins in my house to figure out the equivalent sizes in other shapes:  this is enough for a shallow 25 x 25 cm square dish, or a shallow circular quiche pan with a 28-cm diameter.





Waterblommetjie and Pepper-Feta Quiche

For the pastry shell:
300 g white flour, sifted
180 g cold butter, cut into cubes
½ tsp (1.25 ml) salt
1 egg yolk from an extra-large free range egg
a few tablespoons of ice-cold water (see recipe)

For the filling:
300 g fresh waterblommetjies
2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
the juice of half a lemon
150 g peppered feta cheese, roughly crumbled
1 cup (250 ml, fairly loosely packed) grated Cheddar
4 extra-large free-range eggs
½ cup (125 ml) milk
½ cup (125 ml) cream
1 tsp (5 ml) Hot English Mustard Powder or prepared Dijon mustard
salt and milled black pepper

Heat the oven to 190 °C, fan on,  and put a large metal baking sheet in it to heat.

First make the pastry.  If you have a food processor with a metal blade, place the sifted flour, butter and salt into the processor jug and whizz until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Add the egg yolk, then trickle ice-cold water - a teaspoon or two at a time - into the chute of the jug, pressing the pulse button in short bursts until the mixture just comes together in a ball.

Once it's formed a ball, press the pulse button again once or twice so that the ball makes five or six turns around the processor jug, but no more.

If you don't have a food processor, put the sifted flour into a large bowl and add the salt and butter cubes. Using your fingertips, lightly rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and iced water, as described above, and very lightly knead the mixture for a minute or two until it holds together. Tip the ball of dough on to a sheet of clingfilm, wrap it up and place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to rest.

Roll the dough out on a floured board (or between sheets of clingfilm, which makes the whole process so easy) to a thickness of 3 mm.  It should be about 5 cm larger than your quiche dish, all the way round.

Use the pastry to line a quiche dish (again, tips here).  Let the pastry drape generously over the edges of dish - you'll trim it off later once you've baked it blind.  Prick the base of the pastry all over with a fork, cover it with a sheet of kitchen paper and weigh that down with dried beans or baking beans. Slide the dish onto the heated baking sheet and bake at 190 °C for 10 minutes.

Remove the paper and beans, and put the dish back into the oven for a further 10-15 minutes, or until the base feels dry to the fingertips and is a light golden colour all over.  Remove the pastry shell from the oven, on its baking sheet, and turn the heat down to 180 °C.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. Roughly slice the waterblommetjies, leaving any smaller buds whole.  Heat the olive oil in a wok and stir-fry them over a high flame for 3-5 minutes, or until they are bright green and just tender-crisp. This is a critical stage of this recipe, because the buds must be cooked, yet still retain a slight crunch.  Splash in the lemon juice and cook for another 30 seconds, or until the juice has evaporated.  Season with a pinch of salt and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Arrange the cooked waterblommetjies all over the pastry base, and scatter over the crumbled feta and grated Cheddar. Firmly run a rolling pin over the edges of the quiche pan, to remove any overhanging pastry.

Put the eggs, milk, cream and mustard in a bowl and, using a balloon whisk, beat together for a minute or two, until well combined and slightly aerated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour the egg mixture into the prepared pastry shell and bake at 180 °C for 30-40 minutes, or until the filling is puffed and golden.  If the pastry edges look as if they're browning too quickly, cover them lightly with strips of tin foil.

Serve warm (I don't know why this is, but to me all quiches seem best warm, while they're still wobbling gently) with rocket or watercress leaves dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

Makes 1 x 28 cm quiche; serves 6. 

Knock the overhanging edges off the quiche by
running a rolling pin all over the edges of the pan.

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Old-Fashioned Ham and Eggs Au Gratin

Thick-sliced ham and tenderly boiled eggs in a parsley béchamel sauce, with a bubbly golden crust. This is a singularly comforting dish that I like so much I've made it three times in ten days, using the excuse that it's okay to hoover protein and fat when one is following the now-famous Tim Noakes low-carb diet*.  I ate this as a child, but I don't remember who made it for me. My granny Peggy, I think, who knew how to fry an egg and make proper crumpets and coleslaw.

Old-Fashioned Ham and Eggs Au Gratin

I prefer these days to make dishes I recall from my childhood from taste-memory, as opposed to Googling a recipe or hunting through my old cookbooks, not only because I have a horror of inadvertently nicking someone else's original recipe, but also because so many of the recipes I find online and in cookbooks aren't quite what I'm looking for.

The particular charm of this dish, as I remember it, is its plainness: it's just ham and eggs in a white sauce, with a nice cheesy topping. The first time I recreated the recipe, it was good, and I ate it with my normal gusto, but it wasn't quite as delicious as I remembered it.  Then I embellished the recipe, adding some newfangled ingredients that weren't available to my granny in the early 1960s -  Dijon mustard, a spot of Tabasco, freshly grated Parmesan, a sifting of feathery panko crumbs, paprika, freshly milled white pepper - and the result sent me into raptures.

Comforting, creamy and homely. 

This is makes a fine light lunch or supper, served with bread and a leafy salad plainly dressed with lemon juice, salt and olive oil.  It's important to use thick slices of ham, so ask the person behind the deli counter at your supermarket to adjust the slicing machine to cut the ham into leaves at least 7 mm thick.  If you're worried about the eggs cracking as you put them into the boiling water (and there is always one that does, no matter what precautions you take), wrap each egg tightly in tin foil before it goes into the water. I've tried this trick three times now, and haven't had a failure.

Old-Fashioned Ham and Eggs Au Gratin 

8 extra-large free-range eggs
400 g sliced, good ham (about 6 slices, each cut 7 mm thick)
4 Tbsp (60 ml) butter
4 Tbsp (60 ml)  flour
2½ cups (375 ml) whole milk
1 Tbsp (15 ml)  Dijon mustard
2 tsp (10 ml) fresh lemon juice
5 Tbsp (75  ml) finely chopped curly parsley
2 tsp (10 ml) Tabasco sauce [optional]
flaky sea salt
a pinch of white pepper
6 Tbsp (90 ml) freshly grated Parmesan or Grana Padano
6 Tbsp (90 ml) fine dry breadcrumbs
1 tsp (5 ml) fresh paprika, or cayenne pepper if you'd like extra tingle
4 Tbsp (60 ml) melted butter

First boil the eggs. Bring a pot of water to a gentle, burbling boil, slip in the eggs and boil them for exactly eight minutes (set a timer).  Drain the eggs and place the pot under a cold trickling tap for 7-8 minutes, or until they are cool.

Set the oven to 200 ºC. Generously butter a shallow ovenproof dish; it should be just big enough to hold all the ham slices (it's fine if they overlap). Arrange the ham on the bottom of the dish. To make the béchamel (white) sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and tip in all the flour. Cook over a medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for a minute, without letting the flour brown. Pour in the milk, all in one go, and beat with a wire whisk to break up any lumps. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly. When the sauce is thick and smooth, turn down the heat and let it burble very gently for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat, let it cool for a few minutes and then whisk in the mustard, lemon juice, chopped parsley and Tabasco. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.

Peel the boiled eggs and cut each one, crossways, into four thick slices. Arrange these neatly on top of the ham. Pour the warm béchamel sauce evenly over the top. Sprinkle the surface of the sauce with the Parmesan, bread crumbs and paprika (or cayenne pepper) and drizzle the melted butter on top.

Bake, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes, or until the crumb topping is golden, and the filling is gently bubbling. Serve hot.

With a salad, serves 6. 

* This isn't a strictly carb-free dish, as it contains four tablespoons of flour.  But that's not much, split between six people.

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Omelette Arnold Bennett with Smoked Angelfish (or Snoek)

Smoked haddock is the shining ingredient in this classic recipe but (as I've bitterly complained on this blog before) this is not available in South Africa. The frozen pap we can buy in local supermarkets is ordinary hake, dyed orange and doused in synthetic smoke, and it's quite legally - and cheekily, if you ask me - sold under the name 'smoked haddock'. Consolingly, though, we have access to very good smoked snoek and angelfish, both of them sustainable local species. The best smoked snoek and angelfish fillets are produced by small smokehouses at my local harbour in Hout Bay - lucky me! - but you can order them from a good  local fishmonger. If you're not in South Africa, use a firm-textured smoked ocean fish.

This excellent dish, invented at London's Savoy Grill during the 1920s, and named after the British novelist Arnold Bennett, consists of an open omelette topped with an enticing mixture of smoked fish, grated Parmesan, and/or  Béchamel, and/or Hollandaise sauce.

The 'and/ors' at the end of that last sentence are squatting there like blinking, uncertain toads - uncertain, because I'm not sure which is the classic and correct version. I can't find an original Savoy Grill recipe for Omelette Arnold Bennett anywhere in my cookbooks or online, and in any case I'm baffled as to how these two sauces can be considered equivalents. I like homely white sauces, but they're just not in same league as golden, buttery Hollandaise and Béarnaise, are they?

Nigel Slater claims that his version - made with a white sauce, using the milk in which the haddock is poached, plus a scattering of Parmesan - is the 'classic interpretation'.  Delia Smith says in the introduction to her recipe that both  Béchamel and Hollandaise are used by restaurant chefs for the topping, and (after promising to simplify and quicken the recipe) gives us complicated instructions for poaching haddock in crème fraîche, adding egg and cornflour, then folding in stiff-beaten egg whites and Gruyère to make a soufflé topping. Margaret Fulton, the grande fromage of Australian cooking, warms haddock with butter and cream, then uses egg yolks, stiff egg whites and Parmesan to make one big, fluffy omelette, topped with more cream and Parmesan. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall makes a rich custard with Cheddar, folds in the fish and then pours this delectable mixture over his omelette.

All these suggestions appealed to me, but in the end I took what I best liked from the many recipes I consulted, and made my own convenient version. Hollandaise is the love of my life (at least when it comes to sauces), but I couldn't in all good conscience top a whopping six-egg omelette for two people with more egg and butter, so Béchamel it had to be. And souffléed, just like Delia's, because I so fancy the combination of a plain omelette with a billowing topping.

As is the case with all soufflés, this dish depends on perfect timing.  Not only do you need to whip it out of the oven when the soufflé is at the peak of its golden puffiness, but you must also make sure that the eggs in the omelette underneath the topping remain creamy, if not lightly trembling.

Omelette Arnold Bennett with Smoked Angelfish

150 g smoked angel fish or snoek (or a similar oily smoked fish)
2 Tbsp (30 ml) butter
2 Tbsp (30 ml) flour
1 cup (250 ml) cold full-cream milk
2 Tbsp (30 ml) cream
½ tsp (2.5 ml) Dijon mustard
7 Tbsp (90 ml) finely grated Parmesan cheese
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
salt and milled black pepper
7 extra-large free-range eggs
2 tsp (10 ml) butter, for cooking the omelette
a handful of chopped fresh parsley

First prepare the smoked fish. Remove any skin, pull the fish into small flakes and, using your fingers, carefully sift through the flesh to remove any small bones. Set aside on a plate.

Now make the white sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and tip in the flour. Cook over a medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for a minute, without allowing the flour to brown. Pour in the milk, all in one go, and beat energetically with a wire whisk to disperse any lumps. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly. When it is bubbling, thick and smooth, turn down the heat and let it burble very gently for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat and add the cream, mustard and half the grated Parmesan. Stir until smooth, then mix in the reserved fish flakes and just enough lemon juice to give it a pleasant zing. Season to taste with salt and pepper, cover and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, heat your oven grill to its highest setting.

Now get ready to turn the white sauce/fish mixture into a soufflé. Take one egg and separate it. Beat the yolk into the saucepan containing the white sauce and fish.  Using a metal whisk or electric beater, beat the white to a firm - but not dry - peak. Set aside.

To make the omelette, lightly beat the remaining six eggs in a big bowl, and add half an eggshell of cold water. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Heat a few teaspoons of butter in an ovenproof frying pan, and when it just stops foaming - but is not anywhere near brown -  pour in the eggs. Using a fork, pull the cooked eggs towards the centre of the pan, shaking it gently and tilting the pan so any runny egg floods into the gaps. Turn the heat right down now, and cook the omelette until it is just set underneath, but still runny on top. Take it off the heat and set aside. Quickly and very gently fold the beaten egg white into the  Béchamel  sauce/fish mixture,  then pour this all over the top of the half-cooked omelette. Sprinkle the remaining grated Parmesan all over the top, and place the pan on the middle shelf of the oven, under the grill.

Grill the omelette for 2-4 minutes, or until its topping is puffy and golden. Scatter with chopped parsley and serve immediately, before the cloud on top has a chance to subside.

Serves 2 hungry people. 

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Breakfast Eggs Baked with Tomato, Red Pepper, Smoked Sausage and Feta

In the style of Mexican baked eggs, this versatile breakfast dish is splendid for serving a hungry crowd. This is a great make-ahead dish, because you can prepare the sauce several hours in advance, pop the eggs in at the last minute and sling the lot into a hot oven.  Even better, make the sauce the day before, because, like most stew-like mixtures and curries, it improves upon standing.

Bowl by David Walters

The only tricky part of the dish is getting the eggs just right. How long it will take for the eggs to bake depends on your oven and the size of the dish, so the cooking time I've given in the recipe below is a rough guide. I suggest you check the eggs after ten minutes, and give them longer if the whites are not cooked through. You will need to cover the dish with a lid, or foil if you're using individual serving dishes, to prevent the yolks from drying out and turning a nasty colour as they cook.

This dish is good with a peppery chouriço sausage, but you can use any spicy, smoked sausage. Skin the tomatoes if you want to -  by steeping them in boiling water for a few minutes -  but I honestly can't be bothered to peel tomatoes.

I like to add cold feta cheese to the hot dish - I love the contrast -  but you can bake it along with the eggs, if you like.

Breakfast Eggs Baked with Tomato, Red Pepper, Smoked Sausage and Feta

2 Tbsp (30 ml) sunflower oil
2 red onions, peeled and chopped
2 large red peppers, cored and sliced [bell peppers]
a large chouriço sausage, or similar, cubed
a large sprig of thyme
flaky sea salt
12 large, ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 Tbsp  (15 ml) Balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) Tabasco sauce, or more to taste
2 tsp (10 ml) cumin
1 tsp (5 ml) coriander
1 Tbsp  (15 ml) sweet paprika
freshly milled black pepper
a handful of chopped fresh coriander or flat-leaf parsley
6 free-range eggs
250 g feta cheese, or creamy goat's milk cheese

Turn the oven on to 180ºC. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion, red pepper, sausage, thyme and a pinch of salt and fry, over a medium heat, for five minutes, or until the vegetables are softened, but not browned.  Drain off any excess fat. Add the tomatoes, chilli and vinegar, turn up the heat, and cook, uncovered, at a brisk bubble for 10 minutes, or until the tomatoes are beginning to collapse. Now add the garlic, Tabasco, cumin, coriander and paprika. Season with plenty of milled black pepper, and more salt if necessary. Cover the pan and turn it down to its lowest heat. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes, very gently, until slightly thickened.

Pour the mixture into a large dish with a lid (or one that can be covered with tin foil). If you prefer, you can use individual dishes.  Make six 'wells' in the mixture.  Break an egg into each well. Cover the dish with lid or foil and bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs done. Remove from the oven and crumble the feta cheese around the eggs. Scatter over the coriander or parsley and serve hot, with buttered toast or hunks of bread.

Serves 6


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Ugly 50s food made yummy: Non-Slip Two-Tone Half-Devilled Stuffed Eggs

My two-tone devilled eggs, looking
just a little lurid.

If you're 40 or over, you may remember stuffed eggs - those ubiquitous canapés of the fifties and sixties - with joy.

Or your stomach may tremble at the childhood memory of rubbery egg-white halves packed with lumpy yellow paste, made doubly vile by the addition of pimento-stuffed olives and hairy whorls of anchovy.

It is certainly off-putting looking at photographs of stuffed and devilled eggs in mid-century cookbooks.There is scarcely a recipe book of that era in my collection that doesn't feature them in all their lurid egginess; in fact, I would go so far as to say that the stuffed egg - along with the tuft of curly parsley - was the number-one subject choice among food photographers at the time.

Fifties Food.

I reckon that stuffed eggs - in all their curried, caviared, capered, devilled, parsleyed and anchovy-draped forms - were on the wane as a party food by the early seventies, and that by the 1980s they had faded away with barely an eggy squeak to mark their departure.

Still, I think a proper stuffed egg is a most superior and delicious snack, and I am frustrated that this gentle comfort food has fallen so far out of fashion in the last 30 years or so. I'm not alone in feeling sentimental. My late mother-in-law used to get a bit misty-eyed when she described her mother's devilled eggs, with their delicate criss-crossing of anchovies, while my own mum hooted with laughter when I told her I was writing about stuffed eggs: 'At teen parties in the Fifties, younger brothers used nick a few stuffed eggs off the buffet table and push them up car exhaust-pipes,' she told me. 'When the cars started, there'd be a muffled rumbling and the eggs would shoot out of the exhausts. Everyone fell around laughing.'

 There are a few drawbacks to the classic stuffed egg, though: one, there's always too much egg white. Two, they are slippery underneath, so they skate around the platter and spring out of your fingers as you grab them.

If made carelessly, the filling will be lumpy and - oh, horror - there will be a greeny-black ring around the yolk hole. And there's always too much for a mouthful (not necessarily bad; half the fun of eating a stuffed egg is having a bulging cheek on one side and, on the other, creamed egg yolk toothpasting onto your shirt front)

I have tried to fix some of these problems in the following recipe. Look, I know these eggs look twee. Such fussinessness involving piping bags and dainty bits of non-slip toast is not my usual style. But do give this recipe a try next time you have a party.

This is a ridiculously long post for such a simple delicacy but, if you like stuffed eggs,  I hope you will indulge me and read it to the end.

There are two important points: one, please sieve the egg yolks so there is not a trace of a lump. Two, use a little good, real mayonnaise, not nasty salad cream: the egg should taste of egg, not vinegar. You can, of course, add any other flavouring you like to the yolk - mashed sardines, for example, are retrolicious. If you want the full fifties experience, steer clear of any newfangled 'garnishings' (chillis, sundried tomatoes and coriander spring to mind) and stick to anchovies, caviar, capers, green olives and parsley. Please don't mix the yolks with tomato ketchup. Or avocado, unless you're planning to serve them to kids (with obligatory ham).

If you can't be bothered to make two-toned eggs, divide the plain mixture and the devilled one between the boiled egg whites.

Oh, one more thing: an essential ingredient is white pepper. This spice has also fallen out of favour over the past decades, as cookery writers have doggedly insisted on only freshly milled black pepper. But fresh white pepper has a distinctive and lovely flavour all of its own and, besides, it doesn't freckle your lovely yolks with black dots.

Non-Slip Two-Tone Half-Devilled Stuffed Eggs

six large eggs
2 Tbsp (30 ml) softened salted butter
a dash of  home-made (or Hellman's) mayonnaise, or a little olive oil
salt and white pepper
½ tsp (2.5 ml) hot English mustard powder
1½ (7.5 ml) fresh, mild red curry powder of your choice
a pinch of turmeric
a pinch of paprika
6 slices of white bread
vegetable oil for frying

To garnish:
cayenne pepper
parsley

First boil the eggs. It doesn't matter how you do this (every cook has their own theory about how to make and peel a perfect hard-boiled egg; if you don't, please refer to the excellent instructions of St. Delia).  What does matter is that the white is firm, and that the yolks are just cooked through, with not a sign of glassiness.  Drain off the boiling water and run cold tap water over the eggs until they are cool to the touch.  Set them aside for an hour to cool completely.

Peel the eggs. Cut the tip (about 5 mm) off each end of the egg so that you have a barrel shape, and then slice the barrel in half, crossways. Using a teaspoon, carefully remove the egg yolks.  (Don't worry if the egg yolks weren't perfectly centred on the white as they cooked: all this will be hidden under artful piping).

Push the egg yolks through a metal sieve, or a potato ricer if you have one, into a bowl. Using a fork, whip in the softened butter and just enough mayonnaise to make a smooth, thick paste that will just hold its shape.  Add the mustard powder and season to taste with salt and white pepper.

Divide the mixture in half, and to one half add the curry powder, turmeric and paprika. Taste the mixture. If it seems too pale or mild for you, add a dot of tomato paste, a glug of Tabasco, some cayenne pepper, or any spice you like.

Fit a piping bag with a large star nozzle. Hold the bag loosely, halfway up, in one hand and fold the top of it down and over your fist.  Spoon the plain egg mixture into the bag, placing it only on one vertical half of the bag (as if you were packing pencils into the left side of a cardboard tube).  Now spoon the devilled mixture into the gap, so that you you have two vertical 'pipes' of different-coloured mixture.  Pull up the sides of the piping bag, twist the top of the bag, and set aside while you make the toast.

Using a cookie cutter or wine glass, cut out 12 small circles - or stars - out of the bread. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry until golden and crispy on both sides.  Drain on a piece of kitchen paper.

Arrange the toast on a platter.  Put the prepared egg slices, broad side up, on the toast bits. Carefully pipe a big, billowing mound of filling onto each egg half.

Add any toppings you like - I've used mustard flowers and parsley in the photograph -  and serve immediately.

Serves 6, as a snack. 

Cook's Notes


- don't use very fresh eggs, as you won't be able to peel them neatly.  Your eggs should be four to five days old.  Eggs should be stored in a cool place, and not in the fridge (unless the weather is exceedingly hot).

- these eggs will keep at room temperature for two or three hours after they've been filled, provided that they're covered to prevent any crustiness setting in.  Put them in a deep dish and seal it with cling film.

- don't put them in the fridge after filling them. A cold stuffed egg is shuddery.


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Gilly's Egg 'Bavarois'

A delicate, old-fashioned buffet dish, lightly jellied and subtly flavoured with bay leaves, onion, cloves and nutmeg. This is from the the recipe book of Gilly Walters, the first local cook to be featured in my new 'South African Food Fundis' series.

Click here to read about Gilly and Wedgewood Nougat.

This makes a large quantity - about 1.4 litres - but is easily halved (use four hard-boiled eggs).

'Lovely with caviar,' says Gilly, 'but who can afford caviar these days? Try it with sweet chilli sauce, or chilli jam, instead.'

Gilly's Egg 'Bavarois'

450 ml milk
half an onion, peeled
1 clove
a pinch of nutmeg
6 peppercorns, lightly crushed
1 bay leaf
2 t (10 ml) powdered gelatine
200 ml hot chicken stock
7 eggs, freshly hard-boiled, cooled and peeled
150 ml thick mayonnaise (home-made, Hellman's, or a mild, thick mayo)
150 ml plain, thick white yoghurt
salt and milled black papper
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
200 ml cream, lightly whipped

First make the sauce. Heat the milk in a saucepan and add the onion, clove, nutmeg, peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring to just below boiling point, then remove from the heat and set aside to infuse for 10 to 15 minutes.

In a new saucepan, make a roux by melting together the butter and flour and cook, stirring, for a minute or so (don't let the mixture brown). Now strain the warm milk over the roux (discard the flavourings) and bring to the boil, stirring constantly as the sauce thickens. Turn down the heat and simmer for two minutes. Cover the surface of the sauce with a piece of clingfilm or wax paper (to prevent a skin forming) and set aside to cool.

Add the gelatine to the hot chicken stock and stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Halve the boiled eggs and remove the yolks. Finely chop the whites, and, using the back of a big spoon, press the yolks through a sieve. Lightly combine the whites and yolks in a big bowl. Pour the lukewarm gelatine/stock mixture into the pot of cool white sauce and stir well to combine. Tip this mixture over the chopped eggs, add the mayonnaise and yoghurt, and gently combine the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, and add a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste. Finally, gently fold in the whipped cream.

Pour the mixture into an oiled jelly [Jello] mould or individual, oiled ramekins, and chill for two to three hours. Turn out onto a serving dish. (To loosen, dip the mould into hot water for a few seconds. If you're using ramekins, run a sharp knife around the edges of each ramekin to release the vacuum.)

Serve with chilli sauce or caviar, and melba toast.

Serves 12-14 as a buffet dish; makes about 1.4 litres. Print Friendly

Quick Crustless Tuna Tart: instant family supper

My kids groaned when they saw me making this, but as I pointed out to them, they cannot expect meat and two veg, and salad, every night of the week.

'We just want the meat. Forget about the veg and salad, ma,' they protested. But they ate up all their tuna pie, and even volunteered to eat it again.

A very useful, quick recipe that tastes surprisingly good.


Quick, Crustless Tuna Tart
5 eggs
2 cups [500 ml] milk
10 ml [2 tsp] Worcestershire sauce
75 ml [5 tablespoons] white flour
7.5 ml [1 1/2 tsp] baking power
5 ml [1 tsp] dry mustard powder
2 tins tuna, drained of oil or brine
1 medium onion, very finely chopped
1 1/2 cups [375 ml] grated Cheddar
125 ml [1/2 cup] chopped fresh parsley
250 ml [1 cup] frozen peas [optional]
salt and milled black pepper
paprika

Preheat the oven to 180° C. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, Worcestershire sauce, flour, baking powder and mustard powder. Now flake the tuna into the bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Tip the mixture into a well-greased ovenproof flan or pie dish, and dust with paprika.

Bake at 180°C for about 25 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Serve hot, or warm, with a green salad.

Serves five to six. Print Friendly

Hot Lemon Pudding

I've been going through my mother's hand-written cookbook (which she started in the early 1970s), giving little cries of joy each time I've come across a recipe for a dish I ate often as a child.

Try this wonderfully easy hot lemon pud. It contains a lot of egg and very little flour, so it puffs up into a light, wobbly, lemon-scented cloud, with a deeply browned top. Excellent with cold whipped cream or hot custard.

My mum always writes down who gave her a recipe , and this one came from her friend and my dear godmother Mari.

Hot Lemon Pudding

3 large free-range eggs
2 Tbsp (30 ml) soft butter
¾ cup (180 ml) white sugar
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp (30 ml) flour
1 cup (250 ml) milk

Heat the oven to 190 °C. Butter a deep pudding bowl. Separate the eggs and lightly whisk the yolks. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the lemon juice and zest, and the flour, and stir well. Now add the egg yolks and the milk in the lemon juice and mix until well combined.

Beat the eggs whites to a firm peak (they should not be dry) and fold them carefully into the egg-yolk mixture. Pour the mixture into the pudding bowl and place the bowl in a roasting pan into which you have poured some hot water (the water should come three-quarters of the way up the sides of the pudding dish).

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until puffed and brown on top. (Watch the pudding like a hawk for the last 10 minutes - you don't want the top to blacken.)

Serves 4


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