Sunday Breakfast: Bacon Egg Cups

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 8 rashers of bacon
  • Oil or butter
  • Some fresh herbs to taste
  • Salt and pepper

 Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 160C
  2. Grease a muffin tin/cupcake tin with some oil or butter, line with the bacon slices around the sides (not the bottom)
  3. Crack an egg into each hole
  4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then bake for 20 minutes (adjust cooking time slightly depending on how you would like your eggs done)
  5. Once cooked they should slide out of muffin holes
  6. Serve with some avocado and tomatoes and a sprinkle of fresh herbs (chives work well)

Sunday Dinner: OssoBuco

Introduction

OssoBuco is a Milanese classic. It translates as ‘bones with holes’, which isn’t quite so appetising as its Italian pronunciation, but ostensibly refers to the cut of meat used in the dish: a steak cut through the section of a veal shank. The steak contains a piece of the leg bone which, far from being hollow, is full of delicious (and nutritious) marrow.

It’s well worth seeking out British rose veal as the alternative, shin beef, gives a very different end dish. Whilst still delicious it’s not the same light, tender end dish that veal provides. Gremolata is the traditional accompaniment, and serve with mashed sweet or white potatoes or cauliflower rice.

 Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 2 ½ hours

 Ingredients

  • 4 veal shin steaks, approx. 5cm thick.
  • 2 carrots, finely diced
  • 1 large white onion, finely diced
  • 3 sticks of celery, finely diced
  • 1 whole head of garlic, halved horizontally
  • 1 tbsp. fresh picked thyme
  • 4 fresh sage leaves
  • 2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
  • 1 large strip of lemon zest (unwaxed)
  • 60g ghee
  • 2 tbsp. chestnut flour
  • 25 ml olive oil
  • 200 ml dry white wine
  • 200 ml veal or chicken stock
  • Sea salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

For the gremolata

  • 4 tbsp. flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
  • zest of 1 lemon (unwaxed)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • pinch of sea salt
  • grind of black pepper

 Method

  1. Place a good solid cast-iron casserole dish or heavy bottomed saucepan over a high heat and add the olive oil.
  2. Dust each of the veal steaks in the flour and add them to the hot oil, browning on each side for 2-3 minutes. Remove the veal from the pan and turn down the heat.
  3. Add 40g of the ghee to the dish/pan and, once melted, add the carrots, onions and celery. Sweat them down for 4-5 minutes (until the onion becomes semi-translucent) then add the vinegar. Work a spoon over the bottom of the dish to de-glaze it of the caramelised remnants of veal and flour and continue until the vinegar has almost entirely evaporated.
  4. Add the garlic, thyme, sage and lemon zest to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Increase the heat and pour in the white wine. Allow the wine to reduce by half and then return the veal steaks to the pan, sitting them on top of the vegetables. Add the veal/chicken stock and bring back up to the boil.
  6. Season with a little salt and pepper, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, place a lid on the dish/pan and allow to cook for 2 – 2 ½ hours, turning the veal steaks over after an hour and then again after another half hour. The dish is ready when the veal is tender enough to pull apart with a spoon.
  7. To serve, mix together the gremolata ingredients, lightly season, and serve on top of the ossobuco – remembering to eat the delicious marrow from the centre of the bone.

 

Sunday Dessert: Baked Bananas with Coconut Cream

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 4 bananas
  • Bar of 100% dark chocolate
  • Optional: Pinch ground cinnamon
  • Optional: Pinch ground nutmeg
  • Optional: Desiccated coconut

Method:

  1. Heat oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 (or use a BBQ).
  2. Make a slit through the skin of each banana along one side – make sure you don’t cut all the way through to the other side.
  3. Break the dark chocolate into pieces and place 2-3 pieces into each banana.
  4. Optional: Sprinkle over a little cinnamon and nutmeg.
  5. Put each banana onto a sheet of foil and crimp the edges together to seal into a parcel.
  6. Place the foil parcels on a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until the bananas have turned black. If using the BBQ, pop straight into the BBQ embers for 15 minutes. Be careful opening the parcels as there will be steam inside.
  7. Optional: When the bananas are ready sprinkle over a little desiccated coconut. Serve hot, topped with a spoonful of whipped coconut cream or a drizzle of coconut milk.