Potato Omelet (Tortilla De Patatas)

Potato Omelet (Tortilla De Patatas) is a common savoury breakfast in Spain. It is usually eaten as a second breakfast around 10 to 11 am. We had this in BraCafe while we were in Barcelona.

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I made this Potato Omelet for Ben’s lunch as he is a light eater while he is at work.  This is great as it can be eaten warm or cold.  This will be a great lunch box item when the kids are back to school next week.

I got this recipe from the Culinaria Spain book as mentioned in this post.

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup/150 ml olive oil
  • 2 1/4 lbs/1 kg large potatoes (about 4 large russet potatoes), peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 tsp salt (I used 1.5 tsp only)
  • 6 eggs

The hardest part in this recipe is to turn over the omelet.  Chick on more for the instructions. (more…)

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Tomato Egg Soup

The second dish which Lucy showed us in the Gilmore Park Community Kitchen is called Tomato Egg Soup. This is her family’s common soup. This soup has similar texture like the sour and spicy soup you get at most Chinese restaurants except that it’s not sour and spicy. It is a thick soup.

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We enjoyed this Tomato Egg Soup as it is not too heavy in flavour. You can incorporate your own favourite vegetables into the soup but I like the texture of the cloud ear fungus. Enoki mushroom, bamboo shoots and tofu are good incorporations for this soup too.

Ingredients

  • 4 tomatoes
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2 teaspoons diced green onion
  • a few cloud ear fungus, reconstituted, chopped
  • 4 fresh shiitake mushroom, chopped
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • corn starch
  • 6 cups of water or chicken broth

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Mushroom and Spinach Frittata with Smoked Gouda

Someone in the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors suggested to have one cooking session for making brunch. It was a great idea and the organizers (Stella, Minoo and Charlene) came up with a few brunch recipes. Stella also handed out an article on how breakfast may improve memory in healthy elderly for the seniors to read. In this article, a study of 22 men and women 61 to 79 years of age, researchers observed improved performance on memory test 15 minutes after ingestion of pure protein, pure fat or pure carbohydrate beverages following an overnight test, as compared with scores achieved after ingestion of a placebo beverage containing no energy. This study shows that memory may be enhanced by eating any type of breakfast – regardless of whether it is comprised of protein, fat or carbohydrate.

Stella, as a coordinator of South Arm’s seniors, has hands on experience on this matter. Among one of the members in South Arm’s seniors group, Stella noticed a big difference in one of the senior’s performance at certain days. She found that the day this particular senior had a good breakfast, her performance improved on that day.

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The first brunch item the seniors made was Mushroom and Spinach Frittata with Smoked Gouda. Frank and Karen made this Frittata. Here we go again with Frank slicing up onions again. Frank seemed to be doing a lot of slicing onions and mincing garlic in the community kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 2 cups sliced mushrooms
  • 4 cups packed baby spinach leaves or torn Swiss chard
  • 8 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup shredded smoked Gouda cheese, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

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Easy Vegetable Quiche

Minoo demonstrated an Easy Vegetable Quiche recipe in the Gilmore Park Church community kitchen. Quiche is a pie which uses egg as binder to hold things together. Quiche is great for picnic or school/work lunch as it is very convenient to carry them around and it can be eaten cold like pizza.

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This is a Vegetable Quiche but you can add in meat like bacon, cooked chicken, ham or turkey as other alternatives.

Ingredients

  • 1 package of ready to mix pastry
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1 cup chopped sweet peppers
  • 1 cup diced onions
  • 1 bunch of green onions, diced
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes pesto
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 pinch of dried basil, oregano and marjoram
  • some chopped parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste

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Click on the link below for the instructions.

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Ginger Omelette

Ginger Omelette is one of my favourite home cooked dish. I enjoyed this dish during my confinement month where I had to consume lots of ginger. Check here for the property of ginger.

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The aroma of ginger and sesame oil make this dish very appetizing.

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 big nob of ginger, approximately 3 inches or more
  • a dash of soy sauce
  • a dash of white pepper powder
  • a tablespoon of sesame oil and a little cooking oil

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You may substitute the ginger with caramelized onions or chopped salted radish for other Chinese style omelette.

Click on the link below for the instructions.

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Deviled Egg

Jean loves to make Deviled Eggs for potluck. Check here and here. It is a simple dish to make and you can make it ahead of time.

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Deviled Eggs are best served chilled from the refrigerator.

Ingredients

  • hard boiled eggs, peeled
  • finely chopped celery
  • a pinch of salt
  • ground black pepper
  • miracle whip
  • paprika

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Click on the link below for the instructions.

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Ziploc Omelette

Update 08-Dec-2008: Please note the following guidance from http://ziploc.com: “Ziploc? Brand bags are not designed to withstand the extreme heat of boiling.” So please treat this blog entry purely from information purposes and you are not advised to try this.

Minoo shared a very quick and mess less way of making omelette in large batch. This method does not involved turning of the omelette and it allows everyone to choose their own ingredients and the whole batch will be ready at the same time.

I think you will be amazed with this as I was when I first learned this way of making omelettes.

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The Ziploc Omelette looks good in a roll instead of the regular pocket type if made using frying pan.

Ingredients

  • quart size ziploc bags
  • eggs
  • chopped cilantro
  • diced sweet peppers
  • chopped green onions
  • diced tomatoes
  • grated potatoes
  • grated cheese
  • simply anything you desire in an omelette like ham, mushroom, onion, etc

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Polly’s Cheese and Sausage Omelette

Polly is such a dear friend. She called last week saying that she wanted to come by and make me her special omelette. Polly said this is her kids’ favourite food and makes it quite often at home. Polly has always come across to me as someone who walks the extra mile for her family and friends. She has a good heart!

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Polly brought along her unique little pan which is designed for making omelette. I think she said that it’s Japanese — you know, the type that Japanese used to make thin yellow omelettes for sushi. I have never knew that were such a pan. I will try to look for them one of these days in the Osaka Supermarket. Maybe they carry it in their store.

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Polly even brought along all the required ingredients. The ingredients includes sliced sausage, cheese and chopped green onions. Polly also brought sea salt, which is said to be superior in taste than the normal table salt.

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Polly, thanks for keeping me company that afternoon. It was great having someone to chat over lunch.

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Creme Brulee

Today, I just crave for some creamy dessert. Creme brulee came to my mind, a sweet crackly crust over a silky textured custard. We always remember Margie who made creme brule when she and Rajan came over for dinner a while back — it did not turn out the way she wanted it but it sure tasted heavenly sweet.

Creme Brulee literally means ‘burnt cream’ in French. Creme Brulee, pronounced as ‘krem bru lay’ is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hard caramel, created by burning sugar under a broiler or other intense heat source like kitchen blow torch. It is usually served cold in individual ramekins. The custard base is normally flavored with just vanilla, but it can be flavoured in a number of ways, with chocolate, coffee, green tea, fruit etc.

This is a recipe for a simple creme brulee, just flavoured with vanilla.

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Ingredients

  • 4 cups heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

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