Jamie's Giant Veg Rösti, Poached Eggs, Spinach & Peas

When I said I was spooked by cooking, I wasn't kidding.  It doesn't mean that I don't do it though.  I just. . . do little things!  Like this one.  It's a bit labor intensive so you'd need a bit of time to set-up.  But so deliciously worth it.

Jamie's recipe includes some good tips where the eggs and the potatoes are concerned and that was fortunate for me.  They're things I think you learn as you get further along in cooking.  I'm still sort of getting there.  Therefore!  Useful!  There's even a video of someone doing the recipe if you want a really detailed briefing.

Jamie's Giant Veg Rösti, Poached Eggs, Spinach & Peas

Ingredients:

• 600g potatoes
• 3 large carrots
• sea salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 a lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• 100g frozen peas
• 100g baby spinach
• 4 large eggs
• 50g feta cheese

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).  
2. Peel the potatoes and carrots, then coarsely grate them in a food processor or by hand on a box grater.  Add a good pinch of salt, toss ad scrunch it all together, then leave for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix the mustard, a good squeeze of lemon juice and a couple of lugs of extra virgin olive oil with a small pinch of salt and pepper in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
4. Drizzle a really good lug of olive oil into a large bowl and add a good pinch of pepper.  Handful by handful, squeeze the potato and carrot mixture to get rid of the excess salty liquid, then sprinkle into the bowl.  
5. Toss in the oil and pepper until well mixed, then evenly scatter it over a large oiled baking tray (roughly 30cm x 40cm).
6. Roast for around 35 minutes, or until golden on top and super-crispy around the edges.
7. Meanwhile, blanch the peas for a minute in a large pan of boiling salted water, then scoop out, add to the bowl of dressing and pile the spinach on top.
8. Just before your rösti is ready, with the water gently simmering, crack in the eggs, poach to your liking, then carefully remove with a slotted spoon.  
9. Serve the rösti with the eggs on top.  Quickly toss the salad together to dress it and scatter in piles on the rösti.
10. Crumble over the feta cheese and serve.

TIP: Poached eggs can be a little finicky.  Use the freshest eggs you can.  But seriously?  Don't worry that much.  It's all tasty!

Source: http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/Shop/PrintRecipe/3041

Apple Crumble Loaf

I bet you all thought I was kidding about the recipe part.

Hah.  Joke's on you!  I actually bake.  I enjoy it.  It's like. . . effort with visible, potentially delicious results.  Better yet, no one has died as a result of my experimentation!  But to be clear, I tend to do a recipe generally the way it tells me to and, if I like it okay, then I'll modify it a bit.  

But I am also a girl and I'm prone to changing my mind about this rule.  It's not really a rule so much as a basic template that I choose to follow in baking.  Conversely?  Cooking scares me.  Bit of a shame, considering I'm a death knell to people's diets and waistlines.  One of my co-workers says that I'm slowly killing him.

He also seems to think it's a delicious death, so I suppose that's okay.

For reference, I'll post to you what I did and also post the place where I got the recipe!  That way I'm not taking credit from anyone who seriously deserves it and I don't muddle the recipe up with a bunch of confusing talk.

Apple Crumble Loaf

Ingredients:

• 140g of butter, cut into small pieces, plus extra for the tin
• 250g self raising whole wheat flour (don't worry, my fellow Americans.  I'll give you a recipe for self-raising flour!)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 70g light brown sugar
• 70g raw sugar
• 100g raisins
• 3 large eggs
• 3 apples, peeled, cored and shopped
• 4 tablespoons milk (US tablespoons.  In Australian tablespoons, this is 5 tablespoons)

For the crumble topping:

• 2 rounded tablespoons plain flour (2.5-3 Tablespoons Australian)
• 50g butter
• 50g brown sugar

Loaf method:

1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan-forced (this is 320F/285F fan-forced).  Line the base of a loaf tin with baking paper.
2. Tip the flower and spice into a food processor and add the butter.  Pulse until you have fine crumbs and then mix in the sugar.  
3. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and then stir in raisins, eggs, apples and milk.  Mix well until combined.
4. Pour into tin and then smooth top.

Crumble method:

1. To make the topping, rub the flour, butter and sugar through your fingers to make a rough crumble.  Feel free to add more flour until it reaches a consistency you're happy with here, I tinkered a bit because I had no nuts.  I may have added more flour than this, but I wanted to err on the side of caution for recipe notation.
2. Sprinkle evenly over the cake mixture and bake for 50-55 minutes, until firm to the touch and a fine skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
3. Cool in tin for 15 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
4. Attempt in vain to not devour the entire lot.

Original recipe source: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2198652/apple-crumble-loaf

I fully intend to wander their site and see what other little delicious gems I can find!

Bonus:  Self-Raising Flour

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

And just like that, you have a cup of self-raising flour!  It's useful to make a bunch at once if you're a bakeaholic and then use it as you need it.