Healthy Egg McMuffin

I don't eat much bread at all, but I like it occasionally.  In the UK, unless you buy bread rolls, bread comes in huge 800g (sometimes 400g) loaves.  This says a lot about how much bread is eaten as a staple in the British diet.  This is in contrast to Japan where bread is bought in packets of 3 or 6 impossibly thick slices (and only usually of white bread).  When I was living in Japan, after visits to the UK I occasionally brought back an 800g loaf of sliced wholemeal bread, and put in my freezer.

These days, I have a tiny under the counter fridge, with only an ice box to freeze things in.  Consequently, if I buy a loaf of bread, I'd probably eat a maximum of 4 slices before it went mouldy.

The other evening, I found myself googling microwave bread and came across a recipe from this website http://www.thelaundrymoms.com/trim-healthy-mama-bread/.  I came across other ones too, that I'll probably try sometime soon.  As I already had the ingredients for this one, I decided to try it.  The first time, I used a whole egg in the bread, instead of the powdered egg white and water, and ate it with ham, mustard and dairylea cheese.  Today, as I wanted to eat it with egg, I just used egg white in the bread.  This bread is very high in fibre, vitamin D and omega 3, 6 and 9, and also provides calcium, zinc and iron.  Although high in fat, along with the fibre this keeps you feeling full until lunchtime, and most of the fat comes from the omega fatty acids.  Taking only about 5 minutes to make, this is a very quick and easy breakfast, as well as being very low in carbohydrate and calories!

Ingredients
For the bread
1 x 5g sachet powdered egg white, made up with 7 teaspoons warm water.
4 level tablespoons (24g) milled flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 - 1 teaspoon (4g) softened butter (I use spreadable butter and don't keep it in my fridge)
Herbs to taste

For the egg and cheese filling
1/2 - 1 teaspoon (4g) softened butter
10g low fat grated cheddar cheese

Nutrition Info
For the bread
Calories:  149
Protein: 8.5g
Carbohydrate: 1.78g
Fat: 12g
Dietary Fibre: 6.8g

For the egg and cheese filling
Calories: 117
Protein: 8.4g
Carbohydrate: 0.2
Fat: 8.9g
Dietary Fibre: 0g

Method

• In a cereal bowl, mix the powdered egg white with 2 teaspoons warm water, then mix with an additional 5 teaspoons warm water.  
• Stir in the milled flaxseed, baking powder, herbs and butter.  Flatten in the bowl.
• Microwave in a 750w oven for 1 and a half minutes.
• Turn out onto a baking rack to let the steam escape.
• In another cereal bowl, beat the egg with the butter, don't worry about any large bits.
• Microwave in a 750w oven for about 1 minute until set.
• Slice the bread in half, put the set egg on one half and sprinkle with the grated cheese.
• Sandwich with the other half and enjoy!
  

Notes

• If you don't have powdered egg white, then use a whole egg without the water.
• I buy milled flaxseed from Lidl or Aldi - it is much cheaper there than from a health food shop.
• You could probably cut down on the fat and calories more by reducing the butter in the recipe.

Kimchi buttter and blue brie croissant

Aaaggghhhh, I hear you cry!  That is just not going to work!  My initial reaction was the same when I read  in the Flavour Thesaurus about Momofuku Restaurant in New York selling a kimchi butter and sweet gorgonzola croissant.  Still, I was intrigued, and the more I thought about it the more I could imagine that the flavours could probably temper each other quite well.  So I attempted it and it was delicious!

Of course, there was the snag of obtaining sweet gorgonzola, otherwise known as dolcelatte.  You can relatively easily buy danish blue, gorgonzola and other strong blue cheese in Japan, I couldn't get dolcelatte.

I processed kimchi with some butter in my blender, and was astonished at the change in taste.  I love kimchi and will quite happily eat it from the jar, but blending it with butter amazingly transformed the tart spiciness into sweet tangy creaminess.  Hmmm, this could work, I thought!

With misgivings, I tried using regular gorgonzola, unsurprisingly it didn't work.  What I settled on in the end was Gerard Fromage Bleu which is like a blue brie, and available from Yamaya.  Delicious! If anyone tries this with dolcelatte, please let me know!


Ingredients
1 quantity butter
2 quantities kimchi
slices of blue brie
croissants

Method

•  Blend the kimchi and butter in a blender, putting it into the microwave for intervals of 10-20 seconds if the butter is too hard.
• Split the croissant with a sharp knife.  Spread both sides with the kimchi butter.
• Top with thin slices of blue brie and sandwich the two halves together.
• Enjoy! 

Tobiko and Soft Cheese Rye Bread

A straightforward snack!  Cut 3 slices of Delba Wholegrain rye bread in half.  Spread with soft cheese, and sprinkle a little tobiko on top.

Scrambled Eggs on an English Muffin

I used to make scrambled eggs sometimes, using cream, as a special treat.  Using milk or cream, and cooking slowly was the method I used for a long time.  Then I discovered the Australian chef Bill Granger's recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1720/perfect-scrambled-eggs.

Indeed delicious, and very quick too!  Incidentally I first went to Bill's in Sydney for dinner about 5 years ago and was very impressed.  A couple of years back I went for breakfast at Bill Granger's relatively newly-opened restaurant in Shichirigahama, the Shonan Beach area of Kanagawa.  This was the following day after visiting Enoshima.  By that stage it had been open for 10 months, I got there just before the opening time at 8am and had to queue for about an hour for a table...  Make a reservation!  That day I had sweetcorn fritters which I found a bit too rich for breakfast...  Apparently, he's now opened his 2nd restaurant in Japan in the Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama.  http://www.bills-jp.net/bills_english/index.html.

However...  This morning I discovered a new and phenomenally quick method of making scrambled eggs, and I think I actually prefer them.  This is adapted from the British chef Nigel Slater.

Ingredients for one muffin
One English muffin, split and toasted
a small knob of butter
one egg
about 25g grated cheese

Method

• Over  a medium heat, melt the butter.
• Turn off the heat and beat in one egg.
• Stir in the cheese, turn on the heat again if necessary to finish melting the cheese and setting the egg, but remember that the saucepan is probably hot enough to continue cooking the egg.
• Spoon over the unbuttered muffin and eat whilst hot.

More bread-making practice needed...!

Well, I tried making Delia's easy no-knead wholemeal bread today, but couldn't get it to rise.  I used graham flour rather than wholemeal flour because it looked more suitably brown to me!  I think the mixture was too wet, and I didn't use quite enough yeast.  It tastes OK though, and is certainly brown, so not a complete disaster!  A bit closer to the vacuum-packed German ryebread that I buy than actual bread...!  I'll have another go soon - I think I can get optimal bread proving conditions under my kotatsu!

Easy Wholemeal Bread

It's very rare to find good wholemeal bread in Japan.  Dark German rye bread, yes.  But not wholemeal bread.  I've just found this recipe for very easy wholemeal bread, no kneading required.
http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/bread/how-to-make-wholemeal-bread.html
I'll report back when I've found the wholemeal flour and have a chance to make it!

Cod and Poached Egg on Wholemeal Toast

Now that was a delicious breakfast! I steamed some cod in the microwave for a couple of minutes, mashed it with some fresh dill, and piled it on one small slice of wholemeal bread. I put a poached egg on the other piece of wholemeal bread.

Baked Sugared Crusts

No picture, but this is a very cheap and sweet snack. When I made the Flower Snacking Plate, I was of course left with a whole lot of crusts. Crusts are also sold in big bags in Japanese bakeries from free to about 100yen.

Put them on a baking tray, sprinkle with a very little brown sugar and bake at 180C for about 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack so that they crisp up. Store in an airtight container.

Flower Snacking Plate

I really need to improve the lighting for taking photos in this new house - they're coming out really insipid-looking...

This came from an idea I saw in a magazine whilst I was away.

Cut the crusts off 5 or 6 pieces of bread and roll each piece thinly with a rolling pin.

Arrange 4 or 5 pieces around the edge of a round metal tin and press the final piece into the bottom. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes until the bread is crisp and browned at the edges. Leave in the tin for a couple of minutes and then put on a wire rack to cool.

Put the bread 'flower' on a plate and fill with ham/cheese rosettes, cooked vegetables, fruit and boiled eggs etc.

Melted Oozing Camembert with Toasted Walnuts and Brandied Raisins

It's taken me a couple of goes to get a photo of this recipe and so be able to add this post, I'm usually too hungry to hang around taking photos!





Nutrition Information
Calories: 325
Protein: 12g
Fat: 10g
Carbohydrate: 34g
Dietary Fibre: 7g

Ingredients
2 slices of rye bread (total 62g)
2 segments of camembert or brie (total 34g)
8g walnuts (4 halves)
3 teaspoons of brandied raisins

Method

• Roughly crumble the walnuts into a saucepan and dry fry until hot and toasted.
• Put the rye bread on a microwaveable plate, a piece of camembert on each slice, and sprinkle over the brandied raisins and the walnuts.
• Microwave for 40 seconds until the camembert is just oozing. Flatten the camembert slightly.
  
• Eat immediately!
  

Mackerel on rye bread

Ingredients (makes lots of portions)
1 x 120g can of mackerel in olive oil with pickles, drained and rinsed
25g room temperature butter
2 teaspoons of the tiny capers
rye bread to serve



Method

• Drain and rinse the can of mackerel and put it in a bowl.
• Add the butter and capers and mash together (or use a food processor)
• Spread onto rye bread.
  

Creamy Mushrooms in a Roll

Recently, one of my brothers gave me a couple of cookery books by Nigel Slater. I really like Nigel Slater's style of writing, and I find myself inspired by his recipes, wanting to adapt them to my taste. He says in his books that many of his recipes are adaptations of other people's recipes, so I have no qualms in doing the same...! Anyway, this is my adaptation of one of his recipes, adaptations made for my limited cooking equipment, time and using a lot less cream (and healthier sour cream rather than double cream)...

Ingredients (serves 1)
small piece of unsalted butter for frying
1 small onion, chopped
100g mushrooms, chopped (I used bunashimeji, sometimes called beech mushrooms)
1 crisp roll, or the end of a baguette
about 30ml sour cream (or two heaped teaspoons)
salt, pepper and paprika for seasoning

Method

• Hollow out the roll or baguette end, reserving the bread.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onions and fry over a medium heat until softened.
  
• Add the mushrooms, crumble in the breadcrumbs and continue to fry until golden brown.
• Stir in the sour cream and mix until hot. Season with a little salt, and lots of paprika and freshly ground mixed peppercorns.
• Spoon into the hollowed out bread roll and eat immediately!