Ham Cheese Egg Roulade

Ham Cheese Egg Roulade 

I strongly believe in the widely accepted theory that a good breakfast helps you begin your day well. You see as the name suggests its breaking your fast while you rest throughout the night.

I have to confess that while on some days I do like a fruit smoothie or a shake there are these other days when I crave a hearty breakfast and while the definition of 'hearty breakfast'  is subjective for me inclusion of eggs is a must. That along with my love for sausages and ham made me create this Ham Cheese egg roulade which basically keeps you full almost well into the second half of a day. A roulade basically means to roll and this is nothing but a rolled omelette with stuffing inside.

What you need for serving 2 people :-

3 eggs well beaten
3 to 4 slices of lean ham
A handful of grated Parmesan
Salt as per taste
Freshly ground black pepper as per taste
1/2 tsp of thyme
2 tsp olive oil

Simply beat the eggs well with a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper  and then heat the oil on a large skillet and make a thin omelette and wait for 2 minutes and carefully place the omelette on a surface and add the ham and then the cheese and roll it and there you have your roulade. Sprinkle with the thyme and we have a hearty breakfast with some fresh fruits.

Here are a couple of tips which might help :-

1. Eggs are very delicate items and so they must be handled carefully which means too much heat burns the bottom and too little wouldn't set it. In my experience if the skillet is heated well and then the eggs allowed to cook on medium heat for a minute while it sets then the chances of burning is minimized . 
2. Once the eggs begins to set one can use the back of a ladle to spread out the unset egg mixture 
3. Be careful when taking it out of the skillet, too much pressure breaks the beautiful omelette  

Croque Madame

Croque Madame 

A French Classic 

 When Indrani from Ripappayan announced the Event on Sandwiches, I was quite happy because I have been wanting to make one of my favourite sandwiches since quite sometime and this was the perfect opportunity. Ideally this classic sandwich should be a Winter's sandwich because of all that butter and cheese but then again a good sandwich does keep you full for a long time indeed.

It is quite obvious that a sandwich would require some good sandwich bread and while you can always pick up a loaf from a bakery nothing beats the delightful taste of freshly baked bread at home. Here is a recipe for Sour Cream Sandwich Bread.

So my choice of sandwich is the classic Croque Madame . This is a grilled ham cheese sandwich which originated in France. Actually Croque Madam has a butter poached egg on top which many say represent a woman's hat hence the name Croque Madam. The other version of this sandwich without the egg is called a classic Croque Monsieur. Typically made with a lot of Gruyere cheese or Emmental cheese this sandwich with the bechamel sauce and butter and ham is a cheese lover's delight. Its a very heavy sandwich and so 1 sandwich keeps a person full for about 5 hours to 6 ours.



Serves 4

So this is what you need :-

8 slices of bread

For the Bechamel sauce

1 tbsp flour
1 cup of whole milk
2 tbsp butter
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt as per taste

For the assembling of the sandwich

300gm of Emmental or Gruyere cheese
8 slices of ham . I have used lean ham
4 eggs
70gm of butter

Bechamel sauce 

Start with preparing the bechamel sauce. Heat you r milk along with the nutmeg and cool it. Melt the butter and add the flour and quickly create a roux which is smooth and then add the milk bit by bit whisking it constantly to create a smooth bechamel sauce.

The skillet grilled sandwich with the goodies inside 

Generously butter the slices of bread and then add enough bechamel sauce to cover the side which faces you and add 2 slices of ham and then a fat slice of Emental cheese and then heat the skillet and use a slice of bread buttered side up on low heat and after a minute place this on the sandwich to finish creating it. The heat from the bread will melt the cheese and now place the entire sandwich on the skillet on low heat. and brown it well but take care to not burn it . Once done the cheese should have melted fully and then spread a bit of bechamel on the sandwich and top it with an egg fried sunny side up. Enjoy

Bacon sausage ham Rice

Bacon sausage ham Rice 

Some days are just for a quick fix comfort food. You need a quick meal which is loaded with your favourite things. So I had fresh bacon, ham, dried sausages , fresh celery and some rice. Ah you must already be knowing where I am headed

Serves 1

Half a cup of long grained rice
1 bacon with the fat
2 slices of ham
2 thin dried sausage
1/2 tsp chili flakes
Pinch of salt
1 cup water
1 stalk of celery
Olive oil for brushing
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped spring onion

Chop the bacon, ham and sausages. Mince the garlic and chop the celery stalk into very small pieces and finely chop the leaves. Just brush a wok or pan with olive oil and add the little bits of bacon and lower heat cover and wait for 2 minutes. Then you'l have some fat bubbling away and add the minced garlic and saute and then add the celery stalk and the ham and sausage , chili flakes  and then the celery leaves and spring onion and saute for 3 minutes and leave it aside on a bowl. Now add the rice in the wok and add the water and bring it to a boil and add the salt. Be careful with adding salt because bacon and ham will have salt in them when you shall later mix the rice with the meat. Now lower heat and cover and cook for 8 minutes to 10 minutes till the rice grains look separated and then switch off gas and leave for 5 minutes and then mix the rice with the meat and serve.

Bondomelett

Bondomelett

Up,up ,up , Up with the Sun

Walk walk walk, walk with the wind 

Watch watch watch, Watch the men at work 

Happy happy happy with a bag full of goodies

Love love love love my City  

Well did you ever try walking on the roads of Calcutta before the major part of the city bursts into life and then rage. Well it is so peaceful that it will make you happy even if for a little while. I am sure this applies to all cities. Today was fruit day which means I was supposed to bring back the weekly fruits from new market. So it was morning walk with a big bag slung over my shoulders. 

No lecherous stares, no honking,  no need to elbow your way through, this is the perfect time for you to fall in love over and over with your city. It is such a delight to walk at 6:30 in the morning taking S.N.banerjee road and see the hustle and bustle of potato and onions being unloaded from trucks. The rhythmic songs with a cuss word inserted is so comforting to my ears. owing to my past 1 month's walk everyday  which keeps changing between morning and evening even I have become familiar with them , so much so that today a cheerful happy face asked me "Kya memsaahb walk ke liye pichle kuch dino se ayi nahi thi aap" (Dear lady did you not come for your walks in the past week?) There is even something so wonderful about being addressed to as 'memsaabh' in a drawn singing tune. You see the numerous encounters at supermarkets where the moment you enter someone follows you with the curt and polite 'madam may i help you' is so disturbing to me. It is as if I am a potential thief and must be followed everywhere. well of course this is not always the case but nevertheless. 

Bought my usual papaya, apples and oranges and headed to the world of colours. red and yellow bell peppers, bunches of fresh celery and well so much more. Helped myself to a bag of colourfulness , ah how it cheers me up. headed straight for Kalman's the delightful cold storage. Bought fresh spiced salami  and Hungarian sausages as they call it. Interestingly Kalman was started by this Hungarian gentleman somewhere in the 40s and well is now run by the helper's future generations. Ah if you do love your cold cuts I hope you visit this delightful place. Fresh is always the best :) 

Now please do not judge the quality of this superb recipe by the quality of my pathetic and miserable attempt at couplets. This dish will surely strike a chord with you if you love eggs and well a filling delicious one. So with the ocean of recipes on the internet you sometimes are confused as to which to try and which to not. Today I decided I must look deep in my old collection and try one of them. So out came my diary. You see I had this habit of making cut-outs wherever the recipes would delight me and then stick them on my diary. The hour long walk does make you both slim and hungry so after my office work I feel it was time to bring for some healthy indulgence. What else is perfect but a recipe which calls for eggs, potatoes, ham, chives, onions, cheese ah pure sinful delight from Scandinavian Feasts by Beatrice Ojakangas. 

I did modify a few bits to make it healthier such as instead of just frying the potato. I sauteed them and then sprinkled and covered them to be cooked through. used parsley instead of chives because the parsley was so fresh and well had not bought chives. used red bell pepper instead of the green one and well of course substituted butter with olive oil. 

So its basically very filling so I suggest considering it for brunch or lunch or even dinner. 

You need:

3 eggs

Half a diced bell pepper (diced as small as possible) {red or yellow, yellow on yellow eggs is too bland :P )

1 tablespoonful of finely chopped parsley or as the original suggests chives 

2 potatoes diced very finely, the finer you dice the easier it is to cook it. 

1 medium sized onion

Half a cup of spiced salami or ham. If you have dietary restrictions use cubed chicken. 

1 teaspoonful of dried dill 

Salt and pepper as per taste

1/4th cup of milk

1.5 tablespoonful of olive oil. use might use butter but do it at your heart's risk or well for a special occasion

The original recipe did call for 1/4th chopped tomato which I had omitted 

say 20gm of finely squared cheese (I used Mozzarella) I suggest any cheese that melts well 

Start by first getting everything ready, chopping , dicing, whisking. First heat say 1/2 tablespoonful of oil and saute the onions and potato, sprinkle water , cover and cook till done. takes about 10 minutes to 15 minutes. keep checking and sprinkling water because it will dry up and stick to the bottom if not done so. Once cooked add the diced ham or salami and dill. Then transfer onto plate. in the same pan add 1 tablespoonful of olive oil and the well whisked egg which has been whisked with salt and pepper. You might want to whisk real well for extra fluffiness. 

Now cooking eggs seems to be the simplest of things. "Not so fast" eggs are delicate darlings so use too a little bit of extra  heat they get burnt , use too large a pan and it wouldn't work, too small and it wouldn't as well. Well for this you need practice and well will know what size of pan to be used. So heat must always be on low. Add your eggs and gently using the backside of a round spatula, the ones we use for milk or well soup spread it gently when its almost done at the bottom and still wobbly and runny on top add the cooked ingredients and spread. Add your chopped bell pepper and cheese and switch off the gas and simply cover. For years I have struggled with melting cheese because if the heat is still used the bottom side gets burnt else the cheese does not melt. What a scatterbrain I was . One day after reading an article about the delicacy of eggs and how heat is a culprit I decided to simply use the cover method. So no heat but covering it makes sure the egg is not overcooked but the cheese is melted well.   

It is a meal by itself with the potatoes and all. Try this with a strong cup of coffee and you have a happy you. I ate this for brunch so shall drink a glass of fresh green  coconut water later on during the day. I suggests trying this delight.