And speaking of good taste… finally, here’s the egg separator of my dreams.

I usually go one of two ways with the task of separating eggs: either avoid egg-separating recipes as much as possible, or do a little finger-dance routine with a wooden spoon and two measuring cups. The latter method takes great skill and dexterity, neither of which are guaranteed on any given day. And you’ve got to do one egg at a time, that way, so an accidentally broken yolk won’t spoil the whole batch of whites.

So for years I’ve been meaning to pick up a conventional egg separator gadget, to make that cooking task easier. But, well, you know how that goes…

And now — here’s a truly crave-worthy egg separator, cunningly handcrafted as a big-nosed pottery person. What a perfectly useful gadget, and a great fit for my own whimsical kitchen decor, hint hint! Or maybe pick one up to keep on hand for a hostess gift, or for the next time someone invites you to a kitchen-themed bridal shower?

Just break the eggs into the ceramic container, tilt it forward, and voila! Your egg whites will stream, oh so elegantly, out of those pottery nostrils — whites all nicely separated from the yolks — no fuss, no mess, if perhaps a few giggles from your kitchen crew.

(And, why might we want to be able to separate the yolk from the egg white? Don’t all answer at once — but hands up, everyone whose first thought was of light-as-air meringues to impress your mother-in-law? Okay, now, and who says souffle? Omelet? Sponge cake? Waffles? Well, you get the idea.)

Peter Petrie Egg Separator is $12.99 at Stupid.com
(Hat tip to Tal Siach)

Three ingredients?
Why, that hardly even counts as a recipe!

But the beauty of meringues is the kitchen miracle of how a few simple egg whites, sweetened and whipped into cloud-like shapes, can bake up gently to such a melt-in-mouth light crispy goodness. Smother a lemon pie, if you must, but I prefer to take my meringues in cookie form…

Basic Meringue Recipe

For each 1 egg white, you’ll need a good pinch (1/8tsp) of cream of tartar and caster sugar to taste (about 2 Tbsp per egg white).

Pre-heat the oven to 200°F.

Whip together the egg whites and cream of tartar, until medium-soft peaks form, then continue whipping as you gradually add the sugar.

When the mixture stands up in firm peaks, spoon it out (or pipe with a pastry bag) onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake about 2 hours for teaspoon-sized dollops, about 3 hours for standard cookie size. You want the meringues to be dry and hard to the touch, but don’t let them start to brown.

How many egg whites?
It depends on how large a recipe you want to make. I find that 3 egg whites is a good number…

Meringue recipe variations

• Tint with food colouring,
• Fold in a generous spoonful of crushed candy canes or peppermints
• Top with sliced almonds or a twist of candied lemon peel,
• Dip a baked meringue lady-finger into melted chocolate…

… the possibilities are endless, so follow your whim and have fun!

Easy, yes? Just as long as you don’t try to bake meringues under very humid conditions, as extra moisture is the one thing you really don’t want. Meringues dry out, rather than bake in any conventional sense, so forget about whipping them up in the middle of a summer thunderstorm…

And here’s a final kitchen tip: If you don’t have caster sugar, just grind up your ordinary white sugar to make it less coarse: in fact, I keep an old spare coffee grinder on hand just for grinding up nuts and sugar and other cooking ingredients that I don’t necessarily want to have enhanced by the flavour of coffee beans.

Photo: ifindkarma
Technorati Tags: cooking, recipes

A little bit of bacon goes a long way…

If you love the taste of bacon but try to avoid it because of all that saturated fat, Bacon Pie is a quick and easy brunch idea that goes a long way to satisfy that bacon craving.

The recipe makes two pies, so it easily serves 6 people — but works out to only one slice of bacon for each. See? You can indulge a taste for bacon, without blowing a healthy diet!

Bacon Pie

5 – 6 slices of bacon, cooked (not too crisp)
Basic biscuit recipe (dry ingredients only — or 2 cups of a commercial biscuit mix)
¾ cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
½ tsp dry mustard
½ – ⅓ cup milk
1 egg
½ – ¾ cup plain yogurt

Pre-heat oven to 425°F. Grease two standard-sized pie plates (I use a bit of the bacon fat for this).

Combine the biscuit mix, grated cheese, mustard and milk to make a soft dough. Knead about 30 seconds on a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and spread each half into one of the greased pie plates.

Crumble the cooked bacon on top.

Combine the egg and yogurt, and spread this over the pies to cover the bacon.

Bake 15 minutes at 425°F.

Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Technorati Tags: recipes, cooking

Enchanted by eggs? There’s something so satisfying about that solid form, it’s no wonder the egg is showing up everywhere in home decor and accessories.

Clockwise from left:

• Egg-shaped ceramic Nyokki Grass Pets are handmade in Japan. Filled with growing medium and rye grass seeds, they’ll grow a lovely head of green hair in less than two weeks. They come in various animal characters, from this pretty yellow kitty-cat or the classic yellow chick, to a pink pig or bright blue bear, and more.
• Faberge, of course, practically invented the egg as a decorative objet. This hand-painted porcelain Coronet Flower Limoges Egg opens up to reveal a 24k gold-plated flower basket as a surprise gift hidden inside.
• Edesse Design’s fried egg table puts any room sunny-side-up with its whimsical top in painted MDF, perched on slim chrome legs.
• Squirrel-proof birdhouses are hard to find, but the glossy ceramic Egg Bird House is said to be just that. Handmade exclusively by J Schatz in New York, the earthenware-and-aluminum eggs are durable enough to hang outside year-round, beautiful enough — in 8 shiny colours — to make an unusual decoration in a modern room.
• Tiny pinprick holes in the handcrafted ceramic Star Egg Nightlight let out just enough light to scatter a starry-night illusion on a bedroom ceiling. Lovely! The base is brushed stainless steel, and it comes with a clear electrical cord so as not to detract from the elegant simplicity of the egg form.