Scrambled Eggs Gordon Ramsay style

The sun is out! Well the sun is out and I am now a little sick. I’m totally muddy in the head, have a sore throat, and feel totally rough. Ooph, not the way I wanted to start the heat of summer! I took a bunch of oregano oil, and drank an insane amount of water, and alternated between overheating and freezing. So here’s hoping this ritual will kick this cold’s butt before it truly settles in. For breakfast I made a super easy batch of Gordon Ramsay’s scrambled eggs.

ScrambledEggs

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WARNING: MONSTER POST—Steamed Mussels three ways: Butter & Garlic, Curry, Spicy Coconut

My husband brought home a big box of live mussels on Thursday and I started planning the best way to cook them up this weekend. When I went to open them I noticed that their expiry date was the same day that Gen had bought them, two days before. Well, in an ignorant and hopeful moment, I opened the container and tested the mussels for liveliness. Unsuccessful. Time of confirmed death, 5:00pm. Gen immediately called Costco about the possibility of an exchange for mussels that haven’t already expired and they agreed! Problem: they close at 6:00pm. So, my wonderful husband who was desperate for some mussely goodness hustled his butt down to Costco, they took in our dead mussels and gave us a brand new batch and I went to work preparing them three ways! This was a delicious treat for us and we happily have some leftovers to munch on today (pluck the leftover mussels out of their shells, seal in a tupperware and eat cold, or just warmed the next day. They can get quite hard if you heat them too much the next day). The Butter & Garlic batch has a little kick from some apple cider vinegar, Gen went WILD for these, possibly because they were the first batch. He slurped back the sauce from his bowl, my bowl, and the pot. The Curry & Kale mussels are simple and tasty. The kale soaks up the curry flavours wonderfully. The Spicy Coconut version was the big winner. Coconut milk enhances the sweetness of the mussels while the chili flakes and chilis add a kick to balance it out. Winner, winner, mussel dinner. 

I’ve put the recipes and a special mussel eating tip behind the jump so that my front page is manageable to scroll!

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Scotch Eggs…kinda

You know when you want to make something for a long time but you don’t have all the ingredients and then your husband just happens to bring home almost the ingredients you need and you make it from what you’ve got? Well, that is the story of these Scotch Eggs. I call them …kinda Scotch Eggs because they are not breaded nor deep fried. Still, these are delicious and could easily be the centre piece of a meal. They are the size of a baseball… though this could be because I had a heck of a time rolling the meat around my soft boiled eggs (important, so as not to have a rock-hard yolk after baking), breaking the first yolk ruined meat-rolling my confidence (the rest were perfect though). And feel free to use actual sausage meat, though I really enjoyed adding the spices myself.

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Prosciutto-Wrapped Dry-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Yikes, this is delicious. The dry rub is powerful and I will be using it many times in the future, on chicken, beef, pork, etc. Like I said use the rub sparingly, you don’t want to overwhelm your meat. I bought a big pack of pork tenderloins at Costco and dry rubbed each of them before freezing them, just a spoon and a half each did the trick.

The prosciutto kept the pork from drying out (Heidi, I do a service to you every time I want to write moist, I work really hard to find other language!) and it added a saltiness that I didn’t want too much of in the rub, to prevent the rub from over-salting a meal that I would rather salt while cooking. I served this with fluffy and creamy mashed cauliflower that I will be posting tomorrow, yes it is good enough for its own post! I also sautéed some baby bok choy with butter and garlic for some greens. Get on this meal!

Prosciutto-Wrapped Dry-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tbsp crushed red chili peppers
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 1 pork loin (2 1/2 lbs)
  • 6-8 slices of prosciutto

DIRECTIONS

  1. Whisk together your spices and store in an air-tight container. Sprinkle 1-2 tbsps of the rub on your pork tenderloin and rub it in really well. At this point you can let the rub rest on the meat overnight or for an hour, you can also cook it up right away.
  2. Heat oven to 375°F. Grab a broiling pan, or if you don’t have that, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  3. Lay your prosciutto slices out on the pan you are using, overlapping slightly to ensure a seal of sorts. You want a rectangle, the length of the tenderloin.
  4. Lay your pork onto the rectangle and pull the prosciutto strips up to wrap the tenderloin. Lay a final piece of prosciutto over the wrapped ends.
  5. Cook for 35-45 minutes, until the pork is cooked and the prosciutto has crisped up.

This is the least phallic of the photos I took.

Wrapped and ready to roast!

 

Cabbage Taco Salad- Homemade Taco Spice Mix

I love making my own spice mixes. Ever since discovering that curry spice combo I’ve been looking for other ways to make my own spice blends. Tacos are not a favourite of mine but Gen loves them. I had intended to make fresh corn tortillas and do a tutorial for those (they are infinitely better than any store-bought ones) but horrifyingly I found that some bugs had made it into my Masa Harina and I had to chuck the batch. I am guessing they bunked down on the move from Calgary to Vancouver, but either way it was a bummer.

Plan B was taco salad. Gen has turned me into a cabbage eater. We never have lettuce with our tacos; the cabbage is crisp and cold and everything that lettuce is but more! It stands up well to the other ingredients and offers it’s own subtle bite. Anyway, I made this awesome taco seasoning and put the rest out for us to make delicious salads!

Cabbage Taco Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef (or TVP, or lentils, chickpeas, etc.)
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 head green cabbage shredded
  • 1/2 red onion sliced
  • 1 small bunch parsley
  • salsa
  • greek yogurt
  • 1/2 lime

Directions

  1. Mix together your spices in a small bowl. It will make more than you need, save the rest for another time.

    I forgot to take pictures with all the spices out. This is the leftover spice mix.

  2. Brown the ground beef (or TVP or lentils) in a large pot with some coconut oil. Drain.
  3. Place the meat back into the pot, sprinkle 2-3 tbsp of the taco spices over top. Stir to coat the meat with the spices. Taste and add more if needed. Pour in 1/4 cup of water, stir and let simmer for a few minutes.
  4. Pile shredded cabbage on a plate. Top with taco meat, salsa, yogurt, sliced onions. Drizzle everything with lime and plunk some parsley on top.
  5. Yum. Genesis quote, “Refreshing, tasty, crunchy. We should eat this every week.” He actually suggested I replace my curry with this… not happening. This was super tasty and is sure to resurface many times this summer but that curry makes my heart sing. Case closed.

Meat all ready for the salads.

Ready to make some salads. Greek yogurt all the things!