Baked Eggs with Smoked Ham and Mushrooms
Ingredients
125g wild mushrooms, if available or button mushrooms, sliced and sautéed; 80g smoked ham, diced; two tablespoons of passata or tomato juice; two tablespoons of Regatto Cheese; seasoning and four eggs.
Method
Preheat the oven 170°C, Gas Mark 3. Butter four ramekins and season lightly. Divide the mushrooms and ham between the four ramekins, reserving some mushrooms for garnish. Pour a little tomato juice into each one. Carefully break an egg into each dish, sprinkle one with cheese and seasoning.
Place the dishes on a shallow roasting dish, pour boiling water around them to cover half way up the ramekins. Place ramekins in the oven. Check the baked eggs after 10 minutes. The egg white should be just set with the yolk still runny but if you prefer your egg a little more cooked, bake for another two to three minutes. Garnish with mushrooms and serve with fingers of hot toast for dipping into the yolks.
Marmalade Muffins
The trick to fluffy muffins is to fold the wet and dry ingredients together as briefly as possible until just combined; don’t worry if the mixture still looks a little lumpy. These muffins are best served on the day they are made.
Ingredients
75g butter; 225g plain flour; 1 tablespoon of baking powder; quarter teaspoon of bread soda; pinch of salt; 100g stone-ground wholemeal flour; 120ml milk; five tablespoons of natural yoghurt; two eggs, beaten; finely grated rind of one orange; 100g marmalade.
Method
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4, 180ºC (350ºF ). Line a muffin tin with deep paper cases. Melt the butter in a small pan or in the microwave. Remove from the heat.
Sift the plain flour, baking powder, bread soda and salt into a bowl. Stir in the wholemeal flour. Beat the milk, yoghurt, eggs, warm melted butter and orange rind in a jug. Make a well in the dried ingredients and stir in with the marmalade until only just mixed.
Spoon the mixture equally into the paper cases and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Leave to cool for five minutes, then serve warm with a pot of hot coffee.
If you don't fancy using marmalade try making them with lemon curd instead.
