Se7en Discover Eggs in the River Cottage Family CookBook…

Yes we have been “River Cottaging Again” and this time we learnt all about eggs… Wow!!! What power packed little meals they are!!!

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First we had to discover where they come from:

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And for my urban kids… they weren’t too sure of those chickens!!!

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And then… I think one of my hoods is a bit confused, because this is clearly a turkey!!! But since it is a bird it must lay eggs, so they aren’t totally confused!!!

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And this is what we have been cooking…

  1. Meringues: Who can resist meringues!!! I make these when I haven’t had a chance to prepare for a group of folk coming round… because they take about five minutes to whip together and then you just pop them in a low, low heat oven and forget about them until your guests arrive. Not to mention they always look so impressive. They are great just to eat as they are, or with strawberries and cream, or as Eton Mess, or Lemon Meringue Pie, or even Baked Alaska. Knowing how to make meringues is a brilliant life skill.
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  3. Real Custard: The thing about making meringues is that you are left with a whole lot of egg yolks!!! There is only one thing to make and that’s real custard. Egg custard is really quite easy to make and once you have made it you will never look back. You will never eat instant or box custard again trust me!!! It does require patient stirring and is ready when your finger leaves a clear line in the custard as you run it down the back of the spoon.
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  5. Real Ice-Cream: Well if you can stand not to eat your custard when it is hot, then it is very easy to turn it into the most amazing real ice-cream… just stir some fresh cream into the custard. We popped ours into the ice-cream machine and left it to churn. If you don’t have an ice-cream machine then pop your ice-cream mixture into the freezer and every hour or so mix and mash it, until it is frozen through.
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  7. Mayonnaise: Another thing you can make with left over egg yolks after making meringues is mayonnaise and we have never tried this before!!!
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    Turns out we love home made mayonnaise and have to make it by the console jar!!! At this stage we are playing around with adding different flavors: crushed garlic, or different varieties of herbs. Yummy with potatoes, yummy with almost anything!!!
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  9. Breakfast eggs: Finally we got onto regular breakfast eggs. And why we call these types of eggs breakfast eggs I don’t know, since we have them for breakfast, lunch and supper. There is one person in my house who just loves all things eggs!!! And I discovered that one doesn’t actually know how to cook eggs!!! I don’t remember learning but it took us quite a bit of practice to master all the techniques. The practice paid off and our kids will at least be able to cook an egg when they leave home!!!
    • French toast:
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    • Fried:
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    • Scrambled:
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    • Boiled:
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    • And Poached: and I have to say our poaching skills really need to be worked on!!!
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  11. Omelettes: We went on to try omelettes because they are my fall back on meal!!!
    • French: We tried these first, because they are what we are used to. Warm and fluffy from the pan, with a sprinkle of cheese.
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    • Spanish: I never thought my kids would go for this, and just more evidence that if they cook it themselves they will try it and then actually eat it!!! We did have a heap of leftover potatoes in the fridge, a finally chopped onion and a bit of feta to convince the most wary of the cooks!!! Well this has become a staple lunch meal round here…
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  12. Sponge Cake: After all those egg looking eggs we needed a break and we tried our hand at the Victoria Sponge Cake. I loved this recipe: just equal amounts of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. So weigh your eggs and then make sure all the other ingredients weigh the same. Pop it in a medium oven for about half an hour… when a skewer comes out clean your cake is done. Once your cake has cooled, sandwich some jam and cream between the layers and then sprinkle the cake with icing sugar – yum!!!
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    And the joy was… unanimous!!!

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  14. Chocolate Mousse: Why, oh why have I never made this before!!! I always thought mousse was tricky, well I was totally wrong!!! The reason we learnt about mousse was to master the art of folding (Nothing to do with the chocolate!!!) and a whole lot of careful folding went on!!! Did you know that you fold eggs with a metal spoon not a wooden one, a metal spoon has a thinner edge, so you don’t work the mixture too much. This folks is the ultimate dessert, quick and easy and you can make it way in advance for guests!!!
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  16. Pancakes: We eat these a lot, and I have never been able to catch them on camera… I was so excited about this section, which had a whole project on how to host a pancake race – everyone was so excited… what a brilliant idea, what fun and what enthusiasm… only our pancakes never land on a plate for longer than a second and we certainly never have a stack of pancakes… needless to say good idea, good intentions… and we will have to keep trying!!!

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  17. Marshmallows: Well we all thought marshmallows came in a bag from the store!!! But now we have discovered you can make them!!! Gelatin and a sugar syrup, along with whipped egg whites… doesn’t sound nearly as nice as it tastes!!!
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And that’s us!!! Another Chapter of the River Cottage Family Cook Book down and we are moving onto fruit!!! Everyone is looking forward to the next chapter packed with yumminess!!!

Just a quick reminder that if you haven’t entered this weeks GiveAway yet then follow the link and leave a comment!!!

4 Replies to “Se7en Discover Eggs in the River Cottage Family CookBook…”

  1. Hello!!

    I love your posts about the River Cottage Family Cookbook, I think it’s brilliant trying so many things with food so your kids learn (and eat!) everything!!

    BUT:

    Big NO-NO to the Spanish omelette with feta cheese, hahahaha!!!!! You can add everything to an omelette (a friend of mine makes them with macaroni, yikes!) but Spanish omelette is just egg, potatoes and/or onion, yours is “potato, onion and cheese omelette” 😉

    BTW, my mom makes a delicious one with leftover chicken from chicken stock, parsley and garlic, yummy!!!

    Have a great weekend!!

  2. Oh Lili – We failed at Spanish Omelettes!!! I am so sorry to have offended with feta cheese!!!! But everyone did eat it and since then we dropped the feta because it turns out everyone loves Spanish Omelettes as they should be… so much so that they are saving their potatoes at dinner time so that they can make Spanish Omelettes for lunch the next day!!!!

  3. Hahaha, OK then, the honor of the Spanish omelette is restored!!!

    BTW, if you don’t know anybody in Spain and there is something you would like to know about life in Spain, please do not hesitate to ask me!!

  4. Hay Lili!!! Yes the honor of the Spanish omelette is indeed restored!!! What a relief!!! Thanks for your invitation to Spain, I will be sure to keep you in mind if we ever visit there virtually or otherwise!!! Have a lovely weekend!!!

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