Gg's Danish Croque-madame

Egg in a basket met Croque-madame and fell in love with a Danish boy. 

Danish Croque-madame Recipe:
(serves 2)

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 4 slices of Danish bread or any bread of your choice 
• 8 rashers Danish streaky bacon (cooked)
• 8 slices of Danish Brie (as thin or thick as you like)
• butter
• oil
• salt and pepper
• 4 sausages 
• a handful of cherry tomatoes (garnish, optional)

Directions

1. Set the oven to the conventional cooking setting () at 150 degrees Celsius. Lay a piece of baking paper on a baking tray and set aside.
2. Heat a non-stick pan over a low fire.
3. With a round cookie cutter, cut a hole out of two slices of bread (tops). Save cut out rounds.
4. Top the remaining 2 slices of bread (bottoms) with two slices of Danish Brie followed by 4 rashers of cooked Danish streaky bacon and another 2 slices of Danish Brie. Set aside on the prepared baking paper.
5. Add a little butter and oil to coat the pan.
6. Place the tops in the pan and crack an egg into each hole. Turn heat up to medium-low.
7. Once the whites of the eggs are slightly set (about 2 to 3 minutes), remove carefully from the pan and place on top of the prepared bottoms.
8. Turn fire up to medium-high and cook sausages in the same pan.
9. Pop the sandwiches and the cut out rounds into the oven on the center rack and bake till the eggs are just set on top. The sausages should be cooked by the time the eggs are done.

The Danish Croque-madame

Breakfast together on the weekends (or holidays) is a treasured luxury. The weekend brings about a better-rested, more relaxed DCM whom I am more than happy to indulge. I try to think of as many ways as possible to make weekend breakfasts interesting. 

This is a little restricted when my DCM does not have a sweet tooth. He'll have one or two cupcakes I make, some chocolate with almonds as a snack, a bit of birthday cake or try a dessert I'm having if I ask nicely but that's about it. 

So Gg says "bye bye" to pancakes and sweet french toasts... I love pancakes... And pancakes are something that you cannot make just for one.

Our breakfasts therefore consists a lot of bacon, eggs and sausages. I'm not complaining (much). I love bacon, eggs and sausages.

Here's one of my bacon, eggs and sausages variations I call Gg's Danish Croque-madame which combines the concept of Egg in a basket with the concept of a Croque-madame. What makes it Danish is the use of this bread I found at GWC's CS called Danish bread (a bread version of croissant), Danish brie instead of Emmental or Gruyère and Danish streaky bacon. See recipe here.

Danish Brie melts beautifully and it's subtle flavour brings out the salt of the bacon. The egg is cooked so it's not runny and messy yet not overcooked so it's hard and rubbery. The Danish bread's light crispiness causes crumbs but it's so nommy I only notice after we've made a mess. I like adding cherry tomatoes to my dishes as they add a fresh sweetness and are good for the prostate.

It sure takes more time and effort than just frying up eggs, bacon and sausages, and toasting some bread but it's for my DCM so it's worth it. He liked it plenty, making me a very happy girl.

Gg's Cucumber, Mint & Yogurt Sauce/Dip

A cooling and healthy sauce/dip which complements Gg's Turkish Roasted Chook and spicy foods.

Cucumber, Mint & Yogurt Sauce/Dip Recipe:
(serves 2)

Ingredients

• 1 medium Japanese cucumber (peeled and grated)
• few sprigs of mint (chopped)
• zest of half a lemon
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 cup of natural or Greek yogurt
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix.
2. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Gg's Carrot & Cranberry Salad

A fresh and sweet salad that goes well with Gg's Turkish Roasted Chook, any salty, spiced meat and seafood or just on it's own.

Carrot & Cranberry Salad Recipe:
(serves 2)

Ingredients

• 4 organic baby carrots (grated)
• a handful of dried cranberries
• few sprigs of cilantro (chopped)
• few sprigs of mint (chopped)
• few sprigs of flat leaf Italian parsley (chopped)
• zest of a lemon
• juice of a quarter lemon
• juice of a quarter orange
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix.
2. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Gg's Roasted Turkish Chook

A finger-lickingly tasty, juicy and tender roast chicken that takes you to Turkey without having to travel. Additional spices, herbs and lemon are added to the marinade simply because they work well together and I love those flavours. The chicken is garnished with roasted pistachios as they are my DCM's favourite nut. Any olive of your choice works if you're an olive lover like we are. Pita can be substituted for Turkish bread if you are unable to find any. 

Turkish Roast Chicken Recipe:
(serves 2)

Ingredients

• 3/4 - 1 large chicken (whole and butterflied, bones left on, the spine portion removed)
• a handful of shelled pistachios (garnish, optional)
• a handful of cherry tomatoes (garnish, optional)
  

     Marinade:

• 3 - 4 tablespoons Turkish chicken spice rub (My taste buds tell me the components should include: all spice, cardamon, cloves, cumin, fenugreek, dried oregano, garlic powder, ground coriander, dried mint, paprika, red pepper and tumeric) 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
• 3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil or any oil you would like to use
• zest and juice of one lemon
• few sprigs of lemon thyme or regular thyme
• few sprigs of cilantro
• 1 fresh/ dried bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

    Marinating:

1. Throw all ingredients into a zip lock bag or airtight container big enough for chicken and mix. Taste for seasoning and adjust to your liking.
2. Add chicken to the marinade. Coat chicken well marinade. Leave in the fridge to marinate overnight or up to a week. Turn chicken occasionally.

    Cooking:

1. Take chicken out of the fridge, transfer to a roasting tray. Arrange the chicken so it is laid flat with the meat and skin side facing up. Place on the lowest rack in the oven.
2. Set the oven to the conventional cooking setting () at 200 degrees Celsius. This allows the chicken to warm up and the skin to dry while the oven is heating up at the same time. Dry skin = crispy skin.
3. Once the oven is properly heated, start timer to roast chicken for 30-45 minutes. Your nose is your best indication of whether food is cooked. Once you can smell delicious aromas wafting from the kitchen, your food is more or less cooked.
4. When chicken has turned slightly golden brown, switch the oven to the fan assisted grilling setting () and turn the heat up to 250 degree Celsius. This renders the fat and crisps the skin. About 8 to 15 minutes. 
5. Turn off oven and remove chicken from the oven. Allow chicken to rest 10 to 15 minutes. 
6. If serving with shelled pistachios, scatter pistachios on a baking sheet and pop into the oven together with the chicken in its last 3-5minutes of roasting. If they are not as done as you would like them to be, just leave them in the oven after you have removed the chicken and turned off the oven. Be careful not to burn the pistachios.
7. If serving with store bought Turkish bread, pop bread into the switched-off oven to warm while chicken rests.

Turkish Delights For Deepavali

I love marinating meats, especially chicken (chook). Marinades turn a normal piece of meat into something spectacular! If you just throw a chook into the oven with a little salt and pepper, olive oil; you get dinner. Throw together a marinade of lemon juice, Dijon mustard, splash of white wine, trickle of honey, bit of melted butter and of course good ole S&P (salt and pepper), let a whole chook or your favourite chicken parts marinate in the marinade overnight to a week before you chuck it into the oven and you get dinner that makes you go "OMG... Mmmm...". 

Yes it is more effort. But really, only slightly more. And the rewards are well worth it. I like putting together the marinade first so I may taste and tweak if necessary. Once that is done, that's all the extra effort done. 

Since the apartment comes with a mediocre, tiny fridge (provided by the landlord), I am not able to store many things as the freezer portion is so limited. The solution is marinating. Marinades keep meats 'fresh' for longer in the chiller section through preservatives like salt, spices and oil.  

So, it was Deepavali and we were staying in. I wanted to make an indulgent yet healthy meal for my DCM. The Parentals recently went to Turkey on holiday and came back with Turkish goodies like apple tea, cheese, cold cuts, figs, honey comb, macadamias, marinated green olives, olive oil infused with black pepper, pistachios, saffron and Turkish chicken spice rub. I'd marinated 3/4 of a fat chook in the Turkish spice rub and a few other ingredients, had organic baby carrots in the fridge and there were those green olives. A trip to Cold Storage (CS) at Great World City (GWC) provided me with all the other ingredients needed to whip up a Turkish-inspired meal. 

Gg's Roasted Turkish Chook with Carrot & Cranberry Salad, Cucumber, Mint & Yogurt Sauce/Dip, Turkish Green Olives and Turkish Bread

A week of marinating allowed the earthy, auburn spice mix to properly permeate the flesh while the lemon's acidity acted as a tenderiser. I have a technique of oven roasting that always produces perfectly cooked chook (see recipe and cooking method here). The skin, always the most flavourful part, was crispy. The meat was so succulent that there was a pool of chicken juices at the bottom of the plate when we were done with the meal. Yes, even the breast meat was juicy.

The salad was fresh, crisp and sweet (see recipe here) while the yogurt sauce/dip was cool, refreshing and zingy (see recipe here). The yogurt sauce/dip cooled the spicy heat of the chicken and the sweetness of the salad balanced the sour tones present in the chicken and the sauce/dip. The Turkish bread I found at GWC's CS was chewy, slightly dense and great as a vessel for the chook, salad and yogurt sauce's trip to our mouths.

It was delicious, messy and so satisfying. My DCM and I did not stop eating until everything on the tray disappeared.