By Frank Camorra
It's easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to the first meal of the day, but I like to keep breakfast interesting. I might invent a different topping for the Sunday morning pancakes, or try something unusual with eggs, such as this baked recipe with spinach sauce. For a more rustic dish, instead of pureeing the spinach chop it by hand, blanch it and squeeze out the water, then mix it with the fried onion.
These fragrant, spicy waffles are one of my better breakfast experiments, but you do need a waffle iron.
Frank Camorra counts these fragrant pain e spice waffles among his best breakfast experiments.Credit: Marcel Aucar
Baked spinach eggs
2 tbsp olive oil
20g butter
1 onion, peeled and sliced
3 sprigs rosemary
1 clove garlic, chopped
300g spinach, chopped
90ml thickened cream
pinch grated nutmeg
4 eggs
parmesan for grating
sourdough bread, to serve
Heat oven to 180C. Over medium heat, heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, add onion, rosemary and garlic and cook until soft, about five minutes. Blanch spinach in a pot of boiling water, drain in a colander and squeeze out excess water. Put the spinach, cream and nutmeg in a food processor with the onion mix and blend until smooth. Spoon half the spinach mixture into four 250ml ramekins. Crack an egg into each ramekin, season with salt and pepper and spoon the rest of the spinach around the egg leaving the yolk uncovered. Place the ramekins on the centre shelf of the oven and bake until whites are cooked but yolks are still runny, about 20- 25 minutes. Remove from oven, grate some parmesan over it and serve with toasted sourdough.
Serves 4
Pain e spice waffle
1½ cups milk
100g honey
60g butter, melted
130g plain flour
100g rye flour
50g sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp clove
½ tsp anise
¼ tsp coriander
2 tbsp candied peel
2 eggs, separated
walnuts, maple syrup and creme fraiche to serve
Put milk, honey and 40 grams of melted butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil then remove from heat. Sieve all dry ingredients except the candied peel into a bowl. Pour the milk and honey mixture into the dry ingredients. Add the candied peel and egg yolks and whisk together gently until smooth. Heat waffle iron. Whisk egg whites to a soft peak and fold through waffle mix gently. Brush the hot waffle iron with some of the remaining butter. Spoon in some mixture and cook according to waffle iron instructions. Serve with walnuts, maple syrup and creme fraiche.
Makes 6 waffles
TIP
The spinach mixture can be made the day before. Warm it in a microwave or pan to help it cook faster in the ramekin.