Pain perdu means “lost bread” in French. In France, it is traditionally done with bread from the day before and often served as a dessert. This is a way not to waste bread as families would buy fresh bread each day. In Australia, we follow the American trend of doing pain perdu as a breakfast staple. This recipe uses pre-cut commercial brioche which I buy from time to time.
Count one slice per person, two for bigger eaters. I like to add yoghurt and fruits. I do not necessarily add sugar over the pain perdu as the brioche is already quite sweet. If you do it with left-over bread, adding brown sugar, honey or maple syrup is then quite justified.
Ingredients:
For 5 slices
5 slices of brioche
3 eggs
1/2 cup of mil
a nut of butter
Preparation:
Beat the eggs and milk together in a large bowl
Heat up a nut of butter in a non-stick pan. When melted reduce the heat to 2/3 of full power.
Take a slice of brioche, place it in the egg mixture (for 5 seconds) if the top of the slide was not submerged turn over and repeat, then transfer to the fry-pan. You may be able to fit 2 or 3 slices in the pan.
Melt butter
Place soaked brioche in the pan
Cook until golden brown
After 30 seconds to 1 minute (depending on the heat) turn over, it should be golden brown.
Once the bottom is also golden brown transfer to a plate and serve.
Eat warm with fruits, yogurt and honey or brown sugar as wished.
Free range eggs have now a formal definition in Australia. The controversy was not new, and a definition has been a long time coming. A number of brands claim to be “free range”, alas, for the poor customer, there was (until now) no way to know the veracity of the claim, especially when you pay a premium for “free range eggs”, for some brands, that premium can mean over $10 a dozen.
One of the not so free range eggs brands apparently
Of course, the hens are free range,…not the eggs!
The new definition of what free range eggs imply is well received by some, not so well by others. I am not going to go into the controversy of what should be done when breeding hens and which brands are better than others, it is a personal issue on what is acceptable to you. I find that this definition is a starting point, for those who think it is not good enough, well, marketing and imagination can be used wisely.
How are free range eggs defined elsewhere?
Lets get into the new definition of free range eggs and look over the oceans at what is done elsewhere.
In Australia, free range eggs must come from hens that have meaningful and regular access to an outdoor range, with a stocking density of up to 10,000 birds per hectare. One hectare being 100 m x 100 m, this means 1 square metre per hen outside. Interestingly, it seems the density indoors is unknown.
And in Europe? Europe has a European standard which defines the different categories of eggs. A free range eggs requires:
compulsory continuous daytime access to open air runs, AND
the outdoor area is solely to be used for the hens, with limitations on dual use of the land, AND
a maximum density of 2,500 birds per hectare, in other words 4 square metres per hen (at all time, i.e. indoor and outdoor).
You got it, free range eggs in Europe are definitely more free range than in Australia!
And in the US? In the US, there is no regulatory standard for eggs. “Free range” is used when the hens are free to roam inside and have access to an outdoor area.
Using eggs everyday
These recipes are quite timely, I did not prepare them on purpose for this post, they are life example from this week in my family.
Blue cheese and asparagus quiche
I like a quiche from time to time, it is light to digest and comes under many sorts. When I was a child I only liked the cheese quiche, I did not like at all the quiche Lorraine! Now, things are different. Quiche can incorporate vegetables, either in the main mix, for example grated zucchinis (finely grated) or grated carrots either on top where it can also serve as decoration. Make it look like a landscape! Try asian mushrooms on top, I really like the enoki mushrooms. Use a combination of them, it will be great, guaranteed! This week, Ambrine was helping me make the quiche, I had green asparagus and the remaining of a large basket of cherry tomatoes from my mother in law’s garden in the NSW Southern Highlands. The recipe is here.
Before Baking:
Just BAKED
To make the quiche process a bit more rapid ahead of the meal, you can make the quiche in stages and prepare the pastry earlier the same day or the day before. You can even blind bake it earlier.
I serve the with a green salad. And dessert was a fruit salad.
Dinner on the table
Eggs for breakfast, today, using a microwave coddler
This is another child friendly recipe. This is all about the fun of little vessel called “coddlers” used to cook eggs. Coddlers are, traditionally, English porcelain egg cups with a metal lead. Very British! Egg coddlers have been used in England since the 1800s. The original name for an egg coddler was pipkin. My sister sent me a microwave version of them for a recent Christmas, what a great find! The advantage of the microwave version is the cooking time, it cooks in 30 seconds whereas the ceramics ones are cooked in a bain marie, this takes for ages!
Microwave Coddler
All you need to do is:
Crack open the egg and gently put in the coddler
Add salt, a teaspoon of cream, pepper if you want. You can add many more things like cheese, spices, …
Close the lid
Place in the microwave for 30 seconds (this will depend on your microwave and requires a bit of trial and error)
That is it! Bip! Ready!
Cooking an egg in a coddlerEgg cooked in a coddler
This flan patissier is a simple dessert for the whole family. It is basically a cooked custard. You can make it plain, or add previously soaked raisins or dry plums or even chocolate chips.
Depending on the height of your tart pan you may have some left over (like for mine, 3/4 of the recipe below is sufficient).
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 L of milk
50 g butter (you can choose to do without, the butter add some richness and silkiness)
8 whole eggs
200 g white sugar
Soaked raisins drained (prepare some tea, add some mirabelle liquor (plum brandy) or other liquor and let raisins soak for at least 3 hours)
Seeds of 1 vanilla bean
Method:
Preheat oven to 170°C. Butter and flour a tart pan.
Place sugar, vanilla seeds, butter and milk in a large saucepan on the stove, heat up until close to boil.
While the milk is warming up, in a large bowl, break the eggs, beat them and mix with the flour, use a ladle of the milk to help.
When the milk is about to boil, pour half of the milk over the egg-flour mix while mixing (use a large whisk), transfer back to a slow heat and stir constantly. The mixture will thicken. Be careful not to boil it. When it is clearly coating the back of a spoon, remove from the heat, insert the soaked raisins and pour into the tart pan.
Insert into the oven and bake until set (there will be a golden brown (it can be a bit darker than on the photo).
