Hello, retro food lovers! This week we have a straightforward but delicious supper dish to delight your tastebuds! Now, I use the term “supper” quite deliberately here. For me, dinner is a much more formal affair – a multi-course spread, often quite heavy. Supper, on the other hand, is all about keeping things quick and light. And that’s exactly where Swiss Eggs come in! While they’d also be perfect for lunch or brunch, these beauties fall squarely into the supper category.
The recipe itself hails from a little gem called “500 Recipes for Quick Meals” by Marguerite Patten, published back in 1972. Get ready for a tasty trip down memory lane!
How good does it look with that combination of both melted and crispy cheese! This is not one for the lactose intolerant! And as the name of the book suggests this is also a quick recipe, it also only has four ingredients! Quick, easy delicious = a suppertime win! It would also be a great brunch or work from home lunch! So, as you might have guessed the Swiss in the title doesn’t refer to this dishes provenance but to the use of Swiss cheese which is first used to line the bottom of the baking dish.
You then add your eggs.
Cover with cream:
And more cheese. And that’s it. Job done. Pop that into the oven for around 12 minutes and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions for Swiss Eggs
While your eggs are baking, why not whip up a simple green salad and some toast? Or, if you’re feeling a touch more indulgent (like me!), pop some garlic bread in alongside the eggs to bake together. The combination of creamy Swiss Eggs, a refreshing salad, and warm, garlicky bread creates a light yet undeniably delicious meal.
Speaking of delicious, a glass of chilled white wine wouldn’t go amiss here, would it? The entire dish evokes a certain European charm, and a glass of wine would only enhance that ambiance. So go ahead, channel your inner Elizabeth David on this one. Of course, if you’re enjoying this as a breakfast treat, it might be wise to stick with Marguerite’s original suggestion of some good old-fashioned (and perhaps very 1972) fried bread! It might not be quite as continental, but it’s certainly a nostalgic and satisfying way to start your day. Then again, who am I to judge? If you want wine with your brekkie, go for it!
Swiss Eggs – Recipe
I thought the Swiss Eggs were holey delightful! (Geddit? Swiss Cheese has…nevermind) And not at all eggtravagant! I”m sure you’ll all be scrambling to make these!
Hello friends and welcome to a midweek quickie. Today we are talking leftovers, specifically what to do with leftover Ham Slaw. I recently, please don’t laugh at this, but I only very recently learned that you could “bake” potatoes in the microwave! Combine the two and you get a super yummy ham slaw baked potato. AKA Work from home heaven!
Since then though, I have been making up for lost time and about once a week when I am on a working-from-home day and have suitable leftovers, I have been baking up a potato and having it with my leftovers for lunch. The Ham Slaw was AMAZING!
And how does it taste?
There is something I find so comforting about a baked potato. And at 6 minutes cooking time, you can bake your potato, walk your dogs and eat all in your lunch hour! The ham slaw is a pretty robust salad so will last in the fridge for a day or two so if you make a bit more than you need, you can have lunches for a few days. I had this as a work from home lunch but there’s nothing to stop you re-heating your potato in the office microwave either!
Ham slaw, a baked potato hack and two Taylor Swift gifs? What more could you want in a mid-week quickie! Hope your week is going well.
Grilled cheese is one of life’s little pleasures. Warm toasty bread, oozy melty grilled cheese…it doesn’t get better than this. Except in Macedonia where they top their grilled cheese with…wait for it….more cheese!!!
Today we’re continuing our visit to the Balkan States with a little look at Przeni Lepcinja – Macedonian grilled cheese.
Macedonian Grilled Cheese is essentially a cheesy French toast, topped with cheese. It’s delicious and so quick and easy to make!
The blend of creamy melted mozzarella and the salty feta cheese is great and perfect with the crisp french toast style bread!
I found the recipe for Macedonian Grilled Cheese here I’ve also copied it below. I served mine with a little tomato and red onion salsa that was very similar to the Sopska Salata featured here. Although given the double cheese abundance in the toast, I left the cheese out of the salad!
If you feel like something a bit more substantial, this is also great if you serve with a poached or fried egg on top…this I think also has a nice symmetry – cheesy eggy bread, topped with cheese and egg.
And now, just because I can, here’s a cheesy joke for you:
I hope the festivities were wonderful and the champagne was flowing freely!!! The only downside to all the partying is that invariably you end up with a fridge full of leftovers. This year we were inundated with leftover chicken so, if you ever find yourself in the same situation, here are two ways to use it up.
My first leftover chicken recipe uses one of my favourite retro ingredients, the vol au vent shell. (Sorry Glenda, still store-bought!)
And it’s simples – mix up a white sauce add some tarragon, stir in your chicken, fill your vol au vent cups, sprinkle on some cheese and in a couple of minutes you have a super cute little appetizer with which to kick off your next party!
My Chicken and Tarragon Vol Au Vents are based on a recipe I found in a Feast Magazine but can also be found here.
My next take on leftover chicken is a more modern Chicken, Avocado and Chipotle Tortilla which you can serve two ways.
I got this recipe from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder where it was originally conceived of as a wrap. I made one of these and took it to work (yes, sadly I worked between Christmas and New Year). It was tasty but I am not a fan of the taste of cooked avocado and even putting the wrap into the sandwich press was enough to turn the taste from delicious to awful. If you like cooked avocado, or you want this all to yourself, this could be just the thing for you!
If however, like me you do not like the taste of cooked avocado, or you want to share the deliciousness, turn it into a “pizza”
Heat the tortilla until crispy, sprinkle the chicken, avocado and the chipotle salsa over the top, cut into slices and serve immediately to your guests as an appetizer. (Or eat it all by yourself! I won’t judge you.
1/4–1/2 chipotle chilli in adobo sauce (or to taste)
1 sprig of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
1 tsp lime juice
Salt and Pepper
Toothpick
Instructions
At least one hour before serving, make your salsa.
Discard the seeds from the tomato, mix with the onion, chilli, coriander and lime juice. Season to taste.
Set aside to allow the flavours to blend.
Just before serving, drain the salsa, neither of these recipes needs soggy tortilla!
For The Pizza
Heat the tortilla under the grill until it gets crispy.
Once the tortilla is crispy, take it out of the oven and top with the chicken, avocado and salsa.
Cut into slices and serve immediately.
Perfect with an ice cold beer!
For the Wrap
Warm the tortilla according to packet instructions, to soften.
Spread a line of chicken, a line of avocado and a line of salsa in the middle of the tortilla, leaving a 2 cm gap on all sides.
Fold in the bottom, rotate 90* and fold over one side then the other.
Tuck the remaining side of tortilla, securing with a toothpick.
Place into your sandwich press or under your grill and heat until the outside of the tortilla is golden and crispy.
Don’t forget to remove the toothpick before eating!
I wish you all the very best for 2016 and may it be the year all your dreams come true! Thank you for reading and commenting and being a part of my teeny corner of the internet. It’s a New Year – Let’s make it wonderful!
One of my new year’s resolutions this year was to take my lunch to work a lot more. I had lots of reasons for this – it’s a LOT cheaper, it meant I could control ingredients and portion sizes, it can often be healthier and there’s much less wastage both in food and packaging. There’s no real downside.
Except. The monotony. By about mid February I felt like I was cornering the market in tins of tuna – tuna green salad, tuna pasta salad, tuna potato salad, tuna and couscous had become my go to and frankly it was becoming a bit of a bore. I was maxxed out on the tuna and feeling my motivation starting to wane.
Enter “Bring Your Lunch” by Califia Suntree.
Bring Your Lunch
And can I just say…awesome name, Califia Suntree.
And awesome book.
In the interests of full disclosure and all the blah blah, I did not pay for this book, I got it free off net galley but I would hope that you all know me well enough by now to know that if I truly dislike something, I’ll let you know.
The Book
The first few chapters of the book are the facts, man. Why you should take your lunch, what you need, planning tips etc. This section is very thorough. Or so I assume from the number of pages devoted to it.
To be honest, I didn’t actually read all of them because I wanted to get my hands on the recipes. Plus, I felt I was already motivated to bring my own lunch didn’t need to be pitched on the reasons why. However, it is very nicely illustrated and if you need to be convinced, or feel your motivation flagging at any time, take the time to read these pages.
My favourite picture in this section was the lunch horoscope. It really helped to refine what recipes would best fit your lifestyle,not just your tastebuds! Which is so important, I’m not the person who is going to be spending any time in the morning making lunch so it’s important for me to know which are the good “night owl” recipes.
This could have been carried even further by attaching the relevant symbols to the recipe. That would have been amazing!!!
The Food
The food sections of the book are broken down into various sections, starting with
Last Minute Lunches – Salads
The Kale Agrodolce is not only just a good idea for lunches but it has pretty much become my go-to salad at the moment. I’m loving the sweet-sour of the agrodolce. Having said that, that name made me giggle though. Anyone of a certain age in Australia would like me probably associate an Agrodolce as the mutant lovechild between a foul-mouthed puppet host of a children’s cartoon show from the ’80’s….
And Joe Dolce, a singer who made his fortune by playing to the casual racism of the average Australian;
Thankfully, it’s actually a lovely sweet-sour blend of sultanas soaked in balsamic vinegar. Add some toasted pine nuts, some kale et voila. Here it is with some of the Potato and Mushroom Tarts from Valli Little’s Slow. This was one of the best lunches I have had in ages!!!
Kale Agrodolce
Another super salad from this section was the Fennel and Spinach Salad with Figs and Blue Cheese. I don’t have a photo of this . Largely because every time I made it I was far too busy shoving all that tasty goodness into my mouth to take photos. Just believe me when I say it is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. But don’t take my word for it. I feel bad I didn’t have a photo for you, so here is the recipe:
Who knew egg and prawns would go together do well? And tarragon pretty much makes everything taste good. I had this both as a traditional sandwich and wrapped in a lettuce leaf and it was delicious both ways.
Leftover Leitmotifs
Waste not, want not. Make all your food count by creatively using leftovers to make delicious bring your own lunch meals. I made:
Nasi Goreng
Great way to use random veg – I had cabbage, mushrooms, onion, carrot, corn, spring onions, snow peas, broccoli….I think that was all and some chicken breast. I also threw in some prawns. So tasty!!!
Nasi Goreng
And who doesn’t love Chicken Noodle Soup? The Parmesan Cheese and Lemon in this Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup makes it particularly tasty.
Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup
Other delicious sounding recipes in this section include:
Chinese Chicken Salad
Pork Tacos with Pinepapple Salsa
Beef Stroganoff
Ceviche with Mango and Basil
The Freezer Is Your Friend
Mini Lasagnas are my friend. Bake these vegetarian delights in muffin trays and pop in the freezer for future use.
Hardy Green Mini Lasagnas
And how gorgeous do these look, particularly when topped with a lovely cherry tomato compote?
Hardy Green Mini Lasagnas With Cherry Tomato Compote
Ditch The Vending Machine
Chickpea Nuts
Delicious to snack on. So simple to make.
You can indulge your sweet tooth with
Chilli & Cherry Brownie Bites
Gingery Pecan Cranberry Granola Bars
Califia even provides advice on how to Tart Up Your Tuna, so there is absolutely never any reason to get stuck in a rut even with this staple lunch ingredient.
Tart Up Your Tuna – Califia Suntree
I really liked this book and can see it becoming a go to for lunch (and more).
My only criticism, is that whilst I love the drawings as featured above, I would have liked some photos of the food, sometimes it is just nice to see if you have “got it right”. But that is probably more about my insecurities than any fault of the book.
At the time of writing Bring Your Lunch is selling at around $4 which is absolute bargain. I would pay that just for the salad recipes let alone all the rest. Why don’t you buy it and start bringing it too?
