Inspiration : Nigella

I borrowed this book from the library last Monday. I got it from the 7-Day Rapid Reads shelf which means that I can only have it for a week and I cannot renew the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Nigella-Kitchen-Recipes-Heart-Home/dp/1401323952

When I think of Nigella, I do not think of Twinings Tea, I actually think of my brother Slash-M. (He likes her, unless I've got her confused with some other luscious cook.)

I had been able to watch a couple of her shows on the Food Network while we were still in Manila. She always seemed to make things look so easy and so yummy. She was always sneaking a taste of whatever she was cooking.

While I was watching what Nigella was cooking, apparently MacGyver was watching something else. You see, when I borrowed the book, he noted that the book had too many words and not enough pictures ... of Nigella. (Humph! MEN!!)

Anyway, since the book will be due soon, I decided to flip through the pages and see what she had to say. Reading her introductory chapters was like listening to her on TV. She shared what she has in her kitchen, provided some insight and gave some advice.

My favourite part was her Gadget Hall of Shame where she rattled off some of the non-performing assets in her kitchen. Her list included an electric ice cream maker, healthy-eating electric grill, electric bread maker, electric jam maker, electric cheese grater (RD had a hearty laugh when he got to the cheese grater bit), electric slow cooker, electric sauce maker, electric waffle maker, soup-making super-blender, electric super-juicer, yogurt maker and electric carving knife.

Truth be told, the slow cooker is one of my favorite cooking appliances. And, among the items I have in her Gadget Hall of Shame, I just LOVE my waffle iron. So really, to each his own.

This was her bit in the book about the Electric waffle maker.

Now, I do know what likes behind the purchase of this: namely, the all-too-familiar combination of optimism and self-delusion that always turns the shopper into such easy prey. I can make pancakes for fifteen children at the weekend without it being any kind of big deal (although now they're teenagers, it has to be said, it's never early in the morning - or indeed morning at all) but just attempting waffles for my three was more stressful than you can believe possible. I know it's my failure -- that it's my incompetence with the machine that's to blame - but who wants to pay to have that pointed out? And just to highlight my foolishness, I haven't yet implemented its move form cupboard to charity shop; I still delude myself that I am going to be that person who rustles up waffles for breakfast, one day.

Hey, what do you know? I am that person who rustles up waffles for breakfast.

I decided to mix up some waffle batter before going to mass. The yeast needed to rise anyway.

I told MyGirl that if she and her brothers got hungry, they could ask their dad to make the waffles, as long as it was after the needed rising time.

When I got back home, I found MacGyver in the kitchen heating up the waffle iron. I assume RD's stomach couldn't wait for me to get home anymore. So I was lucky enough to get the waffles when they were still nice, hot and crispy.

In fact, the newly baked waffles didn't last one minute on the serving platter because as soon as MacGyver put the waffles on the dining table, they got picked up and moved to a plate.

Fluffy Pancakes

My search is over.

The secret is ... self-raising flour.

I normally make pancakes from scratch but no matter how magnificent the picture is in the cookbook, the magazine or the internet, the final product is never quite as fluffy.

I like FLUFFY pancakes. I just do. (Of course the children are somewhat partial to the crepe-like pancakes. But that is another story.) The ones in the likes of Pancake House are always light and fluffy. Even McDonald's can make fluffier pancakes that I can. (Oh dear, I am taken back to McDonald's for breakfast. Hotcakes and hot chocolate. LIKE!)

Anyway, a couple of weeks back, an officemate of mine gave me a piece of her pancake. It was nice and fluffy ... and homemade. When I commented that her pancakes were extraordinary, she said it was so simple to do. She mentioned that she used self-raising flour AND baking soda.

So my quest (for fluffy pancakes from scratch) was revived. I said to myself, if she can do it, so can I.

I got this recipe off the internet and tried it out this morning.

FLUFFY PANCAKES

(Makes 10 x 11" pancakes)

1.5 c milk

2 t lemon juice

2T sugar

1.5 c self-raising flour

1/4 t baking soda

1 egg

1.5 T melted butter

Combine milk, lemon juice and sugar. Set aside for 5 minutes.

Combine flour and baking soda in a large bowl.

Add egg and melted butter to the milk mixture . Whisk to combine.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until almost smooth.

(Do not over beat. Leave batter a little lumpy.)

Let batter sit about 2 minutes while preheating a non-stick pan.

Scoop 1/4 c of batter and spread to make 11".

Cook until bubbles burst (about 2 minutes).

Flip and cook the other side (about 1 minute).

I LOVED IT!

My next experiment would be to see if this recipe would work as well without the secret ingredient. You know ... 1 cup of self-raising flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 t baking powder + 1/2 t salt + 1/4 t baking soda.

Yes, I know I said that my search is over ... but that doesn't mean I stop experimenting. Don't worry, if my experiment fails, then you can expect self-raising flour to be added to our regular grocery list.

Breakfast is Served

I think breakfast is the simplest meal to prepare. It is the meal where I am almost certain everyone will finish their food and there would be minimal left-overs.

Being Filipinos, we still like to have rice for breakfast. Cereals and oatmeal are not considered as normal breakfast fare for us. In fact, if ever I decide to serve oats or cereal, I have to be sure it is not Sports Day for any of the kids because they would surely complain that neither of those would not tide them over for the whole day at school.

Rice and E- double G - S, eggs.

Yes, we have eggs for breakfast. Eggs can be soft-boiled, hard-boiled, fried, scrambled, poached; it can be used to make an omelet or a quiche (something I have yet to try).

For me, it is much simpler to have eggs for breakfast.

However, if I were to go through the my family members' list of preferences, you would have probably express your doubts that having eggs for breakfast is a simple matter.

Given a choice, they would all prefer omelets. The more it has inside (as long as it didn't come from a branch or have roots once upon a time), the better. At its simplest, there is cheese omelet.

I have found it simpler to make one omelet per person rather than making a giant omelet for everyone. As it turns out, there is a particular type of cheese which MyGirl does not like in her cheese omelet, so clearly 'omelet to share' is not an option. If I were making cheese omelets for each one, I had to be sure to use different cheese for MyGirl's omelet and put it on her plate so nobody else would eat it by mistake.

If there happened to be some ham or bacon in the ref, it would be a ham or bacon with cheese omelet. If by some stroke of luck, there are mushrooms in the refrigerator (most likely excess from the previous night's dinner), it would be a ham or bacon with mushroom and cheese omelet. The latter is RD's favorite one.

Naturally I cannot serve omelet everyday. So on the non-omelet days, I would fry eggs.

In Manila, when I made fried eggs for RD, I would often apologize about nearly burning the whites giving him fried eggs with crusty bottoms. He assured me that they were fine and would eat his breakfast happily (as long as the yolk was still runny). I always thought he was just being nice about it (because that is the way he is); until one day, I managed to 'produce' what I considered to be the perfectly fried egg --the yolk was intact and the whites were not crusty. I was quite pleased with myself. What I failed to realize was that what is perfect for me was not perfect for my customer. When RD saw the fried egg, his face dropped. "But I like mine crusty," he said. "Next time, Mom, can you make mine crusty?"

OK ... to each his own... MacGyver would have wanted that 'perfect' fried egg.

No problem. Fried eggs have to be done with runny yolks; whites are not crusty for MacGyver, crusty for RD ...

But there is a catch! MyGirl and GI do not like fried eggs.

Runny? Firm? Crusty? Not crusty?

Nope.

They don't like fried eggs ... period.

So I would scramble some eggs instead.

That would have solved the problem if both of them would accept fried eggs with open arms. Unfortunately, GI does not like scrambled eggs either. Well, he would probably eat the scrambled eggs if I put them on his plate but given a choice he would not want them. If he were to eat them, he would most likely ask for ham or bacon even if there was hotdogs or breakfast sausage on the table. Since I am aware of the positions of fried eggs and scrambled eggs in GI's 'how I like my eggs done' totem pole, there are days I just end up making GI an omelet. (So much for non-omelet days.)

We rarely boil eggs. I have a lot of excuses for not wanting to boil eggs. My pans are too small. Using the electric hot plate takes such a long time to boil an egg. I can never be sure if the eggs are still soft enough, or if they are already hard. (Yes, twirling the eggs to check would tell us if they were hard or soft, but by the time they are cool enough to twirl, the water in the pan has already cooled down.)

However, my all-time favorite excuse is boiled eggs are not as popular as omelet, fried eggs or scrambled eggs.

We tried poaching eggs in Manila. Mother had a technique which I still don't get. Theoretically poached eggs are healthier than fried eggs making it the better choice between the two. The only problem is that whenever I poach eggs, I feel as if so much of the eggwhites gets tossed out with the water. I would much rather boil the eggs, keep everything intact, and take my chances on whether the eggs will be soft or hard.

Until such time that I can figure out better things to serve for breakfast, the family will be stuck with eggs. And until I am able to find one or two extra egg rings, on non-omelet days, the pan will have two fried eggs and one scrambled egg looking like ...

Elmo!

Vamos a comer.