Bs

THE FRUGAL GOURMET

THE EGG is one of Mother
Nature’s most perfect
foods, though in our time
she is being blamed for all
kinds of dietary sins.

According to the authorities 1
most tespect, eggs are not serious
villains in our diet. They contain a
good deal of lecithin, which helps
in their digestion and which means
eggs are really quite good for us.

However, eating eggs <very
morning for breakfast makes no
sense to me, any more than does
eating beans every night for din-
ner.

Variety is the key to health — J
ain convinced of that. .

Enjoy the following egg dishes
— just don’t overdo on eggs, or
on anything else for that matter.

A warning is offered concerning
salmonella, a bacteria chickens
can pass on through their eggs. Be
sure to cook your eggs to 140°F,
which means a soft-boifed egg is
all right, but a raw egg in a salad
dressing isnot. _

EGGS SCRAMBLED
-WITH CURRY AND
WATER CHESTNUTS

(Serves 3-4)

This is, in my opinion, a very
good egg dish. 1 wish J could
credit it to the person who sent it
to me, but all 1 have is the recipe
on a small piece of paper and no
name or address of the author,

6 eggs

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Sate and freshly ground white
pepper to taste

i tablespoon chopped parsley

omy

inquisitive
Gook

SUE
WILSON

ANNE
GARDINER

Eggs in a

a

Wednesday, Nov.

NEWS photo Peul McGrath

EGGS CONTAIN a good deal of lecithin, which helps in their digestion and which means they are

teally quite good for us.

2 teaspoons curry powder

T tablespoon peanut oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

t cup sliced water chestnuts,
drained .

Beat the eggs together in a small
bow! and stir in the remaining in-
gredients except the oil, garlic and
water chestnuts.

Heat a frying pan or wok and
add the peanut oil and garlic. Add
the egg mixture and allow the eggs
to set slightly.

Add the water chestnuts and
scramble together over medium
heat until cooked tc taste.

PIPERADE
(Serves 4)

This wonderful dish of
vegetables and eggs is of Basque
origin, the Basques being that na-
tionality of people who live in the
Pyrenees mountain between
northern Spain and = southern
France. .

2 tablespoons olive oi)

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
I medium yellow onion, jeeled
and sliced

1 medium green bell pepper, cor-
ed, seeded and sliced

IN THE early 19th century,
housewives were expected to
be as familiar with brewing
as they were with baking.

Old English cookbooks often
listed instructions for both.

Housewives used barms for
baking, or the liquids which grew
the home-made yeasts for brew-
ing.

Recipes sometimes cautioned
cooks to check that the barm used
to leaven bread was not bitter or
tasting too strongly of hops.

Baking was thus a dicey pro-
cess, for the strength of the barm,
and its yeast, could vary markedly.

Today, yeasts used in baking
and brewing are much less
temperamenta]l. They work faster
and keep rar tonger.

And we know a ereat deal more
about how these single-celled or-
ganisms accomplish the task of
leavening.

1 medium red belf peppcr, cored,
seeded and sliced

3 tablespoons chopped parley
Ms cup coarsely chopped
tomato

Salt to taste

38 egys, heaten

4 scallions, chopped

Freshly ground black pepper to
taste

Heat the oil and butter in a
Jarge frying pan and saute the
garlic, onion and bell pepper
slices. Sattte until just tender.

Add the parsley and tomato.
Cook a few minutes more over
medium-high heat to evaporate
any excess liquid. Add the sait to
laste, beaten eggs and scallions.

Scramble everything together
and top with plenty of freshly
ground black pepper.

BASIC OMELETTE
(Serves !)

Omelettes are quick to prepare,
totally versatile, and everyone in
your cian will tove them.

3 eggs, ut room temperature

1 Cablespoon water

2 tablespeon peaaut ail

VY: tablespoon butter

Salt and freshly ground black

ripe

The strain of yeasts known as
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used in
baking because it most effectively
breaks down starches and fer-
ments sugars to create ethyl
alcohol and carbon dioxide.

When you mix, knead and
punch down dough you’re helping
yeas: do its job by creating a
multitude of tiny air pockets to be
filled during the leavening process.

Yeast expands these cells with
the carbon dioxide it produces.

AsS gases rise in warm
temperatures during fermentation,
the dough lifts to a light porous
sponge.

Yeast cells like to be fed, and
kept warm and moist. Sugars
provide the food yeast needs to
grow and multiply.

If the sugars present are too
complex, yeast contains a special
enzyme, called invertase, which
breaks them into the simpler
sugars, glucose and fructose, that

pepper (o taste
GARNISH:
Chopped parstey

Heai a non-stick pan over me-
dium-high heat. In a small bowl
whip the eggs with a table fork.
Add the water and whip again.

Place the off and butter in the
heated pan at the same time.
When the butter stops foaming,
whisk the eggs a couple of times
and pour them into the pan.

When the omelette begins to set
you may have to lift the edge with
a wooden spatula and allow the
wet portion of the mixture to run
under the omelette. Add salt and
pepper if you wish.

Before salt and pepper are add-
ed. any filling may be added.
Place it on the front half of the
omelette (the handle side of the
pan is considered the back por-
tion).

Slide the omelette onto a plate
and, holding the handle
backhand, fold the omelette over
in half, using the pan,

Garnish with parstey or some of
the filling you have used, and
serve hot.

RICOTTA FRITTATA

yeast prefers.

When sugar isn’t handy, yeast
calls on its enzyme, maliase, to
change some of the starch
granules in (our to a sugar it can
use.

True French breads, without
added sugar, rise more slowly
because of this extra step.

Once sugars are reduced, a third
enzyme, zymase, converts them
into carbon dioxide and alcohol,
as well as compounds that making
handling easicr and others that
add flavor and aroma.

On top of all these tasks, yeast
also reproduces as bread . rises.
About three hours after proofing,
a small bulge forms on the edge
of many of the yeast cells.

This new bud soon separates
from the parent cell and starts its
own life processes. Whea the
budding process begins, bread
rises dramatically.

As Jong as yeast has food, new

25, 1992 - North Shore News ~ 63

(Serves 4}

The omelette goes back to an-
cient times. The Greeks loved
eves, but ft think the classic frit-
lala. an omeletie partially cooked,
then broiled, must be credited to
dig Romans.

This is a gaod one, and it is
rich and filling.

I pound ricotta
Salt and freshly
pepper to Caste

6 epes

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan or
Romano cheese

2 tablepsoons olive oil

Using an electric mixer, cream
the ricotta with the salt and pep-
per until smooth and fluffy.

In a separate bow! beat the eggs
with the grated cheese. Add eggs
to the ricotta and blend well.

Heat a 10-inch non-stick frying
pan and add the oil. Add the egg .
and cheese mixture and cook over
low heat until the bottom is gold-
en and the eggs begin to set.

Place under a heated broiler un-
til lightly browned on top.

Place on a serving platter and
cut into wedges to serve.

SALTED EGGS

This is a very old method of
preserving eggs and giving addi-
tional flavor all in the same
operation. What you will have is
an uncooked pickled egg, and the
eggs must be cooked eventually.

Do not be concerned about the
fact that they are not refrigerated.
The salt solves the problem of
preservation.

4 cups water

144 cups kosher salt

t dozen eggs

Ye cup black tea such as po nay or
dark oolong

Boil the water and add the salt,
Stirring until it dissolves. Allow
the water to col completely.

Place the eggs in a bowl and
add the tea. Cover with the salt
solution, bcing careful not to add
any sait that did not dissalve.

Place a saucer on top of the
eggs so they remain under the
solution at all times. Cover and
aliow to sit for 20 days. Then
refrigerate.

They can actually be used after
the first 10 days, buc a brighter
flavor will develop if you wait the
longer time.

The eggs can be hard-boiled,
peeled and served just as they are,
along with a little light soy sauce
and some sesame oi.

ground = black

Creating breads a melding of chemistry, technique and art

generations of yeast cells form
during long rising periods.

Slow fermentation also pro-
duces the complex flavor and ar-
omatic compounds that give bread
character.

If you're in a hurry, however, a
faster rising period may become
more important than well-
developed flavors.

Some bakers say quick-rise
yeasts are best in recipes in which
spices and extra sugar dominate
flavors.

Recall the acrid odor that
wrinkles your nose as you check
bread for doneness. That's the
ethyl alcohol produced by yeast,
evaporating in the heat of the
oven. :

Yeast may be new-age in form,
but its actions repeat an ancient
process, Creating today’s beautiful
breads remains a melding of
chemistry, technique and art.