The Meringue Girls Meringue Kisses...

I love the Meringue Girls on many, many levels - they're cute, and they're cute! They've taken something basic and created a niche market - good for them... In addition, their cookbook has brilliant little video clips which can be accessed via the cookbook by scanning a special code on your iPhone. They're fun, informative, simple, and definitely give you a sense of their personalities: that's often difficult to achieve in a cookbook.

Oeufs en Cocotte, Alba Truffle, and King Oyster Mushrooms

Some supper dishes are so simple that they should be saved until you have some really special ingredients - oeufs en cocotte (baked eggs) are the perfect example.  A quick tour of the fridge reveals lovely Legbar eggs, the remains of an alba truffle from Christmas, and king oyster mushrooms.  Baked together like this it's not a supper dish but a feast...

Eggs Benedict and Heston Blumenthal's Perfectly Poached Eggs

Hubby is mildy addicted to eggs Benedict - he frequently orders it for working breakfasts, and you can see from some of his comments that he has many, many criteria he applies to the dish.  Consequently I'm often reluctant to cook it at home - but hey, it's Christmas - the man deserves his favourite breakfast at Christmas surely?!

The Harwood Arms Venison Scotch Egg

The Harwood Arms Scotch Egg

I had lunch at the Harwood Arms recently, and arrived late :0) What a marvel - to arrive late and to be presented with a gorgeous Scotch egg within moments of being seated, and having spent nearly an hour in traffic to travel about four miles!  It was delicious, spicy, well flavoured and with a soft gorgeous yolk in the centre - yummy!

Tribute Dish: Ben Spalding's Slow Cooked Duck Egg

I think we all know that I love Roganic, I certainly seem to talk about it enough :0)  One of my favourite dishes is the sous-vide duck egg, which Ben has served us in a couple of different ways.  Recently I was determined to make proper use of my sous-vide machine, which can often languish in the cupboard, unloved and unused.

Truffles and Eggs...

Typically a truffle will last for around a week in normal kitchen conditions, and during that time you can maximise it's impact by infusing it's scent into other ingredients.