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Archive for April, 2010


Migas, which translates to crumbs in English, varies widely across Spain, but the fundamental ingredient in all incarnations is fried bread.  The recipe is easily adaptable, and was featured recently on Wild Gourmets in Spain. It’s a great way to use up leftover cottage loaves!

This is the traditional breakfast of the shepherds who tend the Manchega sheep in La Mancha, as it’s made from easily transportable ingredients.  Here’s my take on it…

  • chorizo sausage
  • paprika, preferably smoked
  • stale bread, torn into bite-sized chunks
  • olive oil
  • onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, sliced
  • eggs
  • Manchego, or other hard sheeps milk cheese

Note: the original recipe used Spanish chorizo, a smoked cured meat, similar to salami.  I couldn’t find one that I liked, so I’ve gone for an Italian style chorizo, which is a fresh sausage that needs to be cooked before eating.  Alternatively, you could use salami, bacon or a different fresh sausage.

1. Sprinkle the bread with a little water if it’s dry.  Set aside.

2. In a large frypan, heat a good lug of olive oil and fry the onion and garlic, then add the chopped chorizo.  Fry until the chorizo starts to cook and releases some of its oil.  Add a little paprika – this adds a lovely colour and flavour to the dish and helps to compensate for the lack of paprika in non-Spanish chorizos.

3. Add the bread and fry until well coloured and crisp.  Spoon out onto serving dishes.  Top each plate with a fried egg and a few slices of cheese, then season with freshly ground black pepper.  Very moreish!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

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It’s not about me…

© BryPix.com

I used to be one of those people who blamed themselves when bad things happened.  If one of the kids got sick, if someone was unhappy, my first thought used to be, “maybe it’s my fault”.

It’s certainly not a pleasant way to live life, but I clung on to the thinking for many years, perhaps out of some misguided sense that I was being humble or responsible in my guilt and angst.

What I didn’t realise though, was that I was actually being egocentric.  That didn’t twig until one day, fed up with my moaning and self-flagellation, Pete finally said, “Yes, this is your fault, because you’re the centre of the universe and everything that happens is because of you!”

After a moment of stunned silence, it suddenly dawned on me.  It wasn’t about me.  Sometimes it is, but most of the time, it really has nothing to do with me at all.  In the grand scheme of things, I’m just not that important.  I was behaving like a martyr out of pride and self-importance, not humility.

Big Boy (Pete’s clone) followed this lesson up for me a few years later.  We’d been at parent-teacher interviews at school, and one of his teachers had given him a hard time about a decision he’d made not to be a school officer.

At the end of that week, I asked him how everything was going with Mrs J.

“What do you mean, Mum?”

“Well, she let you have it on Tuesday night, so I was wondering if things were ok between you two?”

And I’ll never forget what he said.

“Oh that.  Everything’s fine.  It was late and she was tired and it just came out wrong…she didn’t mean anything by it.”

My son had learnt at fourteen a lesson that I’d taken decades to master – it’s not about me.   He’d been able to listen respectfully to his teacher’s comments, hold firm to his decision, but also not take it as a personal attack.  He came out of the incident with his self-esteem intact, and his relationship with his teacher unaffected.

Understanding this has changed my life.  Now, when someone is terse on the phone, or short-tempered with me, I stop and ask myself, “Is this really about me?”  And often the answer is no, it’s not about me at all, something is troubling them and there’s nothing I can do about it.   If Small Man comes home complaining that someone has been mean to him at school, I’ll often say, “Sweetie, it probably has nothing to do with you – maybe they were just having a bad day”.

I’m not for a second suggesting that we should allow ourselves to be bullied or persecuted, nor am I advocating a lack of personal responsibility for our actions.

But what I am saying is this: when the person at the checkout is snarky with you, when your boss comes in to work grumpy and won’t say good morning, or when one of the mums at school doesn’t want to chat – don’t waste your time trying to figure out what you’ve done to offend them.

It probably has nothing to do with you.

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If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you’ll know that we love bagels.

I’ve just taken a batch of sourdough poppy seed bagels out of the oven – all seventeen of them golden brown, with a chewy exterior and a delicious malted centre.   The unique crust can only be achieved by kettling the bagels in boiling water infused with malt extract and salt prior to baking.  The crumb is elastic and chewy – quite different to the “artisan” ones we used to buy here in Sydney, which were always jaw-achingly heavy.

Bagels aren’t difficult to make, but they are a lot of work – our standing joke is that we practice our deep breathing exercises to build up our chi before we start.  They do freeze brilliantly though, and toast up well for a perfect weekend lunch.

Have I convinced you to give these a go yet?  If so, we have two recipes to share – a step by step yeasted bagel tutorial here, and our favourite sourdough recipe here.

Be warned though – they’re very addictive.  And once the neighbours find out about them, you could be baking bagels every week!

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Hot Cross Bun (just one)
Hot Cross Bun (just one)
One a penny, one a penny
Hot Cross Bun (just one)

My friend Dot made 288 hot cross buns this Easter.

Maude’s made at least 100.

The Spice Girl told me yesterday that she’s been baking two to three dozen a couple of times a week.  And all my UK baking friends have been at it with gusto.

Penny and Alex have both made them, using my recipe from last year.

It seems the only person who hasn’t been madly baking hot cross buns is moi. And it’s not because I don’t love them, but rather that life has been a little hectic, and this year I simply ran out of oomph.

So yesterday, being Easter Sunday, I decided to make one.  Just one. But it was a BIG hot cross bun, baked in an 18cm (7″) square cake tin.

I used my tried and tested bun recipe (the original post is here) and instead of shaping the risen dough into a dozen small rolls, I made one giant ball and let it rise in a parchment lined cake tin.  As it was quite warm in my kitchen yesterday, the dough took only half an hour to double in size, before being piped with a large cross and baked at 200C for 15 minutes, followed by an additional 15 minutes at 175C.

I coated the finished “big bun” with a milk glaze (part of the original recipe) and allowed it to cool before slicing and serving with tea.

Hot Cross Bun (just one)…Hot Cross Bun (just one)…


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Happy Easter

Wishing you all a happy, blessed,

chocolate-filled Easter!

(The Easter bunny went shopping at Colefax Chocolates again this year!)

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