Give eggs a crack!
Celebrity chef Dean Edwards is on a mission to prove eggs are more than just a breakfast staple. The former digger driver shares his secret for perfectly-cooked eggs, and reveals how his grandmother inspired his passion for food.
Most of us have had some sort of disaster when cooking eggs – too runny, too rubbery, or too difficult to extract from the bottom of the pan. But for TV chef Dean Edwards, his egg Armageddon came live on air.
The former MasterChef runner-up got into a very sticky situation while showing the nation how to make a tortilla on ITV’s Lorraine show.
“I was panicking a bit, because the pan that was supplied really wasn’t non-stick,” he recalls.
“We had about 10 or 15 seconds where we went to recap and I had to plate the food up and make it look nice and pretty. When it came out, it looked a bit of a dog’s dinner. It tasted better than it looked!”
Dean Edwards
The blush-inducing incident hasn’t put Edwards off cooking with eggs. In fact, he’s fronting British Lion eggs’ Main Meals In Minutes campaign to help make them a focal point of mealtimes.
“People tend to think inside the box a bit when it comes to eggs – like scrambled eggs or fried eggs at breakfast – but there are so many possibilities. They’re affordable, versatile, and a great way of using up leftovers,” he says.
The key to success, according to the Bristol-based chef, is to avoid overcooking – and invest in a decent non-stick pan.
“As soon as you think they’re ready, pretty much by the time you’ve got them out of the pan, they’re overcooked. So the secret is to take them off the heat just before they’re finally cooked through. That way, they’ll finish their cooking in the pan.”
Edwards was a digger driver before entering the BBC’s MasterChef competition in 2005. He came second on the show, gave up the day job, and went on to carve out a successful career as a celebrity chef. His first cookbook, Mincespiration, was published last year.
Edwards, who admits he still pinches himself about his success, credits his South African grandmother, Judith, with instilling his love of cooking.
“My nan used to make an egg curry, it’s one of my favourites. We couldn’t afford lots of meat and it was a way of bulking it out and adding those nutrients and protein without costing a fortune,” he says.
“Food was always a big part of our lives. Our family parties always involved two or three big pots of South African stews and curries, and we were encouraged to help out at an early age.”
Now Edwards, 36, hopes to instil this passion for food in his four-year-old daughter, Indie.
“She’s got an adventurous palette and she loves curry, we’ll often go out for an Indian. It’s great to get kids to try new things,” he says.
“I let her help me out in the kitchen. She’s more inclined to eat what we cook than if I plonked it on her plate before her.
“The kitchen’s like a bomb site when she cooks with me, so it’s a bit of a trade off! But it’s my great pleasure in life.”
Edwards has created a range of egg recipes for the Main Meals In Minutes campaign. Here are a couple of them.
ONE PAN ROSTI WITH CHORIZO AND EGGS
One Pan Rosti With Chorizo And Eggs
(Serves 2)
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
2 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
1 onion, thinly sliced
1tbsp fresh thyme
1tbsp plain flour
1/2tsp smoked paprika
20g unsalted butter
100g cured chorizo sausage, sliced
Salt and pepper
What to do:
Grate the potatoes and dry them a clean tea towel. Try to squeeze out any excess starchy water before placing in a bowl with the onion, thyme, paprika and flour. Season with salt and pepper.
Fry the chorizo for one to two minutes until it starts to release its oils. Add the butter, potato and onion and spread into a thin layer.
Cook on a medium heat until it starts to brown, then break up and leave to brown again. This will take about eight to 10 minutes.
Make four wells in the potato mixture and crack in the eggs. Continue cooking until the whites have just started to set. Place under a pre-heated grill and cook until the whites are set.
Garnish with some more fresh thyme, and serve.
FIERY EGG AND SPINACH CURRY
Fiery Egg And Spinach Curry
(Serves 4)
Ingredients:
8 large eggs
1 large onion, sliced
1 500ml carton tomato passata
3 fresh tomatoes, quartered
200ml chicken or vegetable stock
150g baby spinach
Fresh coriander to garnish
Salt and pepper
For the curry paste:
1 onion, roughly peeled and chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1 red chilli
1tsp cinnamon
1tbsp garam masala
1tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1tsp turmeric
2tbsp vegetable oil
What to do:
Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil and gently add the eggs. Cook at a simmer for seven minutes then place the eggs into a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process. When cool enough to handle, peel them and set aside.
Place the curry paste ingredients in a blender along with a small dash of oil and blitz into a fine paste.
Fry the onion in some oil for three to four minutes. Add the curry paste and fry for a further three minutes. Add the passata, fresh tomato quarters and stock. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Just before serving, stir through the spinach until wilted. Season to taste and add in the halved eggs.
Divide between four bowls, garnish with fresh coriander and serve up with basmati rice and naan bread.
You can find more egg recipes at http://www.eggrecipes.co.uk/
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