How to Make Granola

There is an argument that granola is just as good when made in a factory, like any other cereal. Whoever made 'Special K' at home? But, just think about how a cafe is elevated echelons when there is the promise of 'home-made granola' on the menu.

One of the joys of the home-made version is the feeling of wholesome-ness it yields. The eating is one thing, but you can also feel cosy in terms of both the making: toasting oats and nuts in sweet honey and maple syrup, and the storage: having a nice big jar of home-made granola in the cupboard, ready for a swell breakfast. 

After being treated to some home-made granola by Grace one brunch at her flat, she text me the details of its making, so simple it fit into one short message. Since then I have played about with the measurements and I've done some research – Felicity Cloake basically has it down (although the egg white was superfluous to moi, so emitted).

Here is my version. NB: the seeds, dried fruit and nuts can be varied:

40g coconut oil

60g honey

60g maple syrup

1tbsp fleur de sel – flaked salt I suppose

170g oats

170g rye flakes 

100g peanuts

100g pecans

50g flax seeds

50g coconut shavings

50g dried cranberries

50g jumbo raisins 

Melt the oil, honey and syrup together in a little saucepan. Mix everything else together in a big bowl. Add the melted oil, honey and syrup to the oats, etc and mix it all together (I use two spoons). Spread onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake on gas mark 2 for 30 mins. Leave to cool on the sheet and then decant into your jar.

Eat with yoghurt on a Friday morning and don't even care about being late for work.

The Magic of Miso

The weather is on the turn, and whilst Autumn is mostly a majestic time of year there are some days that catch you off guard when the wind whips at your cheeks and the bones in your fingers start to stiffen – time to dig out your gloves.

I learnt about the healing power of miso last February when our boiler broke. Our new flat was very cold and I felt extremely sorry for myself, hobbling around our capacious new living room that I loved yet couldn't stand to be in – cursing the big windows that let in beautiful light come day but an icy draft come night*.

It is in this chapter that I discover lovely miso soup. I had never believed that a soup so deep could be so easy to make – it has 4 main ingredients! Last week I made the connection between miso and marmite (something I have loved forever), for they're both rich, deeply savoury and sating.

I...
heated chicken stock on the hob (n.b, stock: made the day before, luckily I had a chicken carcass knocking about). Once it boiled I added the miso (about 2tbsps) followed by a dash each of soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. Followed by some shredded cabbage, and pieces of chicken (from the aforementioned caracas), some thick 'straight to wok' noodles. I finished with a handful of coriander.

It really is as easy as that. Henceforth, this will be it the thing that happens whenever I feel run-down this winter.

*Thermal curtains have since been installed.

Miso soup

Lovely windows and pretty Autumn flowers

Nigella's Birthday Custard Cake

As we grow with experience, we can let our culinary instincts guide us to our own clever inventions; a blueberry eaten with blue cheese or the addition of gin to an aperol spritz.

With a baking recipe from a trusted source in your arsenal, cake baking is rarely enhanced by our own instincts (unless perhaps you are a professional). Cake decorating is where the creativity comes in, the rest is science: precise weights, timings, vessels, temperatures. The use of said 'trusted source', such as a reputable book, means that you've had legions of recipe testers come before you to ensure that this recipe will work. For me, there is undeniable satisfaction to be had in crafting precisely the number of fairy cakes you are told you will produce without a lick of batter to spare (ala Nigella or Mary Berry).

I got bitten by a baking bug a couple of weeks ago and proceeded to deviate from my usual recipe bank and found a few exciting recipes on the internet I wanted to try. This was a mistake. Perhaps a more experienced baker would have foreseen discrepancies in this selection of recipes and used their instinct to adapt, but as a novice I know it's best to do as I am told. My spiced apple rock cakes were short to the extreme, and a cup of tea was a required accompaniment; whilst my jaffa cakes had sodden bottoms, not just soggy. I have learnt that the internet is not a trusted source, no matter how much you trust the website, ahem, The Guardian, proceed with caution.

Finally, a good excuse for me to buy more cookbooks.

Here is a Nigella Custard Cake that did go right, a little something to be proud of.

Nigella's Cappuccino Pavlova

This delicious pavlova is so good – chewy, marshmallow-like centre, crispy shell, silky cream, bitter cocoa and lovely cappuccino flavour. All hail Nigella, Domestic Goddess; Potentate of Pavlova.

As I'm sure Nigella would agree, one does need an excuse to make this, but this week I found many, including:

• left-over egg whites from the home-made egg pasta at the weekend
• it's mid-March, and I'm still wear a polo-neck jumper everyday, as I have been for the past three months (excluding a recent trip to Italy)
• I'm addicted to sugar (and I'm #sorrynotsorry)
•  it's Tuesday

I followed Nigella's recipe for Cappuccino pavlova from her delicious Nigellisima series, but halved the ingredients and the cooking time (from 1hr, to 30mins). The two egg-whites I had produced a lovely sized pavlova, enough for 4 portions, with enough to spare for a dainty-sized portion left-over for me to eat when I'm home alone.

See, here's the math:

• 250 grams caster sugar / 125g caster sugar
• 4 teaspoons instant espresso powder (not instant coffee granules) / 2 tsp instant espresso powder although also works with 'Americano' instant coffee powder as I discovered)
• 4 large egg whites / 2 large egg whites
• 1 pinch of salt / 1 pinch of salt 
• 2 teaspoons cornflour / 1tsp cornflour
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar / 0.5 tsp white wine vinegar
• 300 millilitres double cream / 150ml double cream
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder / 0.5 tsp cocoa powder

Once the pavlova was cooked and cool I put it on a plate and wrapped it in cling-film to be stored in the fridge. The main thing is to store the pavlova as air-tight as possible, and in a place as-dry-a-place as possible so that it doesn't go soggy – the cling-film and fridge combination works just fine.

I assemble the pavlova with the whole works (cream and cocoa additions) just before eating.

Nigella will tell you that you can actually freeze egg-whites – excellent for emergency pavlova-making, stash them in freezer bags and label how many egg-whites are in each.

A Simple Way to Cook Monks Beard

Monks Beard is a rarely seen green. It's from Tuscany and has a very short season (late Jan - early Feb) and it's only around for about 5 weeks. Blink and it's gone.

Sure, like all rare things, it's expensive. But you'll likely only be able get your hands on one bunch a year anyway – so you might regret not 'getting it while you can'. I found the beautiful bunch in my local 'Natoora' in Chiswick, a gorgeous green-grocers who only sell the best produce from expert growers in the UK, France and Italy.

It looks like the spiky kind of grass that grows at the beach and it kind of tastes like a very delicate spinach.

When it comes to cooking there are limited recipes on the internet so I went with the flow and had mine as part of one my favourite week-night dinners: greens and eggs on toast.

I washed my monks beard (very hairy) and steamed it in a frying pan – (I say steamed, I put it in a pan over a low heat with the aforementioned washing water, lid on). Seasoned. And that was it.

I toasted my sourdough bread (home-made, more on this another time), rubbed a garlic glove over it, trickled over some olive oil over the toasty, garlic-y bread, topped with monks beard and crowned it all with a couple of poached eggs. What a handsome week-night dinner.

Julia Child's Egg Poaching 
The egg poaching, I have recently been experimenting with Julia Child's method. You boil the eggs in their shells for about 10 seconds, then remove them from the water, turn the boil down to a simmer, then crack the eggs into the water and cook for about 3 minutes. Sometimes the eggs aren't perfect, but it's the most consistent egg-poaching method I have found.
NB: those smart men, the Hairy Bikers do it this way too (read about it The Hairy Bikers' Meat Feasts)

Beautiful Monks Beard from Natoora - so pretty.

Eggs and Greens, the perfect week-night supper

The bountiful crop in situ at Natoora

Korean Bone Broth

Bone brooth - a super cliche if you read the Guardian, the stock you've been making from carcasses for years if you don't. One of the good things about bone broth is that you eek out all the tasty goodness from bones so you can make the most of the animal who a) gave its life for you and / or b) you paid for. Honour and frugality, the cornerstone of any good woman cook*.

Here are some of the good things bone broth does according to the internet ('Wellness Mama' to be precise): a source of minerals / good for the immune system / improve digestion / high calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus / high collagen content / apparently it can even eliminate cellulite! I'm not a nutritionist, so I'm not sure where the truth lies in that, but I do know that this is tasty and hearty and I do know that if it's been a long day then this will make you feel better.

This simple broth takes inspiration from a small Korean cook book which features basic Korean recipes and bad food photography. You're working with four main taste-makers: garlic (lots of garlic, a whole clove), ginger, chilli (or gochujang) and soy sauce.

Here's what I used:

Beef ribs
Stock veg - onion, celery, carrot (plus bay leaves and peppercorns)
Garlic (minced)
Ginger (peeled and grated)
Gochujang (a Korean sauce which is like super hot turbo ketchup, supposedly its as ubiquitous as ketchup is to us Brits in Korea) use chillies otherwise, but if you can get Gochu from an Asian supermarket then you should grab it.
Soy sauce
Thick slooply udon noodles
Coriander
Spring onions

Here's what I did:

The cooking liquor of the meat is your soup. So I covered the ribs in water and added peppercorns, a carrot, a peeled onion and bay leaves, and boiled them for about 3 hours. When the meat was falling off the bone, I added sieved the liquor, removed the veg and other bits and pulled the meat off the bones in chunks using a fork.

In a separate saucepan, fry your garlic and ginger in sunflower or vegetable oil to take the raw edge off, and add your gochujang, followed by the soysauce, then add your stock / broth back and at this point you could add some chopped carrots and celery - perhaps also some mushrooms and cook for about 20 minutes. A little while before the end, you will need to add your noodles to cook through (packet instructions), and you will need to add the meat to heat back up. Garish with LOTS of coriander and spring onions.

Serve and slurp.

*Joking - dark ages.

Mary Berry's Bara Brith

Last week I was away on a gorgeous trip to North Wales. Having not had a distinct break from work since Christmas, this trip was just the tonic. We stayed in a beautiful house, right on the beach and went for wild walks and ate lovely food, and above all it was nice to be reminded to slow down and enjoy the view and the mountain flowers.

As an ode to Wales and a reminder to slow down once in a while, my boyfriend and I made a Bara Brith on Sunday. When coming back from a holiday on a trip, cooking something reminiscent of the trip can make the holiday seem to last so much longer.

The epitome of slow baking, the recipe we used (Mary Berry's, naturally) suggested that the currants and sultanas be soaked in tea overnight so that they go all fat and juicy. Waiting all night for the soaking really takes the impatience out of baking, you can relax for the evening; have a beer, and luxuriate in the fact that your hands will tied on the baking front until the next day. 

The baking itself is a doddle. You mix the fruit, flour, sugar, mixed spice and two eggs (yes, that's it), and bake for a really long time. We sat back and watched the tennis whilst the scent of the bara permeated the house. We ate ours in slices with a little butter and dreamed we were still kicking back on the Neolithic Coast of Anglesey, and not under the Heathrow flight path.

Queen Mary Berry's recipe was found here: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1145824

Lovely Rhosneigr - the view from our garden *sigh*

And some thoughts on eating in Rhosneigr: We were staying in a beautiful house with a well-equipped kitchen, so most of the eating was done at home. However we did treat ourselves to a few lunches and dinners out. And the best treat of all was the Oyster Catcher in Rhosneigr. This was restaurant was a hop across the sand-dunes from where we were staying. The restaurant is elevated so you can see out across the Llyn Maelog lake. The food is very nice - I had a 'smoked fish platter' which was listed as a starter, and chips. They source the fish locally, which would be a crime not to when you're within 5 minutes of both the sea and a lake. The puddings were also good - Most notably the rice pudding, controversial choice from James - but the right one - the creamiest rice pudding I have ever tasted. As we were treating ourselves, we also had coffee - making for a very pleasant lunch all-in-all. One of the nicest things about the restaurant is the ethos behind it - it's a chef academy where young locals can fulfil their dreams of becoming a chef, and as it's a social enterprise, all their profits go back into training their staff. The prices are approaching London prices, and we did chalk up a £50 bill for lunch - but hey, a treat is well-deserved and the service, ambience and food were worth it.

Ottolenghi's Aubergine Risotto

Ottolenghi's aubergine risotto. Smokey, seductive and sharp.

Yes, I know - another Ottolenghi recipe. But, if you need to make something which will make people say 'did you really make this', or 'what's in this - it's delicious', then follow an Ottolenghi recipe carefully and await the praise to roll in.

I made this risotto for my boyfriend on a dark night around the start of January when we were cocooned in my kitchen waiting for Spring. He was impressed; and thus, this simple, wonderful, dish foretold the fact that my frost bitten kitchen of the drear month is now 'our kitchen'.

The recipe can be found here on The Guardian website. And, as I said - follow to the letter. Otto is a genius and must be obeyed. 

Now, go forth and charm everyone you know with this knock-out risotto.

A Big Fat Frittata

Remember a few years back there was an advertising campaign for eggs? The slogan was 'eggs: fast food and good for you', I remember thinking 'yeah, who doesn't know that', but in reality, I often forget that if I'm short on inspiration, time or energy then a frittata makes for a immensely satisfying supper. This one in particular, taken to delicious heights with chilli and chorizo.

What you need:

A little olive oil (for frying)

Around 100g (or more) chorizo

1 garlic clove (pressed)

1 green chilli finely sliced (seeds removed)

4 Eggs

1 handful of parsley

Salt and pepper

100g (or there abouts) strong grated cheddar

What you do:

Cut the chorizo into rounds and fry in the olive oil until it releases it's own orange juice oils. Add the garlic and fry it for a little bit. Add the chilli for mere moments to suck up some juice.

Break the eggs and whisk them in a bowl and season with the salt and pepper, and add most of the parsley, (keep a little parsley back for a pretty garnish). Tip into the pan with the chorizo and give it a jiggle. Put the grated cheese on top and cook the frittata away until it starts to set. Then move it to the grill and continue cooking. Transfer to a plate and top with the remaining parsley. Eat with bread and butter, maybe.

One delicious breakfast: Chorizo and Avocado on Toast

Thank you world - the Easter bank holidays could not come a moment too soon. One thing which really is great about the back-to-back 4 days off is that there is time for a proper breakfasts. And a proper breakfast this is - salty spicy chorizo, satisfying avocado and chewy soughdough toast.

This will really set you up for the day, eat in the morning and you'll be so ready for that long refreshing walk you had planned to take (or watch re-runs of How I Met Your Mother on the sofa under a blanket - this is also a great hangover breakfast).

Here's what you do:

Thickly slice slithers of chorizo and fry them with a tiny of touch of olive oil so they go crisply.
Toast some soughdough bread, and yes, the quality of the bread is non-negotiable - you deserve it.
Drizzle the residual orange oil from the chorizo cooking pan over the toasted bread.
Pile the avocado and chorizo onto the bread. Add parsley and a squeeze of lemon (or lime). Eat whilst sitting next to a vase of fresh daffodils. Good morning.

Marzipan Crumble

Some evenings in January just demand it - a delicious fruit crumble.

My house-mate Clare came up with genius idea of adding a little marzipan to the crumble, so every few bites you get a delicious sticky, sweet, almond-y mouthful which might just cure your possible vitamin D deficiency when eaten on these long winter nights.*

There are no rules about making a crumble. This is home cooking at its best.

I chop up a selection of fruit (whatever I have lying around, on this occasion it was apples and plums), into equal sized small-ish pieces, and simmer them for about 15 minutes in a touch of water and some sugar. I don't tend to measure the sugar, you can taste if you need to add more once the fruit has cooked down.

Crumble - nowadays I estimate the amounts for the most part, once you've made a few crumbles you really get a feel for it, and in any case, it's very difficult to mess this up; just don't forget the sugar!

More or less: 100g butter, 100g flour, 50g oats, 50g sugar. Rub the oats, flour and butter between your fingers. Stir in the sugar. I feel my way around this more often than not, adding more oats, flour or sugar as I see fit.

Put the stewed fruits in the bottom of a baking dish. Then (here is the best part) cut your marzipan into little cubes and scatter over the fruit. Add your crumble topping and cook in a hot oven at 180 degrees or so for about 20 minutes. Serve in your prettiest china and with lots of cream.

Eat it, and go to bed dreaming of home...

* Not true.

New Year health stuff

I know we call ourselves 'Girls who like to Gorge' - and I know we're also all sick of hearing about gluten free, chia seed-packed, no fat, no fun, healthy eating (or maybe that's just me) - but there is something about the New Year that makes me want to cut out the rubbish and ramp up the old fruit and veg intake. Lately I've made a habit of occasionally treating myself to a Wagamamas after the gym - usually I get out quite late, don't want to cook, and crave something fast that's not totally going to wipe out my exercising efforts.

My most recent discovery has been their donburi dishes - big bowls of rice, meat and veg. I chose brown rice because I actually prefer it to the sticky white option; I also ordered a massive clean green juice. What am I becoming? Anyway, it was totally delicious. What you're seeing here is the restaurant's beautifully presented version, but I did try and recreate it at home using long grain rice, chicken breast with a plum sauce, fresh grated carrot and a sprinkling of coriander and sesame seeds. Yum.

Ottolenghi Aubergine pahi

OK - so picture this, it's the first Sunday of the new year. It's cold and dark outside, you don't want to go back to work after the Christmas holidays. You need something delicious, satisfying and comforting which doesn't weigh you down. You know it has to be from a bowl so that you can cradle it whilst watching repeats of Miranda on your sofa.... This Ottolenghi aubergine and red pepper Sri Lankan dry curry type thing is just the ticket. It's hot and sour and really packs a punch, the aubergine goes all silky and unctuous, and suddenly you remember: life is awesome. So. Awesome.

Ottolenghi's recipe can be handily found here: on the guardian website.  There are a lot of steps, the frying and the salting - worth it? Yes. You will be handsomely rewarded for following the steps to the letter. Do you really need to use all that oil? Yes. I used cold pressed rapeseed - very nice, and apparently it's reasonably healthy.

Here are some cheats: I used dry curry leaves, still good. I made the spice paste without the use of a blender, just a good old garlic press and a grater for the ginger. Blender = so much fiddling and tricky washing up!

This is most wholesome and delicious served at room temperature and with brown rice. Also, wonderful eaten cold the next day for lunch with a little pitta bread - take that Monday blues!

This curry really is just the tonic - so ready to kick January in the ass now*!

* Partly true. Mostly I will be lounging in my pjs with my new Ottolenghi.

Alice's Spinach, Butternut Squash and Cheese Pasta Bake

This was a great university staple of ours, Alice was the one who came up with the recipe and every time she cooked it we'd crowd around the living room eagerly awaiting it's arrival. Speaking from experience, everyone will go back for second helpings, so it's advised to make lots, and lots of this.

*
Ingredients to feed about 4 (these quantity are suggestions, add more or less if you'd like.)
Pasta - 1 packet
Grated parmesan cheese - a generous handful
1 pack of St Agur cheese, another soft cheese such as brie will also work.
Creme fraiche- about 2 tbsps
1 packet / bunch of spinach
1 butternut squash
Nutmeg
1 generous handful of bread crumbs.

Start by roasting the butternut squash so that it's really soft, this will take about 30 minutes at 180 in the oven.
Cook the pasta until al dente and drain it, this should take about 10 minutes.
Add all of the other ingredients to the pasta - cut the cheese into small chunks and toss it in, along with the parmesan, creme fraiche, spinach, and butternut squash. Add a good grating of nutmeg and transfer to an oven proof dish. Sprinkle the brad crumbs on top and cook for about 20 minutes at 160, or until the crumbs have gone golden brown.
*Our photo wasn't up to scratch, this one is from melskitchencafe.com

Chocolate and Orange Loaf Cake

This is a Nigella recipe and I have found myself making it for the past two weekends in a row. I have gotten into the habit of making a loaf cake at the weekend and looking forward to a slither of it everyday after work.
This is a very dense cake, it's a bit gooey, but as Nigella exclaims, that's part of it's charm. And it is delicious.

Ingredients:
150g butter
30ml golden syrup (2 tablespoons)
175g brown sugar
150 plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g cocoa
2 eggs
juice & zest of one orange

Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170 / gas mark 3 and grease and line your loaf tin.
- Beat the butter, sugar and golden syrup together
- Mix the dry ingredients together
- Add one spoon of the dry ingredients to the syrup, sugar and butter mix before adding one egg.
- Beat together and add the dry ingredients one spoon at a time.
- Add the second egg and beat in the remaining dry ingredients.
- Beat in the zest. Then, add the orange juice a little at a time and continue beating the mixture.
- Transfer into your loaf tin and cook for 45 mins.
- Check five minutes before it's cooked and be prepared to leave it 5 minutes longer than stated.
- Your cake tester won't come out clean but the top should be firm. Don't be too timid, this cake works well with it's relatively dry edges and gooey centre.
- Leave to cool for a while in it's tin before transferring to a wire rack.

Enjoy it's life affirming qualities on cold dark evenings in front of the television.

Winter's Night Mushrooms on Toast

Perfect for a dark night when you want something quick and delicious. This is a Nigel Slater recipe, and it is fabulous.

Ingredients:
A generous handful or two of sliced mushrooms
Lots of olive oil
2 cloves of crushed garlic
Chopped parsley
Some good bread - sliced into thick rounds

To cook:
Fry the sliced mushrooms in lots of olive oil over a medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and good for a further 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour a little olive oil over the bread and toast under the grill.
Add the chopped parsley and season the mushrooms at the last minute.
Heap the mushrooms over bread and accompany with a glass of cold beer.

Winter's Day Muffins

These are actually Nigella's Christmas morning muffins, (with a few small alterations.) But, when it's icy outside it seems a shame to bypass Cinnamon and cranberries just because it's not Christmas; these cosy flavours which are still very much needed at this time of year!

Ingredients:
250g Plain Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
Grating of nutmeg
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 Orange
125ml full fat milk
75ml vegetable oil
1 egg
175g dried cranberries
A little demerara sugar for the top

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 / gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with muffin cases
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add the zest of the orange last.
3. Squeeze the orange juice into a measuring jug and add the milk until it comes up to the 200ml mark. Add the egg, and oil and whisk. Add this to the dry ingredients and fold in (you may need a little more milk, a wet, lumpy batter is what you want.)
4. Fold in the cranberries.
5. Transfer the mixture to the muffin cases, sprinkle over the demerara and bake in the oven for about 20mins.

Buttery Bulgur Wheat with Almonds

Such a simple dish which is great for a lunch time when you want nourishment without being weighted down. Perfect for a Monday lunch after a weekend of excess..

Ingredients (for one)
one spilling handful of bulgur wheat
one sizable knob of butter
salt & pepper
one good handful of flaked almonds

To cook:
Cook the bulgur wheat according to the pack instructions, which usually involves covering with water and bringing to the boil and simmering for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until all of the water has been absorbed..
Separate the grains with a fork and season, add the butter and stir through. Set aside for 5 minutes and allow the butter to soak in.
Add your flaked almonds and eat greedily from a large bowl.

Leek and Potato Soup

An oldie, but a goody. This soup ticks almost every soup box going; it's soothing, nourishing, frugal and delicious. It's beauty lies within it's simplicity, highly, highly recommended cooking and eating.
Ingredients:
3 large potatoes, peeled and sliced
4 leeks, thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
50ml chicken
Salt and pepper.

To cook:
Sweat the leeks in olive oil or butter over a low heat for 5 mins. Add the onion and continue cooking until very soft, slow cooking is best for this.
Add the chicken stock and potato, bring to the boil and reduce down to a simmer for about 20 mins.
Check that the potatoes are thoroughly cooked, then, whizz everything together away from the heat. Season to taste and serve with good bread and butter.

Sunday Night Haddock

This is a great dish for a quiet Sunday night when you can't quite face a whole roast dinner. This is easy to put together and feels cosy and nursery like. It's best when eaten with fresh bread. This is also a great dish for one; and if you can, it can be assembled in an oven proof bowl or ramekin and eaten straight out of the oven.


Ingredients (to feed two)
2 fillets of smoked haddock
2 tomatoes
2 handfuls of frozen peas
500ml milk (or enough to just cover the fish, more or less depending on your dish.)
2 eggs
Chopped parsley

Method
Put the fillets into a greased dish and add the milk.
Thaw the peas by pouring some boiled water from the kettle over them.
Cut the tomatoes in half and add them to the dish along with the thawed peas.
Crack the eggs into a two relatively clear spots of the dish.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200 for between 15 - 20 mins.
Add the parsley and eat with bread and butter.