This week on Cooking the Books, Georgina Hayden tells us about her Greekish side of her Greek-Cypriot Londoner self, and cooks up a wonderful feast reflecting that glorious mash up.
Here, she gives us her recipe for burnt eggs and goat cheese, and (below) indulges us in some excellent ASMR heaven from her own kitchen as she cooks up some oregano potatoes which she’ll sprinkle with crumbled feta.
Extract taken from Greekish: Everyday recipes with Greek roots by Georgina Hayden (Bloomsbury Publishing, £26 Hardback)
Photography © Laura Edwards
In the Cretan dish staka me avga, eggs are fried in a type of clarified goat’s butter (called staka).
It is a traditional, unusual ingredient and worth hunting down if you are intrigued. Here I have simplified the recipe by cooking the eggs in a nutty burnt butter and finishing the dish with crumbly goat’s cheese to recreate a similar flavour. A stretch perhaps, regardless it is delicious.
SERVES 2 (OR 1, IF YOU’RE ME)
1 garlic clove
25g unsalted butter
Olive oil
¼ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
2 large eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
50g goat’s cheese
A few sprigs of parsley (optional)
Peel and finely slice the garlic. Put the butter in a small frying pan and place on a medium heat. Once it has melted, allow it to cook a bit further so that it starts to turn golden-brown and smell nutty. Add a drizzle of olive oil and the garlic to the pan. Cook for a minute and stir in the paprika. Crack in the eggs. Season with salt and pepper and fry for 4–5 minutes, spooning over the hot fat until the eggs are cooked through but the yolks are still a little soft (or cook more/less to your liking). Crumble the goat’s cheese over the eggs. Transfer to plates, or serve in the pan, with some parsley, if you like. Perfect with any soft, fresh bread you like.
Burnt butter with eggs - nice! Might be good with asparagus as a dipper. Thanks, Gilly.