Bacon and Egg Pie

Bacon and Egg Pie is a Kiwi favorite. I have seen a variety of different versions in the cafes and I was determined to figure this out. I am really loving the intact egg yolks!! Plus, with heaps of chooks producing heaps of eggs every day, I like a recipe that uses a lot of eggs! 
Kiwis eat their B&E pies cold with ketchup (called tomato sauce here). I know it sounds gross but I swear to you that this is EVEN BETTER cold than hot. We eat it for dinner and then the leftovers make lunch the next day. Or just bake it the night before for a great breakfast! 

Bacon and Egg Pie

Start by heavily buttering your pan with real butter. You will also want to preheat your oven to 350 F (176 C).  I bake almost everything at 350 F.

I should make a flaky, puff pastry but I don't have much luck here.  I buy the frozen sheets I am ashamed to admit. I thaw them out and then line the pan the best I can by cutting strips and forming it around the bottom and sides.

Next, I cut up a pound of streaky american style bacon and cook it in a skillet with diced onions.  You could use any type of meat or none and onions are optional if you, for some strange reason, don't like them. Although I can't imagine living in an onion-less world.  I would also put bell pepper (capsicum) in the skillet if it was in season. I love onions and capsicum and try to use them in just about everything!
For this bacon and egg pie, I used spinach that I had steamed and drained (see it draining in my colander in the above pic).  I used about 2 bunches of spinach total--I just didn't have it all on for the picture. You get the idea.

Next comes cheese. I think this is the key to a most delicious bacon and egg pie. Choose your favorite cheese or use more than one. I used Tasty Cheddar and Mild Cheddar--2 ubiquitous NZ cheeses that come in large blocks. I shared my recipe with a friend who used guyere and she said it was great. I am going to try that next time.

Now, it is time for the eggs. I have a lot of eggs so I use a lot of eggs! Be very careful that you don't break the yolks --but they cook through anyway so it isn't a big deal.  Look at my beautiful golden orange yolks! Free range eggs are the best! My chooks eat a lot of grass!   (Keep some egg white back on this step to brush on the top of the pastry so it will brown)

Next, you want to very carefully lay more puff pastry on top. Don't squish your egg yolks!  And brush with a bit of egg white so the top will brown up nicely.  I bought that little silicone brush just for this task!

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in your preheated oven.  It might not be brown enough when it is done cooking.  You can see the lovely intact egg yolks through the crust!

I wanted mine a bit browner on top so I stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes. Watch it closely because it only takes a very short time (minutes!) to brown on top. 

Here is what a cross section looks like: 

Here is a piece of pie on a plate: 

And the crust is really great!  This is why I buy the frozen puff pastry.

Chicken Fried Steak

Chicken Fried Steak is a Texas favorite.  I have tried to talk to Kiwis about it but they don't recognize the term. I guess it is a bit confusing to talk about "chicken" and "steak" in the same dish. They don't understand "chicken frying" as a type of cooking. I get them to see the point of the dish but never the name. I will say "to-mah-to" but never "country fried steak". I have limits to my adaptability. 

 

 

Chicken Fried Steak

 

 Making chicken friend steak starts with some sort of beef that has been tenderized. I bought the cheap stuff (still grass fed here)  that already was "tenderized" by the butcher. I put paprika and salt and pepper on it. If you want to make it more "fancy", use a better cut of meat and use Hungarian paprika. 

 Here is a close up of the meat with all the paprika and salt and pepper. You can also use powdered garlic if you want.

Next, flour on a plate and 2 beaten eggs in a big bowl. Notice the flour is on the left side--that is because you want to dredge the meat in the flour FIRST and then the egg and then flour again. 

I am working left to right.

I salt and pepper my flour as well but it isn't required.
Any leftover flour will go to make gravy.

I use a deep skillet and about 1" of oil.  I am using Rice Bran Oil because it handles high heats and is relatively inexpensive in NZ. I never ever use Canola oil!! Only olive oil, grapeseed, avocado and rice bran.

 I use Rice Bran for lots of stuff so I buy it in these very LARGE metal containers. I buy in metal or glass--nothing in plastic if at all possible.

 When the oil is hot (throw a drop of water in there,  if it sizzles and pops, you are ready to go), put your meat in there. I try to make sure I get all the meat done in 2 rounds (or less). After this batch, I will add a bit more oil and cook one more batch. Any more than that and your oil will look brown and nasty and darken your food.  I cook about 3-4 minutes on each side but this depends on the thickness of the meat and the temperature of your oil.

You should get a nice golden crust. Don't mess with the meat while it is cooking--just let it cook on one side until it is done (3-4 minutes) and then flip it and let it cook on the other.

 Next, you will remove the meat from the skillet and put it on a plate with some paper towels to drain. This is the ONLY reason I buy paper towels  here. They are expensive and they suck. I use tea towels for all my kitchen needs and just wash them.

Next, you will use the oil in the skillet to make gravy. Use the flour you had left over from coating the meat plus more flour if needed.  You want to mix the flour in with the oil and whisk it around and let it brown a bit--the better you brown your flour, the browner your gravy will be (unless you reused your oil a bunch and it got all brown and nasty).
Add lots of milk. Whisk like crazy. Add more milk. You want to do this pretty quickly or you are going to get lumps. If (or when) you get lumps, just add more milk and whisk more. Whisk, whisk, whisk. Milk. Whisk, whisk, whisk.
Make sure you add a bunch of salt too. I like my gravy salted. And heaps of black pepper if you don't have kids to complain that it's "too spicy"--otherwise, just pepper on your plate.

See how lumpy mine was looking above? More milk and whisk, whisk, whisk. 

And you can't have chicken fried steak without mashed potatoes!  In NZ, I have had a lot of trouble figuring out all the potatoes. There are soo many varieties. I have found that for my tastes, the red potato seems best. Particularly, the Stroma.  I leave the skins on--lots of good nutrition in the skin and plus, it is too much work to peel a potato.

Sometimes I just smush them with an implement but for this meal, I like to whip them with the beater. I throw about 2-4 T of butter in there (absolutely NO margarine, I NEVER use that--it isn't food) and a splash of milk and whip them like crazy.

 Next time, I will remember to take a pic of the food plated up. And of course, serve with a vegetable or salad.

Welcome to my world!

The last three years have been an adventure as we left Texas to make a new life in New Zealand!

My husband and I were dissatisfied with our life in the US for political, social, economic, climatic reasons. We wanted out!  But how the heck do you even do that?

The first thing we did was try to figure out where we might want to go.  We made a list of all the English speaking countries in the world and researched like mad.  New Zealand came out the winner for a variety of reasons, like location, climate, socialized medicine. Oh, and no snakes!

Next, I researched the non-English speaking countries. We carefully considered Argentina but we kept coming back to the idea of New Zealand.  The idea of living someplace with no snakes and no predators was hard for me to pass up.  Plus, the lack of corruption, the low population density, the agricultural economy. It sounded like heaven on earth!

New Zealand Immigration is fairly straight forward. There are lists of skills in demand and a points system.  If you are on a list, you get more points. If you get enough points, you are eligible to emigrate. Easy peasy!

Due to a variety of factors, our process was a bit trickier and so we came here in what I like to call "kamikaze style" which means we shipped our worldly goods and then hopped on a plane with no visas at all. We worked it all out once we arrived.  And yes, it was a white knuckled experience to leave your established life with 2 small children with no clear plan. I do not recommend this particular pathway but we managed to pull it all off (with only a few MONTHS of absolute sheer terror ).

The first year we managed to obtain a 1 year work permit. And I suffered severe culture shock. I thought I was fully prepared with heaps of research but the reality was far different. I suffered. My husband and I fought. We lived in a freezing cold hovel.  It was a rough year.

But at the end of that first year, we had managed to secure our permanent residency stickers in our passports, a decent modern home, 3 acres, a bunch of farm animals and a whole new life.

The hardest part of moving to another country was figuring out where to buy things and how to manage without the products I could no longer buy.  Food was our biggest link to our "home" in Texas and I have done my best to adapt my cooking to our new Kiwi home.  In order to eat like Texans, I have sharpened my culinary skills and we eat every meal at home. We also try to avoid processing and chemicals in our food. I try to make it all from single, local ingredients if I can. But I am not crazy overboard about it...anymore.

I am also shockingly "frugal" because the cost of living on an island is high and the wages are low. (but no snakes!)  I am very clever and creative to save money.

My DIY projects and cooking adventures are sometimes so clever that I feel I should share. Hence this blog.  But be warned--sometimes they suck pretty bad, too.  The good, the bad and the ugly! That is just life!