Cookbook Challenge - Week 2

I had every intention of doing this post on Wednesday and every Wednesday until I had gone though all of my books, but as always my topsy-turvy life does not allow for such rigidity. So here it is a couple of days late, but like the old adage goes, "rather late then never" :)

This week I want to share with you one of the prettiest cookbooks that I own, Miss Dahl's voluptuous delights. A few years back the BBC aired The Delicious Miss Dahl and I was captivated by this gorgeous cooking show from the very first minute. When the show came to an end after just six delightful episodes, I just had to rush out and get the accompanying cookbook.

This book just oozes with Sophie's charm and femininity and is a real feast for the eyes.

The entire book is filled with pretty designs, stunning photos and equally delightful writing from Sophie herself.

I just love to read about her past life, working as a model and living in New York, her memories of her grandfather, Roald Dahl and some cheeky little stories about lovers :) I can easily get lost in this book for hours.

The book is separated into seasons, starting off in Autumn and working its way wonderfully through Winter, Spring and Summer. Each season is then divided into recipes for breakfast, lunch and supper.

With no disrespect to Miss Dahl, the recipes are quite simple and perhaps more suited to someone who is relatively new to cooking, but it comes across loud and clear that she loves good food and eating healthily.

Yesterday I just knew that I was going to have one of "those days", where you hit the ground running and don't stop until well after your child's bedtime. I also knew that I was most likely not going to have time for lunch and therefore decided that a big breakfast was certainly called for. I therefore turned to Miss Dahl's book for some inspiration and settled on one of her scrambled egg recipes, the very saucily named Coquette's eggs.

Once again I went a little bit off-piste and made a few changes of my own. Instead of roasted peppers, I used fresh, purely to save time. I also rarely have feta cheese in my house, but I always have cheddar and double Gloucester, and this sufficed perfectly.

I fried the peppers in some olive oil on a very high heat to scorch them slightly and give them that smoky flavour of roasted peppers.

The trick to these soft and creamy scrambled eggs are to whisk your eggs with just a tiny splash of milk until they are nice and frothy and then to turn the heat right down on your pan so that they cook very slowly.

When the eggs are just set, you haphazardly throw your little cubes of cheese into the mix so that they can go all soft and gooey, but still slightly hold their shape.

These eggs went wonderfully with some hash browns and Polish style baked beans and gave me all the fuel I needed to take on my crazy day :)


PS: After speaking to some of my friends, both on-line and in the flesh, it became clear that I am not the only one who doesn't make full use of my cookbooks. I would therefore love for anyone who feels inspired by my posts to join in with this challenge and cook from their cookbooks with me. I simply ask that you blog about your experiences in the last half of the week and link back to my blog in your post. Please also remember to post a link to your blog in the comments below :) Happy Cooking Everyone!!!