Dear Giuseppe

It’s a tradition to have a Cob Dip at our family BBQ’s, and every woman in our family makes a signature one of her own…. Here’s mine xx

INGREDIENTS

• 250 grams of frozen chopped spinach
• 1 can of whole artichoke hearts (chopped)
• 1 package of cream cheese (philadelphia cheese)
• 1/2 cup of grated parmesan reggiano
• 100 grams of feta cheese
• 2 gloves of minced garlic
• handful of chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• salt and pepper
• 1  ROUND COB OF BREAD OF YOUR LIKING
• mozzarella cheese (grated) to top 

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 180C

Carefully Cut just inside the outer rim of your cob loaf, removing the interior of theloaf and picking out the remaining insides of the loaf so you are left with a thick bowl like structure. Put bread bowl into the oven to toast slightly. In a mixing bowl place all of your cheeses, along with minced garlic, basil, salt, pepper and mayonnaise. Add in your frozen spinach and chopped artichokes. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined, top with mozzarella cheese and some freshly ground pepper and place into the oven. Cook for around 30 mins or until you wish to serve so it is warm (keep and eye that it doesn’t burn)! make Sure your mozzarella is slightly browned and bubbling. You can turn your oven down and keep it warm. Serve x

Love Nicole xx

I’m Back! Been a tough couple of days let me tell you….. two invalids the house (some of you saw me on crutches) taking care of each other, you had to laugh, a true riot. But I’m alive and well and ready to feed your imagination. The other day I was minding my own business and I hear my dad call out from the T.V. room “Nic! look at this!”, I bolt in to see what the fuss is about, his eyes large, his tongue wagging (not really) and I just catch the last 30 seconds of what seems to be two cooks making a spaceship. As if my cooking isn’t satisfying enough :I …….. whatever, so I bolt down to my local supermarket to make this damn thing dad saw on T.V. Lucky Bastard……. Now, as I sit here typing to you, in the serene midnight hour, sipping my freshly grated ginger tea, watching and waiting on my (2nd attempt at a) Pavlova bake away, in all it’s angelic glory, here it is, the proclaimed “jellyfish”……. que sera, sera…… still…… (lucky bastard)

** Note - Best to leave this in the fridge overnight (preferably), or make it the morning of the day you want to serve it to allowtime to set. 

INGREDIENTS

• 50 grams of Castor Sugar
• 100ml of hot water
• 1 Ground Vanilla Bean
• 1 bunch of finely, finely chopped mint
• 2 teaspoons of gelatin setting agent dissolved in a little water
• 1 punnet of blueberries
• 600 grams of frozen or fresh berries, all kinds.
• 1 loaf of de-crusted sliced white bread (you will obviously be the de-cruster)
• **To serve whip 600 ml of fresh whipping cream with a ground vanilla bean if you have one handy. 

METHOD

In a glass bowl the shape you would like you puddin to come out, line with cling wrap. After you have cut all the crust away from your sliced bread, neatly line the bowl with a layer of bread. Pour your berries and finely chopped mint into the middle to loosely fill the bowl leaving space for you compote. 

In a small sauce pan heat your water, sugar, blueberries and (ground) vanilla bean. Bring to the boil with the lid on, pour in the gelatin and stir quickly. Pour this mixuture over the berries so it sinks deep into the bread lining and cover with a layer of bread, you might have to cut the bread and piece together like a puzzle. Place it in the fridge for at least 5 hours to set, best to leave it overnight. 

Enjoy with freshly whipped cream, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is a very rich dessert, whipped cream creates the perfect companion, you will be mmmmm arrrrrrrring the whole way through xx enjoy

xx Love Nicole 

Reference Good Chef Bad Chef - Recipe Detail

As the dust settles, the sun high, the smell of a battle fills the air……. between a lone ranger and a profiterole….. haha kidding. I was told there is a trick to this, more so about making the perfect batter, it’s allll about the batter. Getting the consistency right, being prepared with all of your ingredients, and timing! Rest assured with my influence, you will win this battle……. I hope ;) We dug into these, and they were used as a type of currency in my house, bribes and all! Valuable stuff, my advice…..lock the doors, make them when your alone in the house and eat them alone. Wipe the chocolate off your face before everyone gets home and hide the evidence…….. 

INGREDIENTS

BATTER

• 125 ml of Milk
• 200ml of Water
• 150 grams of Plain Flour
• 1 teaspoon of Castor Sugar
• 100 grams of Butter (unsalted)
• 4 Eggs (whisked lightly)

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 200C. Have all your ingredients measured out and placed somewhere easy to grab! Sift your flour and salt into a large bowl. In a Saucepan over low heat, place the water, milk and sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved add the butter and melt completely. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and pour the hot mixture into the flour mixture and beat aggressively until the mixture starts to come away from the bowl and turns into a batter. Tip onto a plate and leave to cool. When cool, place mixture in a bowl, and with electric beaters (electric mixer) on low, gradually beat in your whisked egg mixture, go slow. Now you should have a smooth batter. On baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, spoon your batter in smallish walnut blobs, make sure to space them well apart so they don’t stick together. I also whisk 1 egg and brush the batter before putting it in the oven and half way through to give them a crispy golden shell. You might have to do 2 rounds in the oven, I did.Place them into the oven and bake for 15 - 20 mins, watch them!!! I like to turn down my heat between 150C and 180C so I make sure the middle is cooked. Take them out and let them cool. Once cooled cut them in half with a bread knife. Be very careful as the are VERY delicate….. be gentle. 

CHANTILLY CREAM

• 1 Ground Vanilla Pod
• 600 ml of Whipping Cream
• 1 Tablespoon of Icing Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Dusting

METHOD

In a large bowl add all ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until thick and creamy. DONT overdo it! You will know if you overdo it, the texture of the cream will change, it will taste like ass and you will have to start all over again. This is bad, especially wasting a vanilla pod… tsk tsk tsk. Perfect cream will give you soft peaks, so remember, soft peaks, keep it soft. Once done spoon into your pastries! mmmmm don’t eat too much cream while doing it…… actually scrap that, eat as much cream as you want while doing it, that Is why I gave you 600ml instead of 400mls in the ingredients. lol. you don’t have to thank me ;)

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

• 200 grams of luxurious, organic (preferably) quality dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup of whipping cream. (you can save it from your 600ml carton if you like) 

METHOD

Put a bowl on top of  3 cm or so of simmering water in saucepan. This is sothe steam will act as the heating element to melt the chocolate slowly.  Add chocolate, broken up into small pieces, melt chocolate slowly. Once melted, take off the heat and add cream, mix until you have a smooth chocolate sauce…… spread or spoon on the tops of the profiteroles……. and yeaaaaa!!!!! 

Stuff your face like my baby cousin and I and everyone else did that night….. Isn’t she an angel, her name is Shakira :)  

xx Love Nicole 

Spinach to me, always made me think I would be able to look like Pop-eye. Just one can, and pop! Big muscles. Able to take on anything with that big cigar sticking out of his mouth, even though it’s obvious I am more of an “Olive”. Anyway, this is one of the first ingredients I go for if my objective is to strengthen someone. So tonight, spinach it is! And what better to give papa then a Spinach and Ricotta Pie. The thought of it……. the smell of it cooking away……. made him smile. Eating it was a dream…… that’s what he said

INGREDIENTS

• Fillo Pastry
• I large bunch of English Spinach
• 2 Spring Onions
• Handful of Parsley
• Handful of Mint
• 2 eggs
• 150 grams of fetta
• 150 grams of ricotta 
• a nob ofgrated parmesan reggiano cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
• baking oil spray

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 170C

Steam the Spinach until cooked. Chop roughly, then in a bowl add chopped mint, parsley, spring onions all finely chopped. Then add eggs, nutmeg, ricotta, fetta and parmesan. Mix until all ingredients are combined. In a loaf pan or casserole dish line the base with a layer of fillo pastries. Around 10 fillos thick, make sure to spray them with oil to separate them. Add the spinach filling into the lined bowl,fold the sides over the mixture and add a fillo pasty layer on top to close it all in. Another 10 sheets, making sure to cover all the mixtured and have an even crust. Place in the oven and cook until golden brown for 40 mins or so. 

xx Love Nicole 

It’s rare that a roast chicken doesn’t get abolished in our household. On this lucky occasion I had a whole roast chicken to play with, well, not literally, so I decided to invent this little number. Roast Chicken sandwich’s were on the menu for lunch! Nothing beats a juicy roast chicken sandwich, with mayo and mint on a toasted buttered piece of bread….. luxury….. :)

INGREDIENTS

• Roast Chicken pieces
• Mayonnaise 
• Garlic Aioli 
• Lemon Juice
• finely chopped mint
• sliced bread
• butter
• salt and pepper 

METHOD

Take your roast chicken pieces and warm them in a frying pan, giving them a slightly gold color. (If you don’t have roast chicken you can grill a chicken breast and cut it up) In a bowl mix 1 tablespoon of mayo & 1 tablespoon of aioli (or flavored mayo) a dash of lemon juice, salt and pepper and about 10 leaves of chopped mint. Add chicken and mix until all ingredients and blended well. Toast 2 pieces of bread, butter both sides, and add the chicken. Be heavy handed make sure to pile the chicken on. Finish the sandwich off by cutting in half and serve with a dash of aioli on the side. 

Enjoy

xx Nicole

I had a huge house warming party in Paris last year, where I served around 25 guests dinner. I cooked all day, enjoying the luxury of using French ingredients and produce. The police came, which means we were either really loud or there were a lot more people than I bargained for. The star of the party…… “Potato Gratin!!!!!” As the French say. A few even went as far to say it was better than the French make it! It went something like this…. accompanied by a standing ovation., “Voo mak it bitterrrr zan zi Franch do vit! Walla”!!!!. I must have given that guest too much to drink……a script……and a prompter. :) If only they knew. It IS good though, amazing, I grew up on it as a kid, it’s still a favorite in our family too. 

INGREDIENTS

• 10 potatoes
• 600ml of cream
• 2 packets of french onion soup

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven to 200C

Peel and thinly slice your potatoes. In a casserole dish, line the base with 1 layer of your sliced potatoes, then a thin layerof cream and sprinkle a layer of your french onion soup mix, repeat this until your a few centimeters from the top of the dish. almost the thickness of a cake or pie. Cover with foil. Place into the oven and cook for 60 mins. Take off the foil and cook for another 30 mins so that the top is golden brown. Keep an eye on this, the secret is to cook it right though, so if the top is cooking too fast turn your heat down and cook it for longer. Some ovens you may need to cook it for 2 hours…. don t be afraid, the first time you will need to gauge your oven but after that it will be a breeze and a great dish to accompany meats and fish……

xx Love Nicole 

My sister gave me this recipe to try. My sister. Genius. 

INGREDIENTS

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup of castor sugar
• 2 cups of fresh or frozen rasberries
• 2 cups of Almond Meal 
• icing sugar (powdered sugar), passionfruit & rasberries to top it off!
• Yes, that is all

METHOD

Pre-heat your oven to 160 C

Crack 6 eggs into a large bowl, add the castor sugar. With an electric mixer, quickly whisk the eggs and sugar until the mixture has a whitish color, and the texture stops changing.  It should be stiff but still moist (as pictured above)  Mash up all of your rasberries in a bowl making sure to leave some as the garnish, but use 2 cups in your mixture.  Fold through the almond meal and rasberries, but, 1/4 cup of each at a time, not to overwhelm the sensitive egg mixture. Make sure to fold not mix, and make sure all ingredients folded through well. Place your mixture in a cake tin that has baking paper and also has been sprayed or greased with butter. Spoon Cake mix into tin and place into the pre-heated oven to bake. Bake for 1 hour. I turned my oven down to 100 C at the 30 mins mark,  and let it the cake bake for an extra 10 mins after the 1 hour. Depending on your oven. What to watch out for is that the outside doesn t burn and the inside isn t soft and collapses. Cooking things at a lower temperature prevents this if you start to see signs of this happening. Keep an eye on your cake. Once baked, allow to sit to cool off. Sift powdered sugar on top of the cake, add fresh rasberries and passionfruit. My garden is  overflowing with passionfruit right now, so these are fresh out of the garden! :) This cake is a real treat, healthy, light, delicious ect ect ect, I wish I had pics of the facial expression of papa when he was eating it. Priceless. 

xx Love Nicole 

Seriously, this was probably my number one favorite thing to eat as a kid and even now. Ever since I got home to Australia, all I could think about was attempting to make these the way my mum did when I was a kid for the first time. And boy, did they go down well. I think I am currently the most popular kid in my family after this little number, well…… for today at least. My Uncle Rocco gave me an 8/10 then ate 12 in a row…… He was testing my humility. I just smiled and offered more…… Any way we are all fat now, end of story. Here’s how it goes……

INGREDIENTS

• 1.2 kg of Sausage meat from your local Butcher
• 2 Packets of Puff Pastry (or 10 sheets)
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs
• 2 pieces of sliced bread (cut off crust and soak in water)
• 2 eggs
• bunch of chopped Parsley
• 1 grated zuchinni
• 1/2 grated sweet potato
• 1 large finely chopped onioin
• 1 grated carrot
• blob of tomato sauce (ketchup)
• blob of sweet chilli sauce
• 2 eggs lightly whisked for the glaze and to stick together

METHOD

Pre-heat your oven to 160C. In a very large bowl, mix your sausage meat, grated carrot, zucchini, and sweet potato, finely chopped onion, eggs, parsely, breadcrumbs, soaked bread (make sure you have cut off the crust and soaked in water) tomato sauce and sweet chilli sauce. You can use your hands make sure they are wet so the meat doesn’t stick to them…. and clean of course. Mix well and make sure you have the right consistency, damp but not watery. Make sure you have your puff pastry out of the freezer. Cut each sheet in half, place the meat mixture in the middle as shown above, and roll it up. Whisk 2 eggs into a bowl, this you will use for sticking and glazing which gives the rolls that golden color, use a cooking brush. Brush on the egg where you will join the pastryso it sticks whilst cooking. It should now look like a roll, join facing down. Cut in half and then in half again so you should make 4 pieces each roll.  On your trays you should put baking paper and then spray them or grease them with butter. Place your rolls on the tray. Brush your egg mixture on the top of all the rolls, you should also do this again halfway through cooking, keep checking on your rolls. Place them into the oven. Cook for 30 mins, turn heat down to 100 and cook for another 15 mins. You have to make sure the inside is cooked through and also not to burn the crust. This is very important, times and temperatures depend on your oven so make sure your keep your eye on it. Can t stress that enough. Take them out to sit and then serve with Tomato sauce (ketchup) or Sweet Chilli sauce, or both. :)

Good luck, You’ll be very loved in your house…… at least for the day 

xx love Nicole

Dear Giuseppe,

Today I invented something new for breakfast with all your favorite things in one meal, as, I know you are probably bored of the same old thing. Here’s to spicing up your life in the way of breakfast….. I hope you like it. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 eggs
• 1 English Muffin (or gourmet bread)
• Handful of Grated Parmesan Reggiano
• Dash of cream or milk
• Chopped Chives
• Good Quality Smoked Salmon
• Garlic Aioli (I used a roasted Garlic & Lime Mayonnaise)
• Salt and Pepper 

METHOD

Crack your eggs into a bowl, add a dash of cream or milk and whisk until your heart is content. Add salt and pepper, and a small amount of grated parmesan cheese. You can either melt some butter into a frying pan and add your eggs, stirring and folding consistently until cooked. Or, put them in the microwave stirring with your whisk every 30 secs until cooked. I like both, it’s good to try both ways so can you see the difference and what you prefer. Then, put the english muffins into the toaster, spread your aioli or seasoned mayonnaise on them followed by your scrambled eggs, left over parmesan cheese, and chopped chives, followed by freshly cracked pepper. Then neatly place your smoked salmon on the side or on top of the dish. And there you have it! Taste good? Dad was wide eyed and over the moon about this one :) 

xx Love Nicole 

I can let this secret slip away, only, because you will get close to making this exact recipe, but you will never be able to finish it off like a Trunfio. Purely, because once a year we have this insane weekend called, “Tomato Sauce Day”. It is a weekend where we all get together, us dings, and our tomatoes, and the entire extended family……. and we make Italian bottled tomato sauce. Oldskool. You can only get an invitation if you are engaged to be married to a Trunfio, or married to one. Oh, and if you do marry a Trunfio, making this dish is somewhat of an initiation into the family, I’m single, so get cooking boys. Tough family, they say our last name means “stubborn” in Italian….. does it??? I can’t tell you what goes on there either, except, a lotta fun, water fights, bon-fires, food, kid, chaos, and, well, tomato sauce……..

INGREDIENTS

(serves 4)

• 2 Lamb Shanks halved already (from your local butcher, I like to support local businesses) 
• 1 large onion or 2 small, very finely chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
• bunch of basil
• bunch of parsley 
• 2 bottles of Trunfio’s tomato sauce (You can use plain tomato pasta sauce from the supermarket, estimate 900ml or 1 Litre more or less )
• a box of your favorite pasta, I like plain old spaghetti, no frills and feels more traditional……. ever watch “The lady and the tramp”? 
• Freshly grated parmesan reggiano 

METHOD

(Cooking time 3-4 hours) 

 In a large saucepan on med-high heat add a layer of good quality olive oil, then your lamb shanks. You should turn these once or twice until they are brown, then take them out of the pan and leave them to rest, covered. Add your chopped onions and garlic to the same pan and let them cook until slightly golden brown or translucent in color. Then add your lamb shanks back in, stir a little and then add all of your sauce. If you prefer your sauce a little thicker, you can add a few teaspoons of tomato paste. Also, whilst cooking you can choose to keep the lid on or off, (or a bit of both) to achieve the perfect thickness for your own liking. I keep the lid on the entire time, except the last 30 mins and add 1-2 teaspoons of tomato paste. After, adding the sauce (make sure the sauce covers most if not all of the shanks) bring to the boil, and then turn the heat down right away to let simmer for…….. 3 hours, yes 3 hours, it is worth it, really, really worth it. Keep Checking on it. Put the chopped Basil and Parsley in 2 hours after you have it simmering, or with 1 hour to go. Salt and Pepper can be added as needed. 

When your sauce is cooked, turn off the heat and fish out all of the meat from the sauce, I say fish because at this point a lot of the meat would have fallen off the bone mmmmmmmmm…….. Put all of the meat into a large ceramic dish with a lid (or casserole dish) and put into a warming oven. Now it’s pasta time. Bring water, olive oil and a pinch of salt to the boil in a large saucepan. Once boiling, add your favorite pasta, let cook for around 8-15 mins depending on how thick your pasta is, and if you like it al dente. You can usually tell it is ready by throwing it at a wall and seeing if it sticks (yes I am quite a messy cook at times :D), if it does…… it’s ready. 

Mix the pasta into the sauce, and serve, make sure everyone tries the meat, and grate some parmesan on for your guests.

Damn I want to eat this again right now…….. 

Love Nicole xxx

I had my cousins over for dinner last night, they are all working boys and when I asked them earlier in the day what they wanted to eat………. this was the only thing on their mind. This could have been for two good reasons, either they were hoping we would have left overs so they could have them for lunch the next day, or they just really wanted them for dinner (or both!). I’m not sure what is better, eating them straight away, or the next day. You know it’s good when this is the only problem to solve. 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 Free Range Chicken Breasts
• 4 Free Range Eggs
• Bunch of Parsley
• 4 cloves of Garlic (minced)
• 500 grams of Breadcrumbs
• 250 grams of Parmesan Chesse (pre-grated)
• salt & pepper

METHOD

Take all the fat off your chicken with a sharp knife (if there is any). Now this is the tricky part, you need to fillet your breast so that 1 Breast should make 2-3 pieces of chicken, slicing horizontally of course. I recommend a consistent 1.5  cm thickness. once this is done and you have all your chicken piled up you will need to start on the marinade. Crack your eggs into a large bowl, add the garlic cloves (minced or crushed finely) and add your chopped parsley. Whisk this mixture for about  a minute. Then add all of your chicken and let it sit to marinate for 30 mins or more but put it in the fridge or a cool place if you let it sit longer. Next, into a large tray pour the breadcrumbs and the Parmesan cheese and mix them in together. Now you can crumb your chicken with this mixture when you are ready. Take a single slice of chicken out of your marinade and crumb by pressing firmly into the breadcrumb mix, flip the chicken and repeat on the other side. Repeat this for all of the chicken. Once all is crumbed, turn up the heat on your frying pan, add a shallow layer of olive oil and when hot, start frying your chicken. You will need to keep adding olive oil so there is a thin layer always on the bottom of the frying pan. Also, try to only flip the chicken once when frying, this takes practice. Eat now, but, make sure you make enough to have the next day. I used to always make these in bulk when I was studying at NIDA in Sydney and take them with me everyday to class, in bread with butter and sweet chilli sauce! So good. 

Love Nicole xx

As I write this post I have to tell you my mouth is actually watering, looking at the pics from last night, all I want to do is go and throw some more in the oven right now and stuff my face. I won’t allow myself to do that however. Especially because I have something really tasty already on the stove cooking away for the past 4 hours……… then again……… :)

INGREDIENTS

• Your favorite loaf of unsliced bread
• 200 grams of butter
• 6 cloves of Garlic (minced)
• bunch of Parsley (chopped finely)

This one is easy, the hard part is not to lack patience and walk away from the oven while the garlic bread is toasting…… Like I did. Because you will probably burn it, like I did, and have to start over. Mix your minced garlic and chopped parsley into you butter/margarine. Before spreading the garlic butter mixture onto you sliced bread it is better to lightly toast one side of your slices until it is golden in color. After, spead your Garlic Butter mixture onto the un-toasted side of your bread and place back under the grill. Until golden brown, no longer, watch it…….. and don’ t be too stiff with the garlic butter, the more the merrier, you know that! 

Love Nicole xx 

I don’t think people understand how easy it is to roast, especially something that taste as good as chicken. Chicken all day, errrrrday. This thing, seriously smells good enough to eat even before you put it in the over to cook! And, once you close that oven door, you basically do nothing for 1 hour and 20 mins. The big up on this, is that you will win. every. time. (as long as you don t over cook it) And, be prepared for the comments of your guests, actually, you could tell me what they said. I would like to know. Just make sure you have witty people at the table. If I was just cooking for me, this would be all I ate. Seriously. I’m gonna make you guys look like pros, it’s real easy, so be confident.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Organic or Free Range Chicken (don’t be cheap and get the hormone pumped tasteless robotic chicken)  
• 3 Carrots
• 3 Celery Sticks
• 2 whole onions
• 1 whole bulb of garlic
• 1 lemon
• HERBS, Herbs, herbs Rosemary, Sage and thyme. 
• freshly cracked salt and pepper

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 240C or 475F

Chop your onions, carrots and celery roughly (wash them but there is no need to peel them, even the onions, leave the outer later on, it adds to the appeal at the end) Break up the bulb of galic and also leave the skin on. Place them in the tray covering the entire surface area. Now for the fun part, Get your chicken, and make sure it knows it’s loved. I like to prick a lemon all over and put it in the microwave for 50 secs to bring out the flavor, this will really boost your chicken so do it! Stuff your chicken’s cavity with 3 cloves of peeled garlic, the lemon from the microwave and a bunch or sage, thyme and rosemary, as I said be heavy handed. You will also need to drizzle olive oil of your chook and rub freshly cracked salt and pepper into it, before placing it on top of your veggies that have also been drizzled in olive oil and salted and peppered….. ha. hmm. You need to tie your chicken up, this is called trussing, this is very important, think of it like some kinda bondage experiment. Sprinkle the remaining herbs over the magnificant spectacle you have created to finish it off! You are a true genius, an ‘artist’! Look at you! Turn the oven down to 200C or 400C and chuck the chicken into the over to ROAST. Set a timer! 120 mins. (Every 40 mins you should baste the chicken, you just should, don t ask questions) 

That’s it, simple. 

Now you will need Gravy and other Roasted vegies to accompany it. But, you will have to wait for me to post those, until then……. google. I can’t give all my dirty secrets away in one hit. 

xx Love Nicole 

Why famous you ask? Because everyone that has ever had the luxury of staying at my house has woken up to this sandwich, and begged me for the very same experience relentlessly. Mind you, at any hour of the day or night. All day Breakfast? It also sent the readers of ELLE.com and Sous Style into a tizzy, they wanted this famous recepie. Well, here it is. When I think back to when I created this little number, I don’t remember where it started, maybe a gourmet “McMuffin”? Or to cure one of my best friends many hang overs after their banging on my door with puppy dog eyes at all hours of the morning? Any who, it’s good, realllll goood. The secret ingredient? Garlic Aoili, don’t attempt to make this unless you get your hands on some, and if you aren t a garlic lover, don t worry, it doesn t really taste like garlic at all…….

INGREDIENTS (per person or serve)

• 1 egg
• 1 slice of ham
• Garlic aoili
• handful of arugula
• truffle salt (or any salt of your choice if you are not that fancy)
• english muffins, white or wheat (I like to mix it up and use portugese muffins too, they are yummy)
• avocado for a garnish 

METHOD

The secret to this is timing, getting everything so that it is done cooking at the same time, so you can pile it all together and serve right away, hot! I like to start with the ham, then muffin then egg. But whatever tickles your own fancy. Heat element always before ever adding olive oil. So, in a heaated frying pan add a splash of your favorite olive oil and slices of ham, heat until slightly brown and then remove from pan. Next crack an egg onto frying pan, crack fresh pepper and salt on egg and then cover imediatley with lid. (This cooks the egg evenly and so it is runny in the middle with no raw whites) While doing this you should have the muffin cut in half and in the toaster. When the muffin has popped out of the toaster, smear on your Garlic aoili and don t hold back, the more the merrier. You will know the egg is ready when, (and I mean exactly when) the yolk has turned slightly cloudy, which means the layer of egg white over the yolk is cooked protecting the runny yellow deliciousness inside. Now to build. On top of the muffin, the aoili, the cooked ham, the egg, the arugula and then avocado (I prefer none on mine) then the other half of the muffin with aoili smeared onto it! And, bobs your uncle, a delcious fast and easy breakfast sandwich that will have your friends howling for more. 

Love Nicole xx

I am sitting in the Sydney Airport Lounge, anxiously awaiting my flight (almost home) to Perth where I will be greeted by my sister to embark on the drive home to see my dad. My dad was recently diagnosed with Cancer, apparently very common these days. So, I have decided to base myself from the most isolated place in the world for a little while to spend time with dad, which seems absurd considering I am a model who travels a few times a week :). What to do? What to do? I will pursue my passion of cooking everyday until my hands fall off and I lose all sense of smell and taste…… that, I will share with you all. I like to think I am a conventional women (those who know me might disagree) so for the time being I am going to put down the, hmmmmm……. and pick up the apron. A woman should always take time to prune the roses. The goal, to make my dad happy! They say, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”. I would have to agree on that one :). 

Love Nicole xx