The Kings Breakfast … Scrambled Eggs with Parma Ham & Parmesan Cheese
April 19, 2013 in Breakfasts, Cheese Recipes, Cooking with Pork, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Sapori chapter 2 - The Breakfast Club
The Kings Breakfast … creamy eggs scrambled with Parma Ham and Parmesan Cheese.
Last week, I was sitting in my garden on the bench, staring blankly into my pond. This is my sacred place, where I go to sit quietly, to ponder and just ‘be’. I see the fish in my pond as fish; they are not my pets, well, all save one whose name is Spud! He has never grown much beyond about 25cm whereas his brothers and sisters are rollicking elegant great big sashaying massive Koi. Poor old Spud wiggles his way through life and spends quite a lot of time on the bottom of the pond. Perhaps he too is pondering?
TrickyRicky telephoned Dr Doolittle (our fish Doctor) to come and examine another fish that seemed to be a bit poorly. Dr D is a wonderful man, but doesn’t care too much for humans. He arrives at our house, day or night, clad in a pair of old faded safari style shorts; bare to the waste. He seems to have no use for shoes and always brings his big serious looking microscope to check out tissue samples from sick fish.
TrickyRicky suspected that the big yellow Koi was infected with a parasite called ‘Fluke’ which could cause it to go blind and could irritate it to the point where it jumps out of the pool and dies, so in light of this I guess that this was a bit of a fish emergency.
Dr D arrived like a bull in a china shop, his bakkie screeched to a halt in our driveway, he leapt out leaving his door wide open and ran straight to the pond and jumped in. Pool old Spud got such a fright that he bolted and swam straight into the pond wall, at double warp speed! He knocked himself clean out and sort of rolled onto his side and went belly up! All we could do was stare at the pond in disbelief! TrickyRicky was rooted to the spot and all he could do was point his finger at the pond!
Dr D managed to revive little Spud but the poor thing had developed a 45 degree kink in his tail. Poor Dr D looked like he was about to drown himself as his act of contrition and first broke the bad news which was that the fish’s back was broken but followed this very quickly with the good news which was that he could live out his days, pain free, but with his growth stunted and with a permanent kink in his tail. My altruistic self is a complete sucker for any disadvantaged person or animal that has to climb hills to meet life’s daily challenges! Ergo, Spud was born!
I feed the fish in a manner that ensures that Spud gets plenty to eat. I first throw a large handful of food to the opposite site of the pond to where Spud is, this attracts the big boys to that end of the pond, my second handful get scattered directly above Spud. Upon hearing the food hitting the water, he’s off, wiggling his poor old self much like little Tiny Tim in Great Expectation. With nothing less than a Herculean effort he wiggles his way up to the surface and usually manages to get a pellet. Poor Spud! He is quite a cute pie, wiggling his way through life.
Little Spud wiggling his way through life!
Talking about fish, Daniele was visiting us for a weekend in January when he received a call from his agent confirming his acquisition of a role in a movie that he had auditioned for. He plays the part of a Prussian count in this film which is set in America in the 1800’s. He had to learn to drive a wagon of horses for the role which he has savoured every minute of and he gets to run around the countryside in costume with muskets and all sorts!
Daniele received the call from his agent on a Saturday evening so Sunday morning’s breakfast had to be special and appropriately celebratory. As luck would have it I had been gifted a tray of enormous beautiful organic, free range eggs that day too! I served my very special ‘Kings Breakfast’ which is reserved for celebrations and is inspired by the poem of the same name, written by AA Milne.
I learnt this poem off by heart for an eisteddfod as an 8year old. I remember thinking that a King would never just eat buttered toast for breakfast. I had not yet developed a palate for marmalade at the tender young age of 8 and was horrified at the thought of toast, NO BUTTER and MARMELADE. Isn’t it wonderful how the literature of my childhood has found its’ way onto my dinner plates today. I would probably have fainted at the mere notion of eating ‘fish eggs’ as a child but have served up several variations of this breakfast which I feel is most definitely fit for a King.
A Kings Breakfast
Ingredients
2 Eggs
2 slices Ham chopped into bite sized pieces
2 slices of Parma ham chopped into bite sized pieces*
2Tbs of Fresh cream
1Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
A knob of Butter
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
3Tbs black capelin caviar*
a sprig of fresh thyme and a few flowers to garnish with
of fresh thyme and a few flowers to garnish with
- These eggs are enormous and each have double yolks!
- The brown egg is a jumbo egg … the white eggs are enormous!
Top Tips:
*you could substitute the ham with smoked salmon, haddock or any smoked fish
*salmon caviar is also very good with this breakfast but I just can’t find it in Durban. I can tell you that Giovanni’s in Green Point in Cape Town almost always have stock of these orange jewels!
Method
Break your eggs into a bowl and whisk very lightly.
Add the chopped ham, parmesan cheese, cream and black pepper.
Don’t add any salt to this mixture as the ham, parmesan cheese and caviar are all quite salty.
Melt a knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat
- When I look at this picture I can smell that beautiful aroma that butter releases when you melt it! Heavenly!
Pour in the egg mixture and gently scramble on a medium heat.
I like my scrambled eggs to be soft and quivering so I don’t cook them for more than two minutes; but the choice is yours.
- How is this for an action shot!
Tip the eggs onto a plate and top with 3 quenelles of caviar.
I garnished the plate with some violas for a little extra ‘shizzle’ and served hot, buttered toast with it.
Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day!
Breakfast is never just one course here, so breakfast was finished off with some toasted panetone and cappucino’s!
Here is the poem that has inspired me to cook fabulous breakfasts fit for a King!
The King’s Breakfast
By A. A. Milne 1882–1956
The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
“Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?”
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid
Said, “Certainly,
I’ll go and tell
The cow
Now
Before she goes to bed.”
The Dairymaid
She curtsied,
And went and told
The Alderney:
“Don’t forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread.”
The Alderney
Said sleepily:
“You’d better tell
His Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade
Instead.”
The Dairymaid
Said, “Fancy!”
And went to
Her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
“Excuse me,
Your Majesty,
For taking of
The liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It’s very
Thickly
Spread.”
The Queen said
“Oh!”
And went to
His Majesty:
“Talking of the butter for
The Royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?”
The King said,
“Bother!”
And then he said,
“Oh, dear me!”
The King sobbed, “Oh, deary me!”
And went back to bed.
“Nobody,”
He whimpered,
“Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!”
The Queen said,
“There, there!”
And went to
The Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid
Said, “There, there!”
And went to the shed.
The cow said,
“There, there!
I didn’t really
Mean it;
Here’s milk for his porringer
And butter for his bread.”
The Queen took
The butter
And brought it to
His Majesty;
The King said,
“Butter, eh?”
And bounced out of bed.
“Nobody,” he said,
As he kissed her
Tenderly,
“Nobody,” he said,
As he slid down
The banisters,
“Nobody,
My darling,
Could call me
A fussy man—
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!”
More Breakfast Ideas
Fresh Strawberry & Peppered Chevin French Fried Brioche …. Ooh la laaaaa!
click on the recipe title to be whisked off to the recipe!
click on the recipe title to be whisked off to the recipe!
Tattie Scones topped with poached duck eggs and Parmesan Butter.
As always
Buon Appetito
Xxx
jan
