Snoop Puss
Head Chef
Cheating vegetables
Cheating because the vegetable are bottled or canned. Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan until bubbling (but not browned), add some diced bacon or ham and sauté for a short while, longer if you need to cook bacon rather than just heat ham. Pour the drained vegetables on top and stir to coat with the butter and to mix in the bacon. Continue to cook until heated through. I love this with those tiny French petits pois you get in cans. Works well with green beans as well. If you have no bacon or ham, fry some very finely diced or pressed garlic in the butter for just a few seconds. Under no circumstances let the garlic brown. Garlic goes better with green beans than peas.
Julienne potato cake
Peel some potatoes and then slice into very fine matchsticks. Do not rinse the matchsticks. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a small, preferably non-stick frying pan. Randomly pile in a layer of the potatoes and season. Pile in another layer and season. Continue till you have no potatoes left. Cover the top of the pan tightly with silver (aluminium) foil and rest a plate or bowl on top to press the potatoes down onto the base of the pan. Cook over a gentle heat for 25 mins or so. To test to see if it's cooked, gently lift an edge of the foil and stab a few of the central sticks to see if they're soft. Replace the foil if not and continue to cook. When ready to serve, place a serving plate over the top of the pan and invert. You might need to give the pan a little shake, but what you should get is a round cake of potato matchsticks with a nicely browned crust on the top. I make this in an omelette pan that I use only for eggs and this potato cake.
And on the subject of omelettes, they make a great meal for one or two people. It's nigh-on impossible to make them for more people because you need to eat them the instant they're made. At the risk of raising a 'polèmica' as they say here in Spain (heated debate and controversy all in one), here's how I make them.
Only good butter will do to cook them in. Nothing else gives you quite the right finish in my experience. So, melt a generous knob of butter in your pan. While it's heating, combine two eggs, a tablespoon of milk and a little black pepper. You want to amalgamate the yolk and the white but not incorporate too much air. When the butter is fizzing in your pan (again, bubbling but not brown), swirl it to coat the base and partway up the sides of the pan. Put back on the flame to make sure it's good and hot and then pour in the eggs. As soon as you have a lightly set base (maybe only a couple of millimetres thick and still very runny on top), add your topping. I love finely grated cheese (emmenthal or gruyere) or even one of those processed slices of cheese that I reckon are disgusting except in omelettes, where they are redeemed! When you've added the topping, take a wooden spatula or other utensil suitable for a non-stick pan and draw back the set omelette from the side. Tip the pan to fill the gap you've created with runny mixture. Do this all around the edges of the pan. Once you've got no significant amount of runny mixture left, leave the omelette to cook to your liking. Personally, I like them slightly gooey rather than fully set. To serve, tip the pan slightly, fold part of the omelette onto the rest while still in the pan and then roll out of the pan onto your plate. (This gives you more of a stuffed pancake shape rather than a half moon, giving you more layers.)
By tipping the pan and filling the gap with mixture, you get a lovely rumpled effect with a mottled browned and yellow look. The omelette also comes out thick yet fluffy. I tend to use a surprisingly high heat once I'm ready to start to cook the omelette. I'm more cautious when leaving the butter to melt as browned butter makes for a horrible omelette. If you need to make another one straight away, wipe the pan out with kitchen paper and allow to cool slightly before adding more butter for the second omelette. If you have a good pan, it will keep the heat and before you know it you'll have burnt the butter.
Cheating because the vegetable are bottled or canned. Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan until bubbling (but not browned), add some diced bacon or ham and sauté for a short while, longer if you need to cook bacon rather than just heat ham. Pour the drained vegetables on top and stir to coat with the butter and to mix in the bacon. Continue to cook until heated through. I love this with those tiny French petits pois you get in cans. Works well with green beans as well. If you have no bacon or ham, fry some very finely diced or pressed garlic in the butter for just a few seconds. Under no circumstances let the garlic brown. Garlic goes better with green beans than peas.
Julienne potato cake
Peel some potatoes and then slice into very fine matchsticks. Do not rinse the matchsticks. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a small, preferably non-stick frying pan. Randomly pile in a layer of the potatoes and season. Pile in another layer and season. Continue till you have no potatoes left. Cover the top of the pan tightly with silver (aluminium) foil and rest a plate or bowl on top to press the potatoes down onto the base of the pan. Cook over a gentle heat for 25 mins or so. To test to see if it's cooked, gently lift an edge of the foil and stab a few of the central sticks to see if they're soft. Replace the foil if not and continue to cook. When ready to serve, place a serving plate over the top of the pan and invert. You might need to give the pan a little shake, but what you should get is a round cake of potato matchsticks with a nicely browned crust on the top. I make this in an omelette pan that I use only for eggs and this potato cake.
And on the subject of omelettes, they make a great meal for one or two people. It's nigh-on impossible to make them for more people because you need to eat them the instant they're made. At the risk of raising a 'polèmica' as they say here in Spain (heated debate and controversy all in one), here's how I make them.
Only good butter will do to cook them in. Nothing else gives you quite the right finish in my experience. So, melt a generous knob of butter in your pan. While it's heating, combine two eggs, a tablespoon of milk and a little black pepper. You want to amalgamate the yolk and the white but not incorporate too much air. When the butter is fizzing in your pan (again, bubbling but not brown), swirl it to coat the base and partway up the sides of the pan. Put back on the flame to make sure it's good and hot and then pour in the eggs. As soon as you have a lightly set base (maybe only a couple of millimetres thick and still very runny on top), add your topping. I love finely grated cheese (emmenthal or gruyere) or even one of those processed slices of cheese that I reckon are disgusting except in omelettes, where they are redeemed! When you've added the topping, take a wooden spatula or other utensil suitable for a non-stick pan and draw back the set omelette from the side. Tip the pan to fill the gap you've created with runny mixture. Do this all around the edges of the pan. Once you've got no significant amount of runny mixture left, leave the omelette to cook to your liking. Personally, I like them slightly gooey rather than fully set. To serve, tip the pan slightly, fold part of the omelette onto the rest while still in the pan and then roll out of the pan onto your plate. (This gives you more of a stuffed pancake shape rather than a half moon, giving you more layers.)
By tipping the pan and filling the gap with mixture, you get a lovely rumpled effect with a mottled browned and yellow look. The omelette also comes out thick yet fluffy. I tend to use a surprisingly high heat once I'm ready to start to cook the omelette. I'm more cautious when leaving the butter to melt as browned butter makes for a horrible omelette. If you need to make another one straight away, wipe the pan out with kitchen paper and allow to cool slightly before adding more butter for the second omelette. If you have a good pan, it will keep the heat and before you know it you'll have burnt the butter.