By Emma Chow

The key to the easiest egg based dinners is simple: add some carbs!  Slices of bread, cubes of toast, slices of potato, pasta, a nice slab of home-made dough; these are the things that take those precious eggs further.

Look out next week for part 2 of MamaBake egg dinners: Around the World in five egg dinners! These recipes yield four generous serves.

Spanish Tortilla

Ingredients

1 onion
2 large waxy potatoes
½ cup olive oil plus 3 tablespoons
8 eggs

Method

1. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large shallow pan.
2. Thinly slice the onion and add to the pan, cook until the onion is dark brown in colour, soft and caramelised which takes about 30 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In the same pan heat the remaining oil. Slice potatoes to about ½ centimetre width. Cook in the pan on medium-high for a few minutes and then reduce to medium for 10 minutes until the potatoes are tender but not coloured.
4. Drain potatoes and set aside.
5. Beat the 8 eggs lightly with a fork.
6. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan on medium heat.. Add the egg, and then scatter in the potatoes and onion.
7. Lift the edges of the tortilla with a spatula and tilt the pan to allow the uncooked egg mixture to run underneath.
8. Cook until the bottom and edges of the tortilla are set but the centre should be runny.
9. Using a plate larger than the pan, place it over the top and swiftly invert the tortilla onto the plate. Place the pan back on the heat and gently slide the tortilla into the pan so the topside can cook until just set, 2-3 minutes.
10. Cut into wedges and serve with a green salad.

Pasta Carbonara with Leek

Ingredients

5 egg yolks
½ cup cream
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
5 rashers thick cut bacon
1 large leek
500g pasta, either long noodles or short pasta is fine
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
salt and pepper.

Method

1. Finely slice the leek and chop and dice the bacon. In a shallow pan, sauté the leek and bacon together until the bacon is crisp and the leek softened.
2. Meanwhile fill a large pot with water and bring it to the boil.
3. Beat the egg yolks, cream and ½ the parmesan. You can do this in one of the bowls you intend to serve the pasta in.
4. Cook the pasta as per instructions, reserving ½ cup of starchy pasta water.
5. Drain the pasta and then immediately place back into the cooking pot, but not on heat.
6. Add the bacon and leek, pasta water and the egg mixture and stir through to combine.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle on more parmesan and serve immediately.

Strata of cheese and greens

Ingredients

1 onion
1 clove garlic
40 grams butter
½ grated  nutmeg
salt and pepper
6 cups of cubed leftover bread
4 handfuls baby spinach
1 cup shredded kale
1 cup grated Swiss cheese
1 cup grated tasty cheese
3 cups of milk
8 eggs

Method

1. Thinly slice onion and finely chop garlic.
2. In a large fry pan, add a couple tablespoons of oil and sauté onion and garlic for 5 minutes or so until softened. Stir in the shredded kale and spinach leaves and cook until softened.
3. Take a large shallow ceramic baking dish like one you would use for a potato bake or casserole. Thoroughly grease the dish with butter.
4. Scatter the baking dish ½ the bread cubes. Top this with half the greens mixture, then half the grated cheese, then the rest of the bread cubes, then the rest of the greens mixture and finally the remaining cheese.
5. Whisk together the eggs, milk, and grated nutmeg. Pour this over the ingredients in the baking dish. Allow to sit for an hour so the bread soaks up all the egg mixture.
6. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
7. Bake the strata for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden and risen.

Egg in the Hole

A fun way of preparing eggs and toast.

Ingredients

8 thick slices of sourdough bread, about 2-3 cm thick
8 eggs
40g butter
Salt and pepper
Green salad with a sharp vinaigrette to serve

Method

1. Use a round cutter to cut out a circle of bread from each slice, try one 5-7cm in diameter. Cut from the centre and reserve the bread circles.
2. Heat a large fry pan and add a small knob of butter, tiling to coat the pan.
3. Place a couple of bread slices flat on the bottom of the pan, you can probably fit 2 but should do no more than 2; you need to be able to turn the toast easily.
4. Crack an egg into the hole of each piece of bread and cook for 2 minutes, until the whites are beginning to set.
5. With a large spatula, carefully flip over each slice of bread and cook for a further 2 minutes until the whites are fully set but the yolk is still runny.
6. Serve each person 2 eggs in the hole with a large serving of salad. Salad greens are amazingly delicious doused with runny egg yolk.

Egg Pizza

To make a couple of delicious egg pizzas, start with one of MamaBake’s most excellent pizza base recipes. This pizza is rich with greens, eggs and cheese and is simple and quick to prepare.

Ingredients

2 large uncooked pizza bases prepared earlier
1 large head of broccoli
2 large handfuls of spinach
8 eggs
200g mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celcius.
2. Remove the woody parts from the broccoli and thinly slice the stalks and florets together. This way you get nice, flat, cross –sections of the broccoli.
3. Grate the mozzarella.
4. Place pizza bases on oven trays. On your pizza bases, lay the broccoli slices flat, try not to overlap too much.
5. Distribute the spinach over the broccoli.
6. Make 4 wells on each pizza base amongst the greens. Crack an egg into each of these spaces.
7. Scatter mozzarella over the top of the pizzas and season with salt and pepper
8. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the eggs are set and the cheese is bubbling. Serve immediately.