Beating My Unbeatable Eggs

Spanish Yorkshire Pudding ?!?!!
Savory Egg & Chorizo Appetizers

You may have seen my recipe for "Sicilian Styled" Coddled Eggs on here a while ago- one that I always considered to be one of my signature dishes. I made a quip to a friend of mine about them being "unbeatable" eggs. Haha. I am really funny sometimes, I know. Well- wouldn't you know it... I just made a dish which turned out maybe a little better. You may say that it is time for me to swallow my words. But then I would say that I just swallowed one delicious meal and that the last laugh is still on me!

The difference with this dish is that I started off with a traditional egg batter. I was thinking of making a typical Spanish omelette, with spring onions and spicy sausage- but wanted to present it in a different way. My idea was to bake the egg mix in the oven rather than fry it in a pan... so the first thing that came to mind was a muffin tray. But being as I was about to prepare a savory dish rather than a sweet one... the SECOND thing that came to mind was Yorkshire Pudding! I adore Yorkshire Pudding- as do most people... but nobody ever eats it unless they are having a Sunday roast.

So I set about making a combination of the traditional English lunch accompaniment and a little Mediterranean sunshine into the mix. And behold... Spanish Yorkshire Pudding!
Olé!

This is a very simple dish. Beat together eggs, flour and milk as you would to make a traditional batter. I like to mix the flour and milk together first- the best way to avoid getting any lumps. Then add a generous amount of chopped rosemary, mint and thyme. Season with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. As usual- I am trying to keep the fat down LOW in all of my dishes- and this is no exception. The Chorizo has more than enough fat to keep these babies from sticking to the tray and to give them a great smokey and spicy flavor. To give the spicy and tangy flavor an extra boost, I added a couple of tablespoons of tomato ketchup... trust me it will be delicious, oh ye of little faith...

As with Yorkshire Pudding, I started these off by having the tray hot and well greased. Rather than heat up oil as you would with Yorkshire Pudding, I put half of the finely chopped Chorizo into the muffin tray and put it into a hot oven. After 5 minutes, they are sizzling and there will be plenty of fat in the tray for you to pour your batter into. This fat is secret to the little "puddings" puffing up the way they do. Pour in the batter to about half-way... they won't puff up as much as Yorkshire Puddings do because of the weight of the added ingredients- but they will almost double in size. This is also something to bear in mind when you start making your batter. I got 8 of these out of 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons of flour!

The batter will start to set almost as soon as you pour it into the tray... but this is a good thing! Now you can add the other ingredients and they won't sink to the bottom of the tray. I added a couple of mushrooms and spring onions which I finely chopped. Sprinkle these on top, along with the other Chorizo pieces and a little bit of Parmesan- not too much. They should be puffed-up and firm within 5 minutes and a further 2-3 minutes with the broiler turned on will have them golden and brown and screaming to be eaten!

These are great hot or cold and you can serve a couple of them on a green salad for a light lunch... an individual serving as a little appetizer... or prepare a whole platter of them as a part of a buffet spread... or of course as a great little breakfast...

Give them a try and see what you think... I am sure you will agree that these eggs really are going to be hard to beat!