Working with eggs.

Cooking for someone with a chicken egg allergy has led me to a wonderful world of duck eggs, quail eggs and other eggs. And if you have ever had any doubt, I am here to assure you that cooking with duck eggs is WONDERFUL! The taste is beautifully rich and contrary to popular belief, I believe they taste better than chicken eggs.

So far, my favourite recipe for treating those in your life who are limited to duck eggs is a duck egg baked custard. This rich and creamy treat is sure to set mouths watering! Serves 6.

Ingredients

• 2 whole duck eggs
• 2 extra duck egg yolks
• 1/2 cup castor sugar
• 1/2 a vanilla bean
• 2 cups of cream

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F)
2. Place cream in a saucepan over a medium heat. scrape the bean half and place both the seeds and the pod in the cream.
3. While the cream is heating, add the eggs, yolks and sugar to a bowl and whisk until pale and creamy.
4. Add egg and sugar mix slowly to the hot cream, stirring all the time.
5. Continue to stir custard regularly until it begins to thicken - coating the back of your spoon.
6. From here you can either use this custard as a pouring custard by removing from the heat and cooling, or you can create a delicious baked custard, which can be eaten on their own, or turned into crème brulee!
7. To make a baked custard, take 6 half cup ramekins and place them in a deep baking dish. pour the custard into the ramekins, distributing evenly.
8. Pour hot water into the deep baking dish so that the water comes half way up the side of the ramekins, creating a Bain Marie. Place the whole tray in the oven and cook for roughly 35 minutes, or until the tops of the custards start to brown (if this starts to happen before the first 15 minutes are up, cover your dish with tin foil to stop them from burning).
9. Once cooked, remove your custards from the oven and allow to cool in the water bath.
10. To enjoy your custards, they can be eaten warm or cold. you can also add some fine sugar to the top and blast them with a butene torch to make crème brulee!

You can make anything you can normally make with chicken eggs using duck eggs and these delicious baked custards are a perfect example!

The perfect curry.

This curry is the perfect lamb curry, for any occasion. Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 500grams diced lamb leg
• 3 large potatoes - diced
• 2 large onions - diced
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon of your favourite masala (my favourite is kitchen king)
• Extra chilli if your masala is not as hot as you would like your curry.
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 600grams of diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups of strong beef stock
• 1/2 cup of red wine
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil on a medium heat. Once hot, add lamb and potatoes and cook until meat is browned all over.
2. Add onions and cook until onions are soft, then add spices and garlic - heat until the spices' aromas start to become very strong.
3. Add stock, wine and tomatoes, cover and turn hear down low.
4. Cook for roughly 2 hours, until liquids have reduced and potatoes are soft and disintegrating. Season to taste with salt and pepper
5. Serve hot with basmati rice and popodoms