Cooking Kiwi style: Baked Egg and Ham Bread Cups

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There is an upside to working part-time: you get to watch the awesome Kiwi morning show and try out new recipes :D


One of the biggest adjustments I had to make food-wise was TOAST. Kiwis eat very little bread, but have toast with pretty much everything. It tastes a little bit better here than back home though.

Here's a nice weekend brunch idea, for those lazy mornings when you feel like making something just a leeetle bit special without too much effort. Link to the original recipe for baked egg and bacon bread cups can be found here, just scroll down to the bottom, and here you can see my pics for illustration.

Anyhoo, this is what you need: a muffin tray, two pieces of toast, butter, two small slices of bacon (I used some delicious manuka smoked ham instead), two eggs and cheese - just a little to sprinkle on top.

Grease the tray with butter, put a small piece of baking paper in the cups (just so nothing sticks at the bottom).

Cut the crust off the toast and roll it flat (I used a glass cos I couldn't find a rolling pin).

Put the toast in the cups and flatten it some more (you need space for the filling!), then stick the toast in the oven for 5 minutes (180 degrees C).

While the toast is warming up, cut the ham and quickly fry it a little. Take the tray from the oven and put the ham in the toast cups.

Add the eggs - make sure they're small, mine were huge and the egg white spilled over a bit.

Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes.

While my bread cups were baking, I used the leftover ham and some leftover pasta for a quick pasta salad.

Sprinkle some fresh pepper on top and voila! Brunch with a view :)
You wanna make sure the egg is hard. I tested it with a knife - no runny stuff on the blade.

Borrowed some pasta to make a smiley face (couldn't resist!!!).

Now, this is what it's all about!
I dare say the bread cups are a bit more than the sum of their parts, and when you cut them in half, they look absolutely gorgeous.

Lemme know if you ever give it a go yourself!

A note to Jeannot: if you are reading this, you are most probably cursing you have to work on my day off. I pwomise to make some bread cups for you very soon - and I'll throw in some onion, too!

All pics taken by moi, November, 2009