The Nation's Health

Fried Eggs With Vegetables

We'll be back after this short break... Just letting you sexy stitchers know I'm alive. I'm going through a really stressful situation that is soaking up all of my sewing & cooking time.

Welcome to my new home! Do you like my brown, 70s tiles? I do. Of course they're no match for the retro blue bench, but they come as part of an amazing new apartment I'm sharing with my boy, Mark. I'm totally a grown-up. Grown ups, I think, can't always eat custard or salted caramel mousse. Sometimes, they eat salad. Right before they go antiquing and discuss petrol prices.

Please don't be turned off by the pomegranate in this salad because I even have a grown-up trick for getting the seeds. All you do is cut the pomegranate in half, and submerge it in a bowl of water. Separate the seeds from the white membrane and the seeds will sink while the membrane floats to the top. Just like this...

I first fell in love with thinly sliced fennel & rocket when I visited the Heide. It's crisp and light, but textural enough that you feel satisfied when you're finished eating. I've been adding it to the side of everything until I found this recipe which adds pomegranate and prosciutto. Fresh fennel salad with juicy jewels and cured meat? Get. In. My. Mouth. Not only is this salad delicious, but it looks impressive while very easy to make. So you can look like a grown-up when maybe, like me, you're still kind of pretending.

Fennel, Prosciutto, And Pomegranate Salad:

• 2 baby (or 1 large) thinly sliced fennel bulb
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Coarsely ground salt & pepper
• 6 cups rocket (or arugula)
• 3 small green onions (around 1 cup) finely sliced
• 1/4 cup mint leaves torn
• Balsamic vinegar (1.5 tablespoon)
• 6 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto torn into strips
• 1 pomegranate

1. Mix rocket, green onions, and mint. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper.
2. Add fennel & pomegranate seeds. Mix only slightly (I prefer the layered look) and drizzle with some more olive oil.
3. Top with torn strips of prosciutto.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse

If you felt threatened by the vanilla baked pears and bourbon custard, look away. Nothing to see here. No salted caramel. No chocolate. Please, just go on about your day.

Seriously this dessert is not for the faint hearted. It is for the chocolate hearted, the sweet-tooths, and those who like a little salt with their caramel. Recently I went to a dinner party and was requested to bring dessert. I brought this. I was loved, but the large teacups I used to serve the mousse made the servings too big. Some dedicated sweetaholics finished theirs.

So far, no reports of diabetes. I think these would be amazing on large spoons or in petite ramikins. Do me proud. Go forth and salt!

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup thickened cream (optional serving) thickened cream
• 2 1/2 tablespoons salted butter (room temperature)
• 7 ounces chocolate (I used 3/4 dark chocolate and 1/4 milk chocolate)
• 3 eggs separated (room temperature)

Combine the sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a saucepan. Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel. Swirl only to distribute the sugar. The colour in number 4 is perfect, but be careful because it can go from #3 to #4 pretty quickly! While this is happening, warm your cream either in the microwave or in a bain-marie (in a bowl over steaming water)

1. Take off the heat and stir in the butter.
2. Add warmed cream and whisk vigorously
3. Add the chocolate and give it a minute to melt down. While you're waiting, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and leave to the side.
4. Stir the chocolatey mixture until smooth.
5. Add a spoonful of the chocolately mixture to the egg yolks to warm them. Stir the egg yolks into the chocolatey mixture. I like my mixture salty all the way through so I add a few turns of rock salt here.
6. Fold the chocolate mixture with the egg whites. Don't over-mix as you will burst all of the bubbles and loose the mousse texture.
7. Divide between very small ramikins (or mini tea-cups!) and top with rock salt. Leave to set in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
8. Serve as is or with whatever topping you like! Because it is so rich I would suggest something fresh like mint-infused whipped cream, raspberries, blueberries....