Trying something new

I am really a bit fed up with scrambled eggs on my fasting days - and today is a fasting day, so I had a look in my Women's Weekly book for the 5/2 diet and decided I would have a go at making the above - ham and egg pockets they call it. I'm not all that good at scrambled eggs anyway and really they need to be on toast. Well that's what I think .

It also made me realise that these days I don't try new things very much. Sure I make up things to go with pasta and rice according to what I have in the fridge, but I very rarely try cooking something new out of my cookery books - of which I have many. When I was first married I cooked something new every night from one of my small range of cookery books. I guess I was trying to please my man. But I was pleasing myself as well as it was fun discovering new foods and new recipes. I suppose I was still learning as well - but really we go on learning all our lives when it comes to food. New foods become available or become fashionable, new gadgets appear and new techniques are invented or else we discover the food of a previously unexplored nationality. In England, of course, we ate a lot of Indian food, but when we came to Melbourne there was just one Indian restaurant so I had to find an Indian cookbook and learn to cook Indian food. But over the years, even though I have collected lots and lots of cookbooks I have experimented with recipes from them less and less. So I am resolving to try something new at least once a week - from a book that is. Starting with ham and egg pockets. Maybe I should resolve to report on my progress too, so that I keep my resolve.

So here is experiment number one.

HAM AND EGG POCKET

This is just for one person. It's not a substantial meal because it's for someone who is basically fasting. It is offered as a breakfast dish and is said to have 100 calories in it. Which I suspect is a bit optimistic - but this is my dinner and I have 400 calories to play with - having spent 100 on my yoghurt for lunch. Might put a bit of celery in it too. See I can't resist meddling.

40g slice 97% fat free ham - well I've just got ham, so there go a few calories too. Where do you find 97% fat free ham. None of the ham in the supermarket delicatessen had any labels about fat content.

1 medium egg - I've got a large one

1 large cherry tomato (30g) halved - mine are small so I might try 2

15g wild rocket leaves

2 teaspoons lemon juice

lemon wedges and basil leaves to serve. Haven't got any basil - might try some chervil from the garden.

Preheat oven to 220ºC, Grease a 3/4 cup ovenproof dish, texas muffin pan hole, ramekin or dariole mould.

Press ham in to dish; break egg in to ham case. Top with tomato. Bake for 15 minutes or until ham is crisp and egg is cooked to your liking.

Combine rocket and juice in a small bowl. Serve ham and egg pocket with rocket, lemon wedges and basil leaves.

The picture shows three portions. You're only supposed to eat one of them.

Well it takes your mind off the horror of Donald Trump as President. Only in America - which is why I'm not tempted to go there on holiday.

POSTSCRIPT

It was really quite nice, though I couldn't get it out of the ramekin. I also probably shouldn't have added the celery because I think this caused the liquid that was in the bottom. Though I guess that could also have come from the tomatoes. And I did lose weight so I'll try that again. Will try something else next time though.