Spanish Egg Threads

Another popular recipe for a Christmas party in Spain is "egg threads". Usually the eggs are rolled in slices of ham and served as little rolls. You can also make canapes with butter, a slice of yellow cheese/ham and sprinkle the egg "straw" on top. Here is the recipe for making them: Bring 1 tea-cup of sugar with 2 tea-cups of water to the boil and stir until you get a syrup. Separately, beat 4 egg yolks well, strain them and put them into a syringe or a pastry bag/piping bag. Cut a very thin corner off the plastic of the bag and pipe the beaten yolk in a thin stream into the boiling syrup. When it firms up into straw, remove with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of ice-cold water for a few minutes. Then take them out of there too, and leave on kitchen paper to drain well and dry. Sprinkle the dry straw over the canapes or roll it up in slices of ham into little rolls.

--- ADDITIONAL RECIPE ON pp.580-581 (untitled second recipe grouped under this entry): Baked Peppers with Cream Cheese and Prosciutto, with Crunchy Breadcrumbs and Hazelnuts (20 December 2016) --- Serves 2 large or 4 small portions. For the peppers: 4 medium-large green peppers; olive oil and a little salt for sprinkling the peppers; 300 g cream cheese; 50 g freshly grated parmesan; 70 g prosciutto, finely chopped; 2 large eggs, lightly beaten; 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme; 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil. For the breadcrumbs: 50 g from the middle of a white loaf, cut into cubes; 20 g hazelnuts; a pinch of Maldon salt; 2 tsp olive oil. Method: The oven is heated to 180°C. Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. The peppers are cut in half lengthwise and, using a sharp knife, the seeds and ribs are removed. They are brushed on the inside with a little olive oil and seasoned with a little salt. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, parmesan, prosciutto, thyme and basil. Add the lightly beaten eggs and mix well. Distribute this mixture into the peppers. (I do not add salt, as the salt in the prosciutto and parmesan is enough for me.) For the crumbs, the bread, hazelnuts and a pinch of salt are ground in a food processor into coarse crumbs. The olive oil is added and the mixture is briefly blitzed again until the bread is moistened by the oil. The crumbs are sprinkled over the peppers. The peppers are arranged in the tray and baked for 40 minutes. They are served warm or cold with a tomato salad.