Booking the cooks

OISÍN DAVISstirs it with the stars

AS THE GENERAL behaviour of rockstars becomes increasingly less wild these days, it’s reassuring to hear recent tales of music-led debauchery. Like the last time Django Django played Glastonbury. They were on stage late at night in The Bimble Inn and bore witness to Keith Allen parading around the tent on all fours, wearing nothing but a Nazi general’s hat. Interesting to see that Lily’s dad and Prince Harry have the same stylist then.

The topic of festivals came up between myself and Django Django’s singer and guitarist Vinny Neff (below), as they are all geared up to be one of the headliners at this year’s Body Soul in Ballinlough Castle next week. Not bad going, considering they gave up the day jobs barely two years ago.

And while they are growing more used to bigger venues and public displays of celebs getting naked, the band are still firmly rooted in the same routines as us fully clothed mortals. For instance, Vinny still uses BBC’s Saturday Kitchen as an incentive to get out of bed on the weekends. When he hits his local London delis, it’s usually in search of renowned chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s inspired salad creations. Well that and the fact that his missus is a vegetarian. She’s the one that got him cooking this wicked Arabic- influenced brunch dish. It’s particularly tasty I must say and I’d highly recommend it as a post-festival treat!

DJANGO DJANGO’S BAGHDAD EGGS – SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS:

2 free-range eggs

2 pitta breads

8 fresh mint leaves

250ml of Greek yoghurt with a

pinch of salt added in

The juice and zest of one lemon

1.5 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon of paprika

1 teaspoon of white malt vinegar

METHOD: Roll up the mint leaves and finely chop them. Using a citrus peeler, remove the yellow zest of the lemon, taking care not to include the white pith. Mix the chopped mint leaves and lemon zest into the yoghurt. Leave to rest.

Toast the pitta breads and put them aside. To poach the eggs, place a medium sized pot on a high heat, three-quarters full with water. Get it to boiling point and then bring it down slightly and drop in the vinegar. One by one, crack an egg into a small cup, then place the cup near the surface of the hot water and gently drop the egg into the water. With a spoon, nudge the egg whites closer to their yolks. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let it sit for 5 minutes until the egg whites are cooked.

While they’re cooking, melt the butter in a small pan on low heat, then drop the lemon juice into it. When it starts to bubble, stir in the paprika until it has all combined.

To serve, coat each pitta bread in the yoghurt mix, remove the eggs with a slotted spoon from the pot, place an egg on each bread and then drizzle with the butter sauce.

Django Django play the main stage of Body & Soul on June 23rd

[ rockcookbook.com ]