At the weekend I like to cook the Toddster a special breakfast . . . I think that is a custom which goes back to my childhood. During the week, we only ever had cereal for breakfast or toast . . . but at the weekend, my mom always cooked us at least one breakfast of bacon and eggs.  It was  a real treat.   I used to forgo the egg though . . . but always enjoyed the bacon.  Peanut butter toast with bacon on it . . . bliss.



This weekend I decided to make the Toddster a breakfast sarnie.  I had a few bits I wanted to use up and it seemed the perfect excuse to put them together into something tasty.  I love to experiment with textures and flavours . . . combining the unusual into something  which ends up being fabulously delicious. What you see there on that warm crisp biscuit half . . . is Italian Lemon Marmalade . . . very tasty.  I had a dollop left in the bottom of the jar.  It needed using.



I also had a few rashers of dry cured smoked streaky bacon which needed using.   It's that salty sweet combination.  It works very well together . . . so then we had crisp biscuit base, sweet/tart Italian Lemon Marmalade . . . crisp salty bacon . . .



I topped the bacon with a tender moist little omelet composed of one large free range egg, some cream, chopped spring onions and crumbles of blue cheese, which also needed using.    Blue cheese goes very well with fruit . . . Pears and apples go very well . . . why not lemon marmalade???



Why not indeed!!!  This was a beautiful combination . . . enticing to the eye, and pleasing to the palate, stroking all of our taste senses . . . sweet, tart, smokey, buttery, tangy . . . richly moreish . . . crunchy and salty . . . lots of pepper . . .

 

In short . . . it all worked together beautifully and I think I have created a new favourite in this house.   Every mouthful was finger licking good . . . a bit messy to eat perhaps . . . but if you're going to get into a mess whilst eating, this was a truly delicious way to go.



We both really loved this and I think you will too.  I love it when my experiments turn out so fabulously delicious.  Quantities are given for one sarnie . . . you do the maths.  Tis not hard, and more than worth the effort.  If you are not into blue cheese . . . a good cheddar would work as well.   Let your imaginations soar with this one.   Cheddar and strawberry jam would be lovely . . . just lovely.

 

*Bacon & Blue Biscuit Breakfast Sarnie*
Makes 1
Printable Recipe

Oh my . . . I think I have created a deliciously different monster.  To die for.

1 large home baked Buttermilk Biscuit (scone), warmed
(See recipe below)
2 rashers of dry cured smoked streaky bacon, cooked to your preference and kept warm
1 large free range egg
1 tsp double cream
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped (white and light green parts)
1 heaped TBS of crumbled blue cheese
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 dessert spoon of Italian Wild Lemon Marmalade (Or your own favourite brand of marmalade)


Bake your biscuits and keep them warm.   Fry your bacon to your preference.  I don't like mine overly crisp but I don't like it too floppy either.  Save your bacon fat.  (In for a penny in for a pound)  Beat the egg together with the cream and spring onions.  Pour this mixture into the hot bacon fat.  Once the edges begin to brown and crisp up, crumble the blue cheese over top and cover.  Leave for about a minute.   Sprinkle with fine sea salt to taste and a good grinding of black pepper.

Split your warm biscuit and lay the halves out onto a plate.  Spoon the Marmalade onto the bottom half.  Top with the rashers of bacon, cut in half.  Fold your little omelet over and place on top of the bacon.  Top with the top half of the biscuit and tuck in.  Delicious!

 

This is the pen-ultimate biscuit you will want to use for your Breakfast Sarnies, or any other type of biscuit sarnie you want to make.   Crisp on the outsides, flaky on the insides and sturdy enough to hold up to holding just about any filling.   They also make a lovely base for fruit shortcakes or creamed savoury toppings such as creamed peas, creamed fish or creamed chicken, or . . . if you are so inclined, sausage gravy.  (Which really isn't a British thing.)

 

*Breakfast Biscuits*
Makes about 12 medium sized, or 9 large
Printable Recipe

These are the perfect breakfast biscuit.  Buttery and with a nice outside crust, but tender and flaky inside. 

1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
298g plain flour (3 cups)
1 TBS caster sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
115g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small bits (1/2 cup)

 

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Line a large baking sheet with grease proof baking paper.  Set aside.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt together in a large bowl.  Drop in the butter.   Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, or two round bladed knives, until the mixture resembles very coarse meal.  Some bits can be pea sized.   You don't want the butter to be too finely but in.   The larger bits are what help make these so flaky.

Make a well in the middle of the dry/fat mixture.  Add the buttermilk all at once.  Stir together with a fork, just to combine.   Tip out onto a lightly floured board.  Knead a couple of times to help bring the dough together and then lightly pat it out about 1 inch thick.   Using a sharp round cutter, tap out biscuits, making a sharp straight up and down motion.  Do not twist the cutter.   (Twisting results in lopsided biscuits.)   Place the biscuits 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.   For large ones use a 4 inch round cutter, for smaller ones use a 3 inch round cutter.    You can bring any scraps together and re-pat and re-cut, but these biscuits will not be quite as nice looking as the first cutting, so bear this in mind when you cut the first ones out and try to get as many as you can out of the first cutting. 

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until well risen with a nicely golden brown crust.   Serve hot with whatever you want to serve them with. (honey, jam, peanut butter, marmalade, etc.)  These are the perfect biscuit to use for breakfast biscuit sandwiches as they are sturdy and will hold up to most fillings.

 

This is a recipe I had bookmarked over on Sandra's page a long time ago.   She called it Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken.   I just call it Sweet and Spicy Chicken, and after finally making it today, I call it delicious.
It's the type of recipe I love to use during the week when I am rather rushed for time, because it's quick and it's easy . . .



You simply cut chicken breasts into strips, roll them in a spicy mixture, wrap them in bacon, pop them into a pan and here is where I made some changes.  Sandra rolled hers in brown sugar, but I choose to sprinkle mine with a mixture of oregano and brown sugar . . . oregano and chili go well together.

 

I then chose to sprinkle some brown sugar over top and then drizzle them with maple syrup.  It's the Canuck in me I'm afraid . . .   In Canada we can buy maple smoked bacon and today the Canadian in me was longing for maple smoked bacon and so I drizzled the maple syrup over top  . . .

 

Brown sugar . . . Maple Syrup.  Brown Sugar . . . Maple Syrup.   The Maple Syrup adds a lovely dimension of flavours and it is just about sugar season back home when the woods are filled with maple taps and the air is filled with the smell of the sap of the maples being boiled down into syrup.

 

Yes, you can take the girl out of Canada . . . but you can't quite take all of the Canadian out of the girl.  So anyways, here is my take on Sandra's recipe.   Sweet and Spicy Chicken.



Tis good . . . very, very good. I dipped mine in Barbeque Sauce . . .  Jack Daniels Barbeque sauce . . . coz bacon and sugar and maple syrup is not enough calories to add to low fat chicken . . . you just have to throw a few more in there don't cha!  And that's how I roll.  (You should know that by now!)

 

*Sweet & Spicy Chicken*
Makes 4 servings
Printable Recipe

A delicious recipe I adapted from one I found on  fullbellies.blogspot.com.   Take care not to over cook the chicken.  Delicious.

4 free range chicken breasts
12 slices of smoked rind-less streaky bacon
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp mild chili powder
1 tsp oregano
4 TBS soft light brown sugar
125ml of pure maple syrup (1/2 cup)

Barbeque sauce for dipping

Preheat the oven to 200*C.400*F/ gas mark 6.   Butter a large baking dish well.  Set aside.

Cut your chicken breasts lengthwise into thirds, giving you 12 pieces in all, chicken tender sized.   (Alternately you could use 12 chicken tenders).   Mix together the salt, black pepper, garlic powder and chili powder.   Sprinkle this mixture over all of your chicken pieces, coating them well.   Using one slice of streaky bacon for each piece, wrap it around the chicken, making sure that the beginning and ending of the wrap are on the same side.  Place into the baking dish with the ends of the bacon side down.  Sprinkle them with the oregano and brown sugar.   Drizzle the maple syrup over top.

Bake in the heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the bacon has begun to glaze and become crisp.   Serve hot with some barbeque sauce for dipping if desired.   I am awfully fond of the Jack Daniels Barbeque Sauce.   Just sayin' is all.

  

I served these with some new potatoes that I had sliced in half lengthwise and then roasted with butter and garlic seasoning and some steamed carrots.  It made for a fine meal.

I wanted to make you something different for pancake day this year.  I try to do something special each year for you.  Last year it was Honey and Raspberry Pancakes . . . a lovely treat.  Mmmm  . . . my mouth is watering just think about them.

 

I had a real longing this year for light and fluffy pancakes, and yet hearty pancakes . . . pancakes that reminded me of my travels during my younger years, when a stay at a hotel meant pancakes for breakfast.   When I was a child my mother never ever made pancakes but for once a year, on pancake day . . . oh how we loved them.   My poor mom was stuck at the stove for hours fulfilling our pancake desires!

 

I can remember traveling through Vermont when I was a young woman and stopping at a restaurant for breakfast in the Northern Part of the State past Burlington and near to the border . . . where it gets really watery and lakey and rivery . . . I know of no other words to describe it.   It was a cool morning and the mist was rising up over the lake, in an almost ethereal way.  The perfect pancake morning.

 

I ordered pancakes for my breakfast and was served these pancakes which had been made with cornmeal, quite unlike any other I had ever eaten, and it was love, love, love at first bite.  I know that things seem to taste better with memory . . . and the memories of those pancakes are no exception.   Every time I think of them my mouth waters . . . and of course they were served with fresh Vermont Maple Syrup.  Scrummo!



And so I wanted a hearty pancake like that, modernized for today by using polenta.   I had also seen photos of pancakes on the web, that had been baked over slices of crisp bacon, the batter flowing  around the crisp bacon . . . all crisp and golden.   Oh my, but they have always looked so tasty, and so I decided to add this aspect to my 2013 pancake as well.

 

The result was a delicious pancake, moist from the use of sour milk, with nice bits of crunch throughout from the polenta . . . and that salty smoked moreish flavour from the Bacon, which goes so very well with the sweetness of the Maple Syrup.

 

And so here you have my pancake day offering for Shrove Tuesday, 2013.   Polenta and Bacon Pancakes.  Enjoy!

 

*Polenta and Bacon Pancakes*
Makes approximately 16 (8 servings)
Printable Recipe

Golden brown, sour milk tender, with a slight crunch.  Deliciously salty sweet and peppery, should you so choose.

170g of coarse polenta (cornmeal, 1 cup)
100g of plain flour (1 cup)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
16 rashers of lightly cooked dry cure rindless streaky bacon
(smoked or not, as you prefer)
393ml of sour milk (1 2/3 cup)
(to sour milk, squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the measuring beaker, and fill with
the milk to 393ml.  Allow to stand for 5 minutes before proceeding.)
2 large free range eggs
60ml of pure maple syrup (1/4 cup)
4 TBS melted unsalted butter, or bacon fat
(How naughty do you feel?)

To serve:
cold butter and maple syrup

 

Preheat the oven to low and place a baking sheet lined with baking paper inside.

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and pepper (if using) together in a bowl.   In another bowl whisk together the sour milk, eggs, maple syrup and melted butter or bacon fat.  Blend thoroughly.   Add the wet ingredients to the dry all at once and stir together just to combine.  A few lumps are normal and welcome.  Transfer to a pouring beaker. (This will make things so much easier, trust me.)

Lightly grease your skillet and heat over medium heat.   Place a slice of bacon in the skillet, or two depending on the size of your skillet and leaving a goodly amount of space between.   Carefully pour batter over the bacon to cover.  (about 1/4 cup)  Cook, until the undersides of the pancake are golden brown and the surface of the pancake is covered with bubbles.  Carefully flip over and cook until the other sides are golden brown.  Transfer to a warm oven and keep warm while you  cook the remaining pancakes.

 

Serve hot with cold butter for spreading and plenty of Maple Syrup.

Note:  If you are feeling really indulgent you can serve them with more bacon and some cold tinned sliced peaches.  Nom! Nom!

 

When we were in town the other day I saw this sandwich advertised on one of the little cafe windows.  I think it was an Italian one. 

It sounded fabulous.  Cranberry, Bacon and Brie Panini.   What's not to like about that!

 

That very day I bought a wedge of Brie at the cheese mongers in the Market.  I was already formulating a plan in my head.   

I already had some nice dry cure streaky bacon in the fridge.   I like to buy dry cure bacon.  It's not pumped full of water. I hate bacon that has been pumped full of water. The dry cure bacon fries like a dream and tastes a bazillion times better.



I used a spicy cranberry chutney, because I rather like that.   But regular cranberry sauce would be delicious as well I think.   I just happened to have some of my homemade Cranberry Chutney to use. 

  I also added some greenery . . . mustard cress, for colour and for a bit of a peppery bite. But you can use any microgreen you want, or even just leave greens out altogether.



Some nice fresh Panini rolls and Bob's your Uncle!   These went down a real treat.   They were rich and smokey and sweet and salty . . . deliciously scrummy. 

I do so love a good sandwich. I applaud the Earl of Sandwich who supposedly invented the Sandwich. He was on to a really good thing for sure.



Even my husband who is basically a "cheddar" man loved them.   Seriously the man thinks that only cheese worth eating is cheddar.  

He complained when we were in France a few years ago and we couldn't get any.  Any cheese of the world you could imagine . . . but no cheddar.  If it's not cheddar it's not cheese as far as he's concerned!

 

*Cranberry, Bacon and Brie Panini*
for two
Printable Recipe

Fabulously moreish panini.  Salty and sweet, rich and a bit peppery from the mustard cress.

two panini buns
6 rashers of streaky bacon, cooked to your desired doneness
4 slices of brie cheese
a handful of mustard cress (can use rocket or watercress)
4 TBS cranberry sauce
butter



Cut your panini buns in half horizontally.    Spread the bottom half of each with 2 TBS of the cranberry sauce.  Top with 2 slices of Brie on each some cress and 3 slices of bacon.  Place the panini bun tops on each.   Butter lightly on the outsides and then toast in a panini press, or in a hot skillet just until golden and the cheese has begun to melt.  Serve hot and cut in half on the diagonal. 

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I just adore all the fresh local produce that we find in the shops at this time of year . . . lovely cabbages, red, white and savoy . . . beautiful carrots, and onions . . . potatoes, beetroot, parsnips, beans, cauliflower, leeks, etc.  There is no end to it all . . . that makes me a very happy camper.  I love to eat seasonally and everything tastes so very delicious when it's fresh and local.



I love to showcase these fabulous fresh ingredients in any way that I can and incorporate them into our meals on a regular basis.  I have to confess that you cannot get a much nicer bake . . . than a vegetable gratin . . .



This one that I am sharing with you today is especially nice . . . using  not only potatoes and onions . . . but cabbage and bacon as well . . .  and not one . . . but TWO lovely cheeses.

 

First a nice freshly  grated chunk of wonderful Parmesan cheese.  True Parmigiano-Reggiano has a beautiful complex flavor that goes very nicely in dishes like this.  It brings to the table a slightly nutty/fruity flavor along with a strong savory undertone . . . a wonderful addition.



Then there is an abundant amount of taleggio cheese, which is a washed rind and smear ripened Italian cheese with a strong aroma, but fruity mild taste.  It's beautiful melting qualities are perfectly showcased in this lovely dish.



Let's not forget the back bacon . . . which lends a light smokey flavor, which is quite delightful when enjoyed along side of the cheeses and those tender vegetables.

 

Mind you . . . there's not much that can't be beautifully enhanced with the addition of bacon and cheese don't you think???  Nom Nom!  A simple supper with complex and robust flavors.  I like that very much.



*Cheesy Bacon, Potato & Cabbage Gratin*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Wholesome, hearty and delicious autumn fare.  A novel way of using autumn produce that will please the whole family.

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
185g back bacon, diced (6.5 ounces)
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/4 tsp chili flakes (or to taste)
675g of savoy cabbage, trimmed, quartered and cut into a chunky dice (1 1/2 pounds)
55g freshly grated Parmesan cheese (2 ounces)
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
butter for buttering the  pan
225g of taleggio cheese, diced (8 ounces)

 

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil.  Add the potato and bring back to the boil.  Cover and cook for exactly 5 minutes, or until just barely tender.  Drain well and then place in a large bowl.

Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Add the bacon and fry until the bacon begins to color.  Lower the heat and add the onions, garlic, thyme and chili flakes.  Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened.

Wash the cabbage pieces.  Tip a third of it into the pan while it is still wet.  Cook, stirring and adding more cabbage as it wilts in the pan, until you have added all of the cabbage and adding a bit of water as necessary to help keep the cabbage from sticking to the pan.  Once the cabbage is completely wilted, remove the pan from the heat and dump this mixture into the bowl with the potatoes.  Toss gently together.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Tip in half of the Parmesan cheese.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Butter a 9 inch square glass baking dish, at least 2 inches deep.

Layer half of the cabbage and potato mixture into the pan.  Dot with half of the taleggio cheese.  Cover with the remaining cabbage and potato mixture.  Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese and dot with the remaining taleggio.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the vegetables are piping hot and the cheese is bubbling and flecked golden brown.

A little pickle on the side and some buttered bread and we were in heaven . . .