At the weekend I like to cook the man something a bit heftier for his breakfast rather than his usual Oats or Wheatabix. I've never had him complain.
When I first moved over here we used to pop into Chester often on a Saturday morning and treat ourselves to an all-day breakfast . . . .
Bacon, sausage . . . eggs any way you wanted them . . . grilled tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms . . . hash browns, black pudding (only if you liked it) and beautiful crisp fried bread . . . oh, I so loved the fried bread.
Thick slices of white bread that's been fried in fat until crisp . . . oh, it is sooo good.
They closed down the local BHS a few years back, so no more Saturday breakfasts . . . Oh, I know we could get one easily somewhere else, but there was just something about the BHS, and they were the only ones I knew that served fried bread.
I'll tell you something however . . . those full breakfasts don't hold a patch to these Crispy Tortilla Eggs! They are phenomenal!
Buttery crisp tortilla topped with a fried egg and cheese . . . and garnishes . . .
You start off by frying the egg . . . . just until the white is opaque, season it and flip the egg over . . . carefully so the yolk doesn't break.
I only ever use large free range organic eggs, and if they are RSPCA approved so much the better. I refuse to support an industry that is in-humane if I can help it.
Once you have flipped the egg, quickly sprinkle it with a tablespoon of cheese and a 6 inch tortilla . . .
Leave it until the cheese melts and helps the tortilla to stick to the egg and then carefully flip it over so you can fry that tortilla in the pan drippings . . . it only takes about a minute for it to get lovely and crisp.
Crisp and buttery . . . after that you turn the heat out, top with a bit more cheese and pop on a lid so that the cheese can melt.
Slide that baby onto a heated plate and top with some hot sauce and spring onions . . . I like to use a combination of Sriracha sauce and green Tabasco. Just a drizzle of each . . .
Fabulously tasty . . . FABULOUSLY!!
Yield: 1
Crispy Tortilla Eggs
You can make as many or as few of these as you want. Simple ingredients put together in a spectacular way. NOM NOM!
ingredients:
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/4 tsp seasoning salt
- 2 TBS grated cheddar or Jack cheese
- 1 (15cm) flour tortilla (6 inch)
Toppings:
- chopped spring onions
- hot sauce (I used Sriracha and Green Tabasco)
instructions:
- Melt the butter in a medium skillet over moderate heat. Crack in the egg. Sprinkle with the seasoning salt. Cook until the whites are set. Carefully flip over. Sprinkle with 1 TBS cheese. Immediately top with the tortilla. Cook until the cheese melts (won't take long). Carefully flip back over until the egg is on top and the tortilla is on the bottom. Cook for about a minute. Sprinkle on the remaining TBS cheese. Remove from the heat and pop on a lid. Leave til the cheese melts.
- Slide onto a heated plate and top with some hot sauce and the spring onions. Serve immediately.
NOTES:
Note - I like these with a softly cooked egg, but if your family prefers them firmer, just let the egg cook for a bit longer.
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These are so, so, SO good. I had planned on only making one for Todd, but it was so delicious, I ended up eating it and then had to make him another one. I know. Me <====== willpower.
This is the type of cake I really love (aside from a Victoria Sponge, that is.) Simple, light, fruity and oh so tasty.
Aside from the fact that blueberries are my favourite berries, I also enjoy coffee cakes. By that I don't mean a cake that is flavoured wih coffee, I mean a cake that is meant to be enjoyed with a hot cup of something!
This is the type of cake that is as equally at home on the breakfast table as it is on the teatime table. Its a great brunch cake.
Its a great elevensies cake. A GREAT COFFEE BREAK CAKE! A great any time cake!
It is a simple cake. Created by using simple ingredients and methods.
Those are the kinds of recipes I love most of all. Simple ones. Unpretentious ones. Ordinary recipes that are solid and always turn out.
Put together in the simplest of ways . . . it goes together in a flash . . .totally uncomplicated.
I did enough complicated when I worked at the Manor. A great skill stretching experience, but not exactly how I choose to live my everyday life.
It uses just flour, sugar, eggs, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and leavening. It is just a simple buttermilk cake batter.
If you know anything about baking you will know that buttermilk creates an amazingly moist cake. I adore buttermilk cakes.
The batter for this cake is layered in a pan with some brown sugar. The brown sugar is laced with cinnamon.
I adore cinnamon. It smells heavenly. On its own its quite unpalatable actually (have you ever tried to eat a spoonful?). But mixed with other things it becomes filled with bliss.
This cake is stoffed full of fresh plump blueberries. When I first moved to the UK you could hardly find blueberries anywhere. I really missed them.
They are widely available and very popular now.
Once you have all of this layered in the pan, you swirl through it with a knife . . . just a bit, not too much.
I use a round bladed dinner knife and do a figure eight in one direction and then another figure eight in the opposite direction. That usually works fine.
At the end you sprinkle the top with some flaked almonds and drizzle on some melted butter. Not a lot of butter, only a TBS.
After that you pop it into the oven and then exercise some patience while it bakes. That's the hardest part. The waiting.
Forty five minutes later you are rewarded with a fabulously tasty, moist and delicious cake.
A cake you will be proud to serve to anyone. A cake that you will be unable to resist sinking your fork into, again and again. You may even find yourself getting up in the middle of the night to enjoy a slice . . . if it lasts that long!
This usually gets gobbled up with gusto.
It is a fabulously tasty cake with a lovely thread of cinnamon sugar swirl throughout . . . studded with plenty of plump sweet berries.
I like to dust it with some icing sugar to dress it up a bit . . . nice, but not necessary. I just always think a light dusting of icing sugar makes any cake look prettier, don't you?
Yield: 9
Blueberry Coffee Cake
prep time: 10 minscook time: 45 minstotal time: 55 mins
A simple cake, not made with coffee, but meant to be enjoyed with a hot drink, bursting with blueberries and cinnamon! Moist and delicious!
ingredients:
For the topping:
- 65g soft light brown sugar (1/3 cup)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the cake:
- 210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 130g sugar (2/3 cup)
- 120ml vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
- 2 large free range eggs, room temperature
- 180ml buttermilk (3/4 cup)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 200g fresh blueberries (2 cups)
You will also need:
- 2 TBS flaked almonds
- 1 TBS melted butter
- icing sugar to dust (optional)
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C.350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square baking tin and line with baking paper. Set aside.
- Whisk together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping. Set aside.
- Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl. Whisk together the sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs. Add all at once to the dry ingredients and mix together just to combine.
- Spread half the batter in the prepared baking tin. Top with half of the blueberries and sprinkle with half the brown sugar mixture. Repeat with the remaining batter, berries and brown sugar. Swirl lightly with a knife. Sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds and drizzle with the butter.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until risen, golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Serve warm, or at room temperature, dusting with icing sugar if desired. Cut into squares to serve.
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If you bake only one cake this week. . . let it be this one. Oh boy, but it is a fabulous cake. You will be hard pressed to stop at just one piece. Put the kettle on and warm up that tea pot! A hot cuppa goes down a real treat with this!
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One thing I have always loved when travelling on the Continent are the breakfasts we have been offered at most of the places we have stayed overnight.
Europeans really know how to do breakfast right . . . with freshly baked rolls, breads or croissants . . . granola or muesli . . . fresh fruits, cheeses and sliced meats . . . yogurts . . . fresh fruit compotes.
When we were staying in Austria we had these beautiful stewed plums on offer each morning. I loved them and had them along with some yogurt and granola every morning while we were there. You might think I would get bored with that option, but I just didn't.
I actually enjoy a breakfast like that much more than any other kind. While I am hungry in the mornings, I am not fond of much that is heavy or that will lay on my stomach uncomfortably. I am a person who enjoys a light breakfast for the most part, unless it is much later in the morning or a brunch. Come brunch time, watch out!
Fruit compotes are a beautiful way to start your day, and they are so very easy to make. All you need is fruit and a sweetener of some kind.
You can use fresh or frozen fruit. Actually, a compote is a wonderful way to use that supermarket fresh fruit that doesn't seem to ripen properly. With a bit of honey or maple syrup, and cooked until soft, it turns into something very beautiful indeed.
You can use it on it's own, spooned over yogurt or granola, or layered in a glass with both . . .
You can layer it in jars when you are making your overnight oats . . .
Its great served as dessert with rice pudding. We especially love a cherry compote with rice pudding.
Its incredibly delicious served warm and spooned over cold vanilla ice cream!
This one here today is an apricot compote which I made using some apricots I had frozen from last year. I wanted to use them up before the new season starts.
I sweetened them with a bit of honey . . . so it's an honeyed apricot compote . . .
Incredibly delicious served layered in a glass with some of my homemade granola and plain yogurt. I could eat this every day, no kidding!
You can also use dried fruit, bearing in mind that you will have to soak them for a while first to plump them back up again. Prunes are especially delicious done this way.
I like to stick to simple sweeteners . . . natural ones, rather than sugar. When I do that I feel like an earth mother. I know . . . its all in my mind . . .
Yield: variable
Fresh Fruit Compote
A very continental fruit compote is a beautiful way to add interest to your morning breakfast. Its also pretty fabulous spooned over scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.
ingredients:
- 450g fresh or frozen fruit
- 2 TBS honey or maple syrup
- pinch salt
Variations:
- Grated Lemon or orange zest (1/4 teaspoon added before cooking) (apples, pears, plums)
- Ground cinnamon or ginger (1/4 teaspoon added before cooking) (apples and pears)
- Vanilla extract or paste (1/2 teaspoon added after cooking) (all stone fruit goes well as does rhubarb)
- Balsamic vinegar, white or dark (1 to 2 teaspoons added after cooking) (berries love this)
- Lemon juice or orange juice (1 to 2 tablespoons added after cooking)
- Fresh mint or basil leaves (add after cooking) (great with berries)
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste, add after cooking) (especially good with strawberries)
instructions:
- First prepare your fruit for cooking. If you are using peaches or apricots you may want to remove the skin first. To do this, make an X on the bottom and then immerse into boiling water for about 60 seconds. The skin should then just slip off.
- I like to peel apples and pears and core, discarding both the stem and bottom bits.
- For any fruit with pits such as peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, etc. you will want to halve them and dispose of the pits.
- You can keep small berries, such as currants, blackberries, raspberries, small strawberries or blueberries whole. Large berries should be cut in half.
- Cut larger fruits into slices or cubes. If you are using frozen fruit, there is no need to do this, or to defrost.
- Put the prepped fruit into a large non-reactive saucepan along with your sweetener of choice and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil over moderate heat. (This will take longer if you are using frozen fruit)
- Reduce to a simmer and cook until the compote has reached your desired consistency. I like it when i has roughly reduced in volume by half. Mash with a potato masher if you want a smoother puree. I like a mix of chunks and puree.
- Taste and adjust sweetening as desired with more syrup or honey. Cool completely and store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
NOTES:
Note - if you are using a really tart fruit, such as rhubarb, you will need to use appreciably more honey or syrup to make it palatable.
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A fruit compote is a really delicious way to get in at least one of your five a day! Break out your Edith Piaf music, a hot pot of cocoa or coffee, some fresh croissants, yogurt and some muesli and you will feel for all the world like you are holidaying in France. True! Bon Appetit!
I am a huge fan of hummus. I often make it to enjoy with crisp crackers or raw vegetables. It has been my snack of choice for many years.
It is one of the few ways I can tolerate chick peas due to my diverticulitis. I used to love to make a vegetarian chili which used tinned chick peas when my children were growing up. It was really delicious. Sadly those days of enjoying those types of things in abundance are over for me!
So far I have been able to enjoy hummus however. Probably because the chick peas are pureed, which makes them easier to digest.
I love all kinds of hummus. Perfect Hummus is the recipe I normally use. But my Roasted Beetroot Hummus is also very good, and a very pretty pink colour.
This All Dressed Hummus is also a real favourite around here. I call it all dressed because it is topped with lots of lovely bits to dress it up.
Its like the Cinderella of Hummus all dressed up and ready to go to the ball, glass slippers and all . . .
I like to top it with a variety of finely chopped vegetables.
Chopping things up really finely isn't really a chore if you have a good set of knives to work with.
For all of my chopping needs I like to use these lovely knives from the MyKtchn Premium Black Ceramic Kitchen Knife Set.
Along with the variety of diced veg I used, I topped this Hummus with some Crispy Chickpeas. If you have never eaten them or made your own, you really need to try. The oven basically does all the work and they are wonderfully crunchy and crisp, quite addictive as a snack or a garnish.
Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 cups
Crispy Chickpeas
These are crisp and delicious. They are fabulous eaten out of hand as a snack, or used as a garnish.
ingredients:
- 1 (400g) tin of chick peas, drained and patted dry (14 oz)
- olive oil to drizzle
- ground cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and coarse black pepper
- (according to your taste, I find about 1/4 tsp of each is ample)
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a baking tray with foil. Scatter the chick peas over top and then drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Only about 1 TBS for the whole tin if that.) Sprinkle with the spices/seasonings and toss to coat well with the oil and seasonings. Spread out evenly leaving space between. Pop into the pre-heated oven and roast for about 25 minutes until crispy. Cool completely and then store in an airtight jar.
Created using The Recipes Generator
Almost like popcorn, except they contain a lot more fibre and protein. I flavour mine with ground cumin, garlic, paprika, onion powder, salt and pepper, but you can use whatever flavours you desire. As a snack you can also make a sweet variety as I did here with my Gingerbread Roasted Chickpeas. They also make a tasty snack. Again I have to control my consumption of these things because of my tummy. 😓 Getting older is not for sissies for sure.
Today I topped my hummus with chopped tomatoes, red onions, cucumber, coriander leaf, a drizzle of EVO, and some crispy chick peas.
Altogether this made a really delicious and healthy lunch for me, which I really enjoyed.
Yield: Variable
All Dressed Hummus
An incredibly tasty and pretty appetiser. Serve chilled with plenty of warm pita breads and crisp vegetables for dipping.
ingredients:
- 1 (400g) tin of chickpeas, drained (reserve the liquid) (14 oz tin)
- 2 TBS Tahini paste
- 3 TBS extra virgin Olive Oil
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 4 TBS water
- 1 TBS packed fresh coriander leaf (cilantro)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper, or to taste
Toppings:
- extra virgin olive oil to drizzle (optional)
- 4 TBS chopped cherry tomatoes
- 4 TBS chopped red onion
- 4 TBS chopped unpeeled cucumber
- crispy chickpeas (optional)
- toasted mixed seeds (optional)
- chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
- crumbled feta cheese (optional)
instructions:
- Combine all of the hummus ingredients in a food processor and blitz until smooth and to your desired consistency, adding reserved chickpea liquid as desired to give you what you want. Spread the hummus in a large flat bowl. Cover and chill while you create the toppings.
- When you are ready to serve, sprinkle your desired toppings over top of the chilled hummus and serve immediately with plenty of crisp vegetables and warmed pita bread cut into pieces.
Created using The Recipes Generator
This makes a fabulous group appetizer for when you are entertaining, or for picnics (you can top it just before you serve it) and of course its great in the lunch box. I would pack the hummus and the toppings and the dippers separately in that case. What a treat!
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