English Muffin Breakfast Pizza

Name: English Muffin Breakfast Pizza
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 2 English Muffins, split in half; 2 breakfast sausages, skinned; 3 large free range eggs; 2 TBS softened butter; garlic powder to sprinkle; salt and black pepper to taste; 1/2 cup (60g) grated strong cheddar cheese; minced chives to sprinkle (optional)

Monday, 21 September 2020

I confess that my husband and I are not huge breakfast eaters. Most days we will have a bowl of cereal at most. He likes his porridge and I like my granola, enjoyed most days with a spoonful of yogurt and some fresh fruit.

We are not really egg for breakfast people. Normally we will enjoy them at the end of the day for a light supper. These English Muffin Breakfast Pizzas are one of the ways we enjoy them most!

A part of the reason we don't do large breakfasts is that I am always up about four full hours before my husband gets up. I have always been an early riser and I accomplish a lot more during those four hours on my own than I will the whole rest of the day.

I do get hungry however and so I will have my granola normally well before he shows his face. I like to munch on it while I work, be that a bad habit or not. Its just what I do.

Normally we will eat our big meal of the day around 1 pm. A lot of that has to do with natural light. Yes, I am a bit of a slave to blogging. But happily so, I hasten to add.

I like to take all of my photos using natural light. The optimum time for that is earlier in the day, usually around midday. Any later than that and I have to go outside and, to be honest, the UK is usually a bit wet and rainy for that to be very pleasant.

We do eat at normal times when we are having company. Don't worry if you are ever invited for dinner. You won't be required to show up midday! I normally don't blog about our "company" meals.

Thse English Muffin Breakfast Pizzas make for an excellent brunch dish. They are also a great light supper. Especially if you serve a salad on the side!

One thing I really like about them is that they use things I normally have in my larder, refrigerator and freezer. There is nothing complicated here.

English Muffins, eggs, sausage meat and cheese. That's basically all you need. By English Muffins I mean the type of muffin/bun that McDonald's uses for their Egg McMuffins.

I have actually made English Muffins on here before, earlier this year. You can find that recipe here. They are really quite lovely and easy to make!

Mind you, you will want to be making them the day before you make these Breakfast Pizzas. Not on the day. That would just complicate things overly much. And anyone who has been reading me for very long knows I like simple.

The muffins are split and lightly buttered with soft butter and then sprinkled with a bit of garlic powder. POWDER not salt. How much is up to you, but I do suggest that you not leave it out. It really adds a lovely flavour boost.

Over top of that you add some grated cheese. I used a mix of cheddar and red leicester cheeses today because I wanted you to be abl to see the cheese. Our cheddar is naturally white here in the UK, unless you buy dyed and it doesn't show up well in photos.

I do so love British Cheddar Cheese. They invented it and they make some of the best in the world.

I always, always use organic free range eggs and rspca approved if I can get them. The eggs I get from Ocado are always rspca approved. I want to eat happy eggs from happy chickens.

Chickens that have truly been allowed to roam around and peck in the dirt. The only way you can really guarantee that is to buy rspca approved. Most "free-rangers" still live in somewhat crowded conditions, albeit not even close to horrendous as caged hens.

I absolutely refuse to eat a caged hen's egg, or buy them either. I used to grade eggs when I was much younger and married to a farmer's son. I never saw the chickens. The hens were housed in a huge metal building.

I went into the grading room and the eggs would come through the grading machine, all washed and electronically sorted, on a conveyer belt. We had only to pop them onto the correct egg flats. It was tedious, boring and smelly work, but someone has to do it.

This was a great many years before people developed a conscience about such things. I dare say had I known the conditions of the hens I might have been outraged, but I didn't and I wasn't. I was incredibly naïve to say the least.

Not so anymore. I am much more conscious now of where my food comes from. I also try very hard in my own way to stick to certain standards of provenance when it comes to what I eat, drink and wear. In my small way, I like to think I am doing my best and that's what counts.

Back to the food. Eggs, always free range and always large. They just taste better. I think so at any rate. These are simply seasoned with salt and pepper and scrambled.

You will also need a good sausage. Nobody does sausage better than the British. I love British Bangers, and by that I mean good, Butcher sourced, quality British Bangers. Not cheap grocery store sausages that are filled with fat, fillers and chemicals.

Yes, you will pay more for them, but they are worth every penny. I hate the cheap nasty, pasty ones. I love rich meaty and plump quality sausage.

Just skin them, crumble them into a skillet, and scramble fry them until they are perfectly cooked through. And that's it.

Layer the eggs, sausage and more cheese onto the muffin halves and bake. That's it. They don't take long. About 15 minutes maximum! Just long enough for your coffee to brew if you are so inclined.

You can make as few or as many of these as you like! They will keep well in the refrigerator for up to 7 days, in an airtight container. Simply reheat in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds.

You can also make them up to the point of assembly prior to baking, wrap well and freeze for up to three months. Ready to take out and cook when you want them. Simply pop into a preheated oven and bake as below.

English Muffin Breakfast Pizza

Yield: 2

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 10 Mincook time: 15 Mintotal time: 25 Min

Quantities are given for two, but you can easily double or triple to feed more. These egg, sausage and cheesy breakfast pizzas are fabulously simple to make and incredibly tasty!

Ingredients:

2 English Muffins, split in half
2 breakfast sausages, skinned
3 large free range eggs
2 TBS softened butter
garlic powder to sprinkle
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 cup (60g) grated strong cheddar cheese
minced chives to sprinkle (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
Split your english muffins and place them onto a baking tray. Spread each lightly with the softened butter and then sprinkle with a bit of garlic powder to taste. Top each half with 1 TBS of grated cheese.
Heat a small skillet over medium heat and crumble in the sausage. Cook, mashing it with a fork and crumbling it, until it is thoroughly cooked through. Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain.
Beat the eggs together with a fork and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Drain most of the fat from the skillet. Add the beaten eggs and scamble fry until just set. Remove from the heat.
Crumble half of the cooked sausage over the muffin halves, dividing it equally. Top each with 1/4 of the scrambled egg. Crumble the remaining sausage over top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven until the muffins are lightly toasted and the cheese has melted, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Sprinkle with the minced chives, if using, and serve immediately.

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Apple Crisp with Sweet Biscuit Topping

Sunday, 20 September 2020

The original recipe for this delicious Apple Crisp comes from the November 1945 issue of Country Gentleman. The original recipe serves 8 to 10 people which makes it great for large family sized get-togethers.

I have adapted it to make only 4 to 5 servings however, which suits the smaller size of our family better. I just cut all the amounts in half. If you want to serve more, then you can certainly double the ingredients back up again!

This apple crisp recipe differs somewhat from most apple crisp desserts. Most will have an incredibly sweet brown sugar, flour, butter, and oat topping. The topping for this one is much more like a biscuit topping.

It is almost more like a cobbler than it is a crisp. But just like a crisp, it is a beautifully autumnal dessert that your family is sure to love.

It is perfect made with the fresh autumn apples which are available at present. But don't let that limit you! It is also delicious made with other Autumn or even Summer fruits!

Why not try it with Peaches or Plums. Nectarines would also work well, as would Pears, Raspberries, Blueberries, or Cherries.

You could even do a combination of fruits. Some delectable ones would be Peaches and Raspberries. Or Peaches and Blueberries. Pear and Apple go very well together, as do a mix of berries. We like it best with apples however.

I like to use a mix of apples if I can. I combine some tart cooking apples with some sweet eating apples. Bramley are the cooking apple of choice over here in the UK. They break down to a nice and fluffy, allmost applesauce texture.

Granny Smiths are tart, (not quite as tart as the Bramley), but tend to hold their shape better when cooked. Sweet crisp eating apples add a special sweetness to the mix. I like Pink Ladies.

Combining more than one kind of apple will give you a mix of tender apples suspended in a thicker sauce. If you use more cooking apples than sweet apples you may want to add a few tablespoons of sugar to the mix so as to prevent it from being too tart.

You can even use canned apples, which makes it that much easier. My first husband came from a farm family. They had dairy cows, sheep, chickens and orchards. They also grew vegetables for the local cannery. That would vary year to year.

One year their fields would be filled with peas, and another it might be beans or even carrots. They also grew their own feed for their livestock.

They grew a variety of apples. A delicious mix of eating and cooking apples. Autumn was always a hive of activity as everyone worked hard to get it all in before the really cold weather arrived.

Nothing was wasted. Even the drops were used. They were sent to the Scotian Gold factory to be made into apple juice or pressed into cider.

My MIL was very good at putting things up of course. Shelves in her cold cellar would be lined with jars of produce she had put up, including apples. There were also bins of fresh apples that, surprisingly, lasted all Winter almost into the spring.

I learnt a lot from Lois about cooking. She was a fabulous cook. Most farm wives are great cooks. They need to be. There were always extra mouths at the dinner table and during harvest season this could add up to quite a few extra mouths.

Quite often labourers would pick and choose where they wanted to work according to the kinds of meals the Farm wife would prepare.

Being a good cook made a huge difference to the quality and quantity of labourers you could and would get!

Lois passed away several years ago at the age of 100, having outlived her husband by a good many years. I have always been very grateful to Lois for all that she taught me about being a good wife and a good cook.

She was no shirker of hard work, that's for sure. She was cooking and crafting right on up into her old age, and with care managed to live in her own home right up to the end.

This dessert reminded me of the kind of dessert she would have baked. It has her name written all over it. Old fashioned. Simple. Delicious.

The topping for this is very easy to make. It is a mix of flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, with a beaten egg cut into it. You may be tempted to think that something is missing, but don't worry.

Nothing is missing. You cut the beaten egg into the flour mixture like you would shortening into biscuit dough. It ends up quite crumbly, almost streusel like.

With big dampish clumps and smaller crumbly drier bits. Don't worry, that is as it should look. You sprinkle this over your apples in the baking dish.

Once you have done that you drizzle the top with melted butter. Oh my goodness. Yes, melted butter, so good . . . and then a final sprinkle of cinnamon.

Because I use a mix of apples, the filling has plenty of texture. There is soft saucy bits of apple and firmer bits of apple, all mixed togther. Quite nice really.

You could make short work of cutting the apples by using an apple corer/slicer. I think, however the wedges it makes would be a bit too thick, so if you use one, cut them in half yet again.

This went down a real treat served warm from the oven with ice cold Vanilla ice cream. I do have ice cream scoops somewhere in two sizes, but do you think I can ever find them when I need them? Nada. Not at all.

That's what happens when you have a chef's kitchen crammed into a kitchen that was not meant to be used by anyone who actually likes to cook. Too much stuff, not enough space, equals a degree of frustration that varies from day to day. I really need to get rid of some stuff.

Things would run a lot smoother if I had less stuff. I keep telling myself that, but then I look at things and can't quite bring myself to part with them, because . . . you guessed it, they might come in handy one day.

Anyways, do make this Apple crisp for yourself. I think you will be pleasantly pleased with the results. Moreishly delicious especially with something cold and sweet spooned over top.

Some other apple desserts you might enjoy are:

QUICK AND EASY APPLE TARTS - Perfect for when you are short on time and yet still want to serve a delicious and impressive dessert!

DUTCH APPLE TURNOVERS - Flaky pastry filled with plenty of apples, sweetened with white and brown sugar, and lightly spiced with cinnamon, freshy grated nutmeg, cardamom and a tiny bit of cloves.