Category: breakfast

Posted on

Breakfast

A traditional English breakfast usually consists of bacon and eggs with sausages, beans, fried bread and maybe a portion of tinned tomatoes. Obviously there are other things you can add such as grilled kidneys, black pudding, mushrooms, hash browns.

Actually the more you think about it, a cooked breakfast can be quite diverse and much more than just bacon and eggs. Eat a little later and it turns into Brunch.

I quite like a cooked breakfast now and again, but very rarely go down the traditional route. This was the basis of a recent breakfast and consisted of grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and onions.

Cooked

I took some cherry tomatoes and halved them. If you halve them with the stalk point at the top then they will always look nice. If you slice them through the stalk point then they may (well usually) don’t look as nice. I splashed a little olive oil on them and some torn basil leaves.

Grilled Tomatoes with Basil about to go in the oven

For the mushrooms I trim the stalks and then spread a small knob of butter on them and some freshly ground black pepper.

For the onions I just again splashed a little olive oil and more black pepper.

These were all then roasted in a hot oven for about 10-15 minutes.

I served them with some toast and a poached egg.

Posted on

Poached Eggs

This morning I had poached eggs for breakfast. I don’t use a egg poaching pan, simply a pan of simmering water.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, I then stir the boiling water into a “spin” and crack the egg into the spinning vortex. Turn down the heat to a simmer, put the bread into the toaster, when the toast pops up, usually the eggs are done, firm white and soft yolk.

A lot of books I have read (and seen on cookery programmes on the TV) say that you should add vinegar to the water to “stop the egg from breaking apart” as you cook it. Personally I don’t add vinegar as I find it has a minimal or negligible effect (in other words I have seen eggs break apart even with vinegar in the water) and it has to be said it adds a vinegar flavour to the egg. I certainly noticed this when I last had poached eggs in a hotel recently.

I find that actually the best thing is to use really fresh eggs, it is old eggs that fall apart when poaching and not the use of vinegar that keeps it together, as you can see in the picture of my eggs above, still nice and whole! Just some freshly ground black pepper and serve.

Posted on

Breakfast Bread

It won’t surprise you, but most people who are happy to change what they have for lunch and dinner on a daily basis, are though more likely to have the same thing for breakfast everyday, with only the odd change.

Personally I do like having different breakfasts and will change what I have on a daily basis. Though I do find coffee and toast make more frequent appearances than other things.

I recently found these in my local supermarket and decided to give them a try.

It is Mission Deli Cranberry and Orange Breakfast Bread.

I do quite like fruit bread toasted for breakfast and have bought loaves of it in the past. I have also enjoyed the fruit toast available at Starbucks and as this seemed to be similar, even if not quite the same.

Probably the best way to describe them is as similar to naan bread with fruit. I popped them in the toaster and when they popped out put some butter on them.

So what are they like?

Well on the positive side, the bread is soft and is very nice when warm. However there wasn’t enough fruit in it for my liking and as someone who doesn’t actually like much fruit in his fruit bread, that’s saying something. I also found them quite salty, and I was using unsalted butter. My final point is that the bread was quite smooth on top and as a result buttering them was quite a challenge, basically the butter melted on the hot bread and slid off… So though I enjoyed the bread, it needed more fruit, less salt and I need to work out how to spread butter on them.

Posted on

Breakfast for dinner

I don’t normally have breakfast for dinner, but with what I had in the fridge and having little time after getting back from work I wanted something quick to eat.

A couple of slices of black pudding were fried in a pan, I prefer it grilled, but time was of the essence, so fried they were. It is worth seeking out some good quality black pudding.

I also scrambled a couple of eggs. My technique is to put a knob of butter into a pan and then add the beaten eggs. Low heat and stirring a lot with a fork. Turn off the heat just before you think they’re done and let the residual heat cook the eggs off.

I took a ciabatta roll and sliced it in half and popped one half in the toaster.

To serve I took the toasted ciabatta, cut it into two, placed on it a slice of black pudding, topped it with the scrambled egg and freshly ground black pepper. The plate was finished off with half of a fresh tomato.

Yes this would also make a nice breakfast, but it makes a nice dinner too.

Posted on

Pancakes for Breakfast

Well it was pancake time again for breakfast, one advantage I guess of getting woken up early.

I make a simple batter of flour, eggs and milk, with a spoonful of caster sugar and some vanilla extract; and then cook using a hot pan. I have one just for pancakes, well I sometimes use it for omelettes or when I need an extra frying pan… shouldn’t really, but like any good cook, I need more pans.

I serve them with proper maple syrup. Personally I can’t stand the maple flavoured syrups you can buy, and will only buy the proper stuff. Yes it is expensive, but I would rather have the good stuff now and again rather than the horrible stuff all the time.

Posted on

Breakfast in Bloomsbury

I had really enjoyed the breakfast I had at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury back in 2008.

It was a splendid affair, and though there was an element of self-service, what was nice was the staff took your cooked breakfast order and brought it to the table. 

Beautifully served, it consisted of an excellent meaty sausage, some very nice grilled bacon, a small bowl of baked beans, grilled (and skinned) tomato, mushroom, bubble and squeak, black pudding and egg. You had a choice of eggs (chicken or duck) and cooked to your liking, I had a poached duck’s egg. It was also garnished with lettuce, not sure about the lettuce.

So when I was lucky enough to stay at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury again recently, I was really looking forward to coming down for breakfast.

I wasn’t expecting to get an identical experience, but it was pretty close.

breakfast

The eggs were cooked well, the sausage was nice, as was the bacon. I liked the grilled mushrooms. The tomato wasn’t as good as before and there was a solitary small hash brown.

Luckily no lettuce, just some parsley.

There was quite a choice of other cooked items as well, such as boiled eggs and kippers.

Along with the cooked breakfast, there was also a (self-service) selection of toast, bread products such as croissant and panettone, fruit, yoghurt, juice, cold meats, cheese and smoked fish.

Excellent service and great food. A good start to the day.

Posted on

Continental Breakfast

So do you fancy a continental breakfast?

There is something very nice about a proper freshly baked croissant in the morning with coffee.

Posted on

Something different for breakfast

I do like a cooked breakfast now and again. I also like to vary what I have. I saw Traditional Hogs Pudding in my local supermarket and thought, this is similar but different.

The instructions indicate the best way to cook it is slice it and grill, which I did. It was an interesting taste and texture, reminded me of the inside of a sausage roll.

Nice for a change.

Posted on

Pancakes

Made some nice pancakes for breakfast.

I make a  batter of plain flour, eggs and milk with a spoonful of caster sugar. This I then pour (you can now see the consistency you should aim for) onto a hot pan.

Pancakes

Once cooked service with a dizzle of maple syrup.

Pancakes

Nice.

Posted on

Pancakes and Maple Syrup

Having got a really nice pancake pan for Christmas and though I have been using it for other stuff, I have also been using it for making pancakes.

I make a simple batter of flour, eggs and milk and then cook using a hot pan.

If I am making scotch pancakes, I will use self-raising flour and make a thicker batter, if I am making crepe style pancakes then I will have a thin batter which I can cover the whole pan with.

I serve them with proper maple syrup. Personally I can’t stand the maple flavoured syrups you can buy, and will only buy the proper stuff. Yes it is expensive, but I would rather have the good stuff now and again rather than the horrible stuff all the time.