Eggs Benedict Waffles

I was inspired to make these eggs benedict waffles by this recipe on BBC Good Food but leaving out the Marmite - my husband likes Marmite but I don't and as I didn't have it in the house anyway it seemed easier to leave it out!

I love eggs benedict and am often to be found trying to get the perfectly poached egg - my current favourite technique is to use a Poachie bag.

The idea of a savoury waffle instead of an English muffin was a new one to me but I have a waffle maker so I decided to give it a go. It tasted really good!

The eggs look a bit lost on top of the waffles - next time I would do two eggs on one waffle or add some strips of crispy bacon as well.

Fishcake and Poached Egg in a Tarragon Sauce

This dish was inspired by something I saw in a restaurant that made me think 'that's a good idea!'. I like fishcakes but don't have them that often - the idea is often better than the reality. This dish is a bit different, really tasty and very filling, so you only need one fishcake per person and it goes well with some green veg like broccoli on the side.

The fishcake - I used shop-bought ones but you can make your own - is topped with a poached egg; I use Poachies Egg poaching Bags - 20 Bags and they usually turn out really well with runny yolks unless I leave them in the water a little too long as I've gotten distracted!

The sauce is made very easily, from melted butter, a dash of lemon juice, a little fish stock and some chopped dried tarragon. Place the fishcake in a bowl and the poached egg on top, and pour the sauce around the fishcake. Enjoy!

Eggs Bunnadict

Here's an Easter twist on one of my favourite breakfast or brunch dishes, eggs benedict - it uses hot cross buns, hence the name eggs bunnadict!

The name comes from a dish served by the ETM bar group, which owns bars like the Botanist in the City of London - I haven't actually been to them but read in the Evening Standard about a dish they were serving over Easter: strawberry marshmallow and vanilla and coconut panna cotta on a hot cross bun base. It sounded awesome but I preferred the idea of making something savoury - and when I heard that Marks & Spencer had launched some savoury cheese and onion hot cross buns I decided these would be perfect for the base.

I couldn't get hold of any unfortunately - I asked staff in one M&S Simply Food and they had never heard of them and seemed surprised when I said M&S had recently announced their launch (do they not pay any attention to internal communications?!) and then suggested I try again in a few weeks - after Easter. Hmm.

M&S were then very helpful via Twitter and checked stock at two other stores local to me but said they didn't have any in stock, which was a shame (at least they knew what I was talking about this time!).

I knew there was no way I would have time to make my own hot cross buns so decided to take a punt and make eggs benedict on normal i.e. sweet hot cross buns and see how they would turn out... I was a bit nervous as my husband doesn't like sweet and savoury together and declared the bacon brownies I made from a Nigella recipe "an abomination". So it was a nice surprise when he said bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce on a toasted hot cross bun shouldn't work... but strangely did!

So there you go - if you want a new way to enjoy your hot cross bun this Easter, try this Eggs Bunnadict!

Leon Poached Egg Pots

I love the breakfast egg pots at Leon. Have you come across Leon before? They are largely based around London with branches at airports as well as a couple of other cities and their motto is 'naturally fast food'. I first went to a Leon at Heathrow airport but now there are several around where I work.

I still remember how good the egg pot was that I had at the airport three years ago - it was simple but a combination I hadn't come across before, with a poached egg, cheese sauce and chopped ham served in a little pot. I decided to make it for my husband and me for brunch last weekend and found this recipe on Lovefood, written by Leon founder Henry Dimbleby.

I didn't follow the recipe that closely as I didn't have any truffle oil to put in the cheese sauce and to poach the eggs I cheated and used 'poachies' - little bags that you crack the eggs into and put them in a pan of boiling water. I have an egg poaching pan, and a microwave egg poacher that I use sometimes at work, and have tried various ways to poach eggs and have found these to be the best by far, so I recommend them if you have trouble getting perfectly poached eggs!

So all I did was whip up a quick cheese sauce from a roux of flour and butter and then milk and melted cheese, poach the eggs and fry some chorizo. I served them in ramekins with the egg on the bottom, some salt and pepper, then the cheese then the chorizo on top - I can't begin to tell you how good these are!

Bacon and Cheese Omelette for Beginners

Can you believe I've never made an omelette before? I don't actually like eating them and it had never really occurred to me to make one, until I was trying to think of something to make my husband for lunch that wasn't a bacon sandwich! I had used several egg yolks in making this chocolate ice cream and couldn't decide what to do with the egg whites as I didn't fancy making meringue. I realised that I could make an egg white omelette - I added an extra egg with the yolk for a bit more colour.

Given I had to google how to make an omelette, I can't be the only person out there who doesn't know how to make one, right? So here's what you do:

Mix the eggs in a bowl with a fork. I'd allow 3 eggs per person. Add some salt and pepper.

Chop up some rashers of bacon and fry, then set aside.

Heat a little butter in another frying pan and pour in the egg mixture; tilt the pan to spread it out evenly.

When the egg is part-cooked, sprinkle with grated cheese and the chopped bacon and continue to cook until the egg is completely set. Turn over and cook on the other side; fold in half onto a plate to serve.

My husband really enjoyed it; I might have to cook him eggs like this again!

Breakfast Burritos

This is more of an idea than a recipe as you can include almost anything you want - but until recently it hadn't even occurred to me to make one of these before. They make a nice change for a breakfast/ brunch/ even lunch - a different way of serving a full English that means you need to cook less food (one sausage per person is enough for instance) so a little goes a long way - good perhaps if you are cooking for crowds.

I cooked some hash browns in the oven plus a couple of sausages, several rashers of streaky bacon and some scrambled eggs. I used Mission Deli wraps as they are really big.

Spread a little hot sauce on the wrap if desired, and sprinkle over grated cheese. Pile in the cooked breakfast....

.. wrap, and enjoy! I didn't take any photos of the finished dish but I still can't get the hang of how to fold burritos anyway! These made a nice change for lunch as my fiancé pretty much always wants a bacon sandwich at the weekend and I'm trying to find ways to do different things that he will still like!

Homemade hand-decorated Easter Eggs

I made my own Easter eggs for the first time this year! They did take a bit longer than I thought and I didn't exactly plan elaborate designs for decorating them but I was still quite pleased with them.

I made some small Easter eggs last year using a silicon mould, which I filled with soft fondant. For a long time now I've wanted to make full-size Easter eggs so recently bought myself a mould from Hobbycraft, as it was only £1. I was a bit worried as it was rigid plastic rather than silicone so it was a bit difficult to get the chocolate out of the moulds but I did manage it - and I will explain how further down!

I made three eggs, two milk chocolate and one white.

To begin, I melted 250g milk chocolate in a bowl in the microwave and poured about half of it into both parts of the Easter egg mould. You don't need to spread it with a spoon - instead, tip the mould to swirl the chocolate around, making sure it goes right up to the edges. Put in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

At this point, the thinner chocolate around the sides will have set and the melted chocolate will have pooled at the bottom of the mould; this will be cooler and thicker but still not quite set. Using the back of a teaspoon spread this chocolate, and some more from the melting bowl, up the sides of the mould and return to the fridge to set again. After another 15 minutes or so take the egg out of the fridge and add a little more melted chocolate; keep some in the bowl for sticking on the decorations. Put the egg moulds in the freezer for 10-15 minutes for a final chance to set.

Getting the egg out of the mould wasn't as easy as if I had a silicone mould but it did work eventually. You have to pull opposite corners of the mould, then turn it over and gently push - you can see as the chocolate slowly starts to separate from the mould and eventually it will just pop out. I made three eggs so that should have been six halves but I ended up having to make eight as two halves broke - one of the milk chocolate and one of the white chocolate halves. Just pop the chocolate back in a bowl in the microwave and start over again!

To decorate the first egg, I used the leftover melted chocolate to stick a mixture of milk chocolate buttons, white chocolate buttons and some 'jazzies' - white chocolate circles with hundreds and thousands stuck on. On the other side of the egg I stuck some Tesco chocolate dotties (basically like Smarties) and some mini Jazzies which came in a little tube from Sainsbury's, in a chevron pattern. Leave for a little while to set.

If you are going to put anything inside the egg now is the time to do it - I used a mini packet of Maltesers and a mini packet of white chocolate buttons. I used a small paintbrush to brush the meltd chocolate along the edges of both halves of the egg, and carefully stuck them together. I left the egg for a little while to start to set then put it in the fridge to fully harden.

I made two more eggs - another one with milk chocolate, where I used a writing pen of white chocolate from Sainsbury's to draw chevons and stuck on some mini Jazzies. On the other half, I used the same writing pen to draw flower petals, using a large Jazzie as the centre of each petal, and stuck on a Dr. Oetker wafer butterfly. I put a packet of mini Maltesers and a packet of Tesco mini eggs inside the egg and glued it closed with melted chocolate as before.

I also made a white chocolate egg for my mum, and spooned a little melted white chocolate onto the shell so I could sprinkle over some freeze-dried raspberry pieces from Sainsbury's. I added some Dr. Oetker wafer daisies and some wafer butterflies, and did the same on both halves of the egg. My mum really likes flying saucer sweets so I filled the egg with them - the pastel colours look just the thing for Easter. I sealed it shut with some melted white chocolate.

 Here are some photos of the finished eggs (taken from both sides):

I packaged them up in cellophane to give as Easter gifts.

I was really pleased with these - if I'd had more time I would have made some chocolates to go inside, maybe next time!

I'm sending these to We Should Cocoa, as the theme is chocolate and eggs. It's hosted this month by Linzi at Lancashire Food on behalf of Choclette at Tin and Thyme.

Easter and spring is  the theme for Tea Time Treats, hosted by Jane at the Hedgecombers and Karen at Lavender and Lovage.

I'm sharing these with Alphabakes, hosted by myself and Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter she has chosen this month is C.

And finally because it's Easter I'm sending this to the Food Year Linkup hosted by Charlotte's Lively Kitchen.

Arbroath Toasties

In honour of Burns Night on January 25 I decided to make a Scottish recipe and came across this one for Arbroath toasties. Arbroath is a place in Scotland that is known for its smoked haddock and this recipe is basically haddock and cheese on toast. It's easy to make, a good source of omega 3 and tastes really good.

I used a recipe from a website called Rampant Scotland. I simply heated the fish in a pan of milk, added flour to thicken it and then added cheese and egg yolk. I'm not entirely sure why the recipe calls for the egg white to be whisked separately but I did that as well, and spread the mixture on toast and put it under the grill.

Eat and enjoy!

I'm sending this to the Food Year Linkup, hosted by Charlottes Lively Kitchen.

French Toast Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Caramelised Pecans

Breakfasts in American hotels are always awesome (even in cheaper chain hotels which all seem to have waffle makers!) and the River Inn of Harbor Town in Memphis was no different. We stayed there for three nights and had some great breakfasts, many of which involved maple syrup. Instead of giving us a jug, we had miniature bottles which were so cute I couldn’t resist keeping one that I didn’t use as a souvenir, to use in cooking at home.

I’d had a brioche loaf in the freezer after not using it when I had friends staying so decided this was the perfect thing to use to make French toast. I wanted to make it a bit more interesting and remembered one hotel I’d stayed in gave us French toast that was stuffed with cheese and came – I think – with caramelised pecans. It turned out to be very easy to make, and delicious when served with crispy bacon!

 

You need:

2-4 slices brioche loaf per person

Handful of pecans

50g butter

50g caster sugar plus 1 tbsp

1 egg

Dash of milk

Dash of vanilla flavouring

Fry light or oil for frying

About 100g cream cheese

Bacon to serve on the side

Maple syrup to drizzle over the top

 

 

First make the candied pecans – place 50g butter and 50g sugar in a small pan and heat until the sugar has melted. Add the nuts and stir around to coat.

 

Cut the brioche loaf into thick slices and use a sharp knife to make a pocket in each slice as best you can. Fill with some cream cheese.

 

Mix a beaten egg with a dash of milk, 1 tbsp sugar and a splash of vanilla and dip each slice of bread into it.

Place in a hot, lightly oiled frying pan – I did these in two batches or you could use two pans, as the bread needs to sit flat. Turn once or twice until browned.

 

Meanwhile fry the bacon, in this case the crispier the better.

 

Serve the stuffed French toast with the pecans scattered over the top and the bacon on the side, and pour over the maple syrup. A very indulgent but enjoyable breakfast or brunch!

I'm sharing this with Alphabakes, the blog challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter this month is M - in this recipe, M is for maple syrup.

I'm also sending this to the Club Sandwich, a new blog challenge hosted by the Crafty Larder and Cakeyboi.

Finally also to Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen as the theme is eggy breads, puddings and pastries.