Tag: breakfast

Crêpes

Crêpes are a good, easy choice when you feel like you would like to treat yourself (or your family) to a sweet breakfast. All ingredients are part of most households’ basic cupboard, so this doesn’t require much pre-planning. And why not make a big enough batter to have some left over, to use for savoury galettes later?

makes 8 large crêpes
2 eggs
600 ml milk
250 ml basic wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
~ tbsp butter, melted, + extra for frying

1. Slightly whisk the eggs so that the yolks and the whites are combined together. Whisk in half of the milk. Then add the flour little by little, whisking in until all the flour has been added and the mixture is slightly thick batter. Mix rest of the milk into the batter, then add salt, sugar and melted butter, and whisk just to mix everything together.

2. Let the batter rest for about 15 minutes.

3. Give the batter a slight stir. For each crêpe, use a small piece of butter for frying. Melt the butter in a frying pan, and add a ladle (about 100ml) of batter into the pan. I have a large frying pan, and this amount works well. If your pan is smaller, less might be better.

4. The first crêpe tends to take slightly longer to fry, than the rest of them, but generally it will take around 3-4 minutes to cook the first side, and around one minute for the second side, depending on heat. I use medium heat, and fry the first side one setting higher than the second side. When cooking the first side, when the batter has become firm on top, and the crêpe has normally gotten holes in the batter, you can start checking the underside to see whether it’s browned enough. Once the underside is nice golden colour, flip the crêpe over and fry the other side until nice colour.

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5. Serve with your choice of topping and enjoy!

 

Fluffy blueberry buttermilk pancakes

I’m more of a savoury breakfast person, however from time to time it’s nice to opt in for the sweet version. These kind of American style pancakes haven’t really found their way to Finnish or British breakfast tables, so I’ve not had much experience with eating or making them. I wasn’t happy with my first attempt some time ago, however now, after research, and then combining what I read to my own recipe, I ‘m pleased to announce that the result has been magnificent! These came out super soft, airy and fluffy with great flavour.

350ml plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
250ml buttermilk
100ml milk
1 large egg
25g butter, melted + extra for frying
175g blueberries

1. Place all the dry ingredients in one bowl, and mix together with a spoon. In another bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients together.

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2. Spoonful at a time, add the flour to the wet ingredients, mixing in with the whisk. You don’t however want to overwork the batter (like with any cakes once flour is added), as this will end in a dense, rather than fluffy texture. The batter will be quite thick.

3. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.

4. Rinse and drain the blueberries.

5. Heat the frying pan with little butter on a medium – low temperature. Place lumps of batter on the pan. Add some blueberries on top and press them into the batter a little bit. Once the batter has set (around 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the pancakes and the heat of the pan) turn over. Fry the other side for about 1-2 minutes.

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Poached eggs and asparagus wrapped in bacon with Béarnaise sauce

I love trying to think of different ways to serve food I might have often, to keep things interesting. As we’re currently in asparagus season, I thought this would be a perfect way to serve one’s usual eggs and bacon breakfast.

5-6 asparagus per diner
Thin cut streaky bacon rashers, 1 for each asparagus + 2 extra per diner
2 eggs per diner
Béarnaise sauce

Béarnaise sauce (serves 2)
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
5 freshly ground white peppers, or 3 shakes of ground white pepper
2 parsley stalks
2 tarragon stalks
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp water
100g butter
2 egg yolks
1-2 stalks of tarragon, leaves only, finely chopped

1. Put the onion, pepper, parsley, tarragon, vinegar and water in a pan. Let boil until the liquid has reduced to about half. Strain the liquid.

2. Melt the butter.

3. Put the egg yolks in a bowl, and drizzle over the strained liquid.

4. The eggs will need to be cooked in a bain marie (hot water bath). This is actually not as complicated as it sounds, please don’t let that deter you from making this sauce! You need a pot with water at the bottom, which will be heated to boiling. It’s important that the bottom of the bowl with the eggs doesn’t touch the hot water, as this could result to your sauce splitting. Start adding the melted butter to the eggs in drops at first, mixing/whisking as you go, then slowly drizzling the rest. You need to keep mixing the sauce until thickened.

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5. Add the finely chopped tarragon leaves.

Poached eggs

1 tbsp vinegar
couple of pinches of salt

All you need to poach eggs successfully are spacious enough pan, spoon for stirring boiling water, slotted spoon for removing the egg from the water, a bowl for the cooked eggs to let excess water drain out. I tend to break the egg into a cup, to have one ready to be cooked as soon as one comes out of the boiling water.

1. Put vinegar and salt in the pan, pour water and bring to boil. Stir in the centre with a spoon, and immediately pour egg into the eye in the center. This, together with the vinegar and salt will hold the egg together.

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2. Cook for 3 minutes, and remove from the water with a slotted spoon. I tend to put the egg in a bowl first, to drain excess water, before plating it, otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy plate of food!

Asparagus and bacon

1. Prepare the asparagus, by peeling the stalk half of them.

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2. Wrap the asparagus with the bacon, and place on a tray together with individual bacon rashers. Heat the grill, and grill the asparagus under medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning half way through.

Plate all ingredients for a tasty breakfast or brunch!

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Eggs Benedict

 

This breakfast and brunch dish is very similar to the Eggs Royale click here for recipe that I’ve posted before. The differences between the two are that the Eggs Benedict uses ham instead of salmon, and I use Hollandaise sauce instead of Béarnaise sauce. Perfect served on brioche.

Hollandaise sauce
5 freshly ground white peppers, or 3 shakes of ground white pepper
2 parsley stalks
4 tbsp water or white wine (or mixture of both)
200g butter
3 egg yolks
paprika powder
1/2-1 tbsp lemon juice
salt

1. Put the pepper, parsley and water (and/or wine) in a pan. Let boil until the liquid has reduced to about half. Strain the liquid.

2. Melt the butter.

3. Put the egg yolks in a bowl, and drizzle over the strained liquid, whisking / stirring.

4. The eggs will need to be cooked in a bain marie (hot water bath). This is actually not as complicated as it sounds, please don’t let that deter you from making this sauce! You need a pot with water at the bottom, which will be heated to boiling. It’s important that the bottom of the bowl with the eggs doesn’t touch the hot water, as this could result to your sauce splitting. Whisk / stir the eggs until it’s starting to thicken. Next, start adding the melted butter to the eggs in drops at first, mixing/whisking as you go, then slowly drizzling the rest. You need to keep mixing the sauce until thickened.

5. Remove from the heat, and season with the paprika, lemon juice and salt.

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Poached eggs
1 tbsp vinegar
couple of pinches of salt

All you need to poach eggs successfully are spacious enough pan, spoon for stirring boiling water, slotted spoon for removing the egg from the water, a bowl for the cooked eggs to let excess water drain out. I tend to break the egg into a cup, to have one ready to be cooked as soon as one comes out of the boiling water.

1. Put vinegar and salt in the pan, pour water and bring to boil. Stir in the centre with a spoon, and immediately pour egg into the eye in the center. This, together with the vinegar and salt will hold the egg together.

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2. Cook for 3 minutes, and remove from the water with a slotted spoon. I tend to put the egg in a bowl first, to drain excess water, before plating it, otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy plate of food!

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Enjoy the food!

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Chorizo and potato omelette

My inspiration for putting this dish together is from the Spanish omelette. My husband wanted omelette for breakfast, and as I happened to have some chorizo in the fridge for another dish, I thought I would make this omelette version. I think all these flavours go really well together.

1 chorizo sausage, cut into pieces
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
handful of parsley, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
5 cherry tomatoes, chopped
small piece of leek, finely chopped
small piece of red pepper, chopped into small pieces
25g butter
3 eggs
small splash of milk
salt
black pepper

1. Prepare all the ingredients.

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2. Melt the butter in a pan. For this particular omelette, I use a wok pan. Place the potato cubes and chorizo into the pan, and fry, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. During this time, whisk the eggs and milk together. Season the eggs with salt and pepper too.

3. Add the garlic, pepper and leek, and fry for couple of minutes.

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4. Next, add the tomato, and stir into the mixture. Then add the parsley and stir it in too.

5. Pour the eggs into the pan. At the beginning, keep stirring it, breaking the hardening texture. Lower the temperature, and let cook for about 5 minutes, undisturbed. You will have more runny, uncooked texture on the edges. With a spatula, start pushing the edges towards the centre. You may want to drain some excess juices off at the end, before serving.

Eggs Royale

I love eggs. Normally, my midweek breakfast include boring soft boiled eggs just because it’s quick. Weekends, however, are a completely different kettle of fish. That’s when you have to reward yourself for the long, hard working week, preferably with this luxurious and decadent breakfast of Eggs Royale. There are different variations to this dish, for example if you were to do it with ham instead of cold smoked salmon it would be called Eggs Benedict. The only cooking you need to do is poach the eggs, and make the Béarnaise sauce. The latter may not be the easiest of tasks if you’ve not made it before, however I hope by following my instructions yours will be perfect!

serves 2

Béarnaise sauce
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
5 freshly ground white peppers, or 3 shakes of ground white pepper
2 parsley stalks
2 tarragon stalks
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp water
100g butter
2 egg yolks
1-2 stalks of tarragon, leaves only, finely chopped

1. Put the onion, pepper, parsley, tarragon, vinegar and water in a pan. Let boil until the liquid has reduced to about half. Strain the liquid.

2. Melt the butter.

3. Put the egg yolks in a bowl, and drizzle over the strained liquid.

4. The eggs will need to be cooked in a bain marie (hot water bath). This is actually not as complicated as it sounds, please don’t let that deter you from making this sauce! You need a pot with water at the bottom, which will be heated to boiling. It’s important that the bottom of the bowl with the eggs doesn’t touch the hot water, as this could result to your sauce splitting. Start adding the melted butter to the eggs in drops at first, mixing/whisking as you go, then slowly drizzling the rest. You need to keep mixing the sauce until thickened.

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5. Add the finely chopped tarragon leaves.

Poached eggs

1 tbsp vinegar

couple of pinches of salt

All you need to poach eggs successfully are spacious enough pan, spoon for stirring boiling water, slotted spoon for removing the egg from the water, a bowl for the cooked eggs to let excess water drain out. I tend to break the egg into a cup, to have one ready to be cooked as soon as one comes out of the boiling water.

1. Put vinegar and salt in the pan, pour water and bring to boil. Stir in the centre with a spoon, and immediately pour egg into the eye in the center. This, together with the vinegar and salt will hold the egg together.

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2. Cook for 3 minutes, and remove from the water with a slotted spoon. I tend to put the egg in a bowl first, to drain excess water, before plating it, otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy plate of food!

Homemade guacamole

For breakfast this weekend I had ham, homemade guacamole and poached eggs on sourdough toast. Below you can find my guacamole recipe, which truly is much better that the ones you buy from the shop. And it’s really easy to make too!

2 ripe avocados
2 small tomatoes (cherry or plum)
1 small green chilli
1 clove of garlic
handful of fresh coriander
1/2 lemon juice (or 1 tbsp bottled)
splash of cream, until desired consistency is achieved

Blend all ingredients together, adding cream until desired consistency is achieved.