breakfast

French toast à la Milla

Breakfast, brunch

French toast can be a very versatile dish; have it savoury with poached eggs and bacon, with a fried egg, smoked paprika and chopped spring onions or like this, sweet with cinnamon and ice-cream! I used a fruit loaf for this but it’ll work just as well with a normal sliced white loaf.

Ingredients

  • 2 slices of sliced bread
  • 2 eggs
  • 50ml milk
  • 1tbsp golden caster sugar
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp grated nutmeg
  • a knob of butter for the pan
  • vanilla ice-cream

Mix together your eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until they’re well incorporated. Place your bread flat in the egg mix, wait a minute of two for the egg mix to soak in, then turn oven and soak the other side. Have a frying pan heating on the hob, on a medium heat, and when it’s hot, chuck the butter in. When the butter has melted, carefully place your eggy bread in the pan and wait til it’s a golden brown. When it’s ready, turn over and cook the other side. Remove your toast from the pan, get it onto a plate and get your ice-cream on top pronto. If you want to be extra fancy, slice some strawberries on top. The perfect breakfast in bed.

The most perfect dippy hard-boiled eggs.

Breakfast

Hard-boiled eggs are my favourite type of egg. They’re quick to do, easy to do and you’re getting the all the flavour from the gorgeously runny yolk and firm white. Totally untouched.

Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs (I used Burford Browns, they have an amazingly orange yolk)
  • 2 slices of crusty bread
  • butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Get a pan of water on the hob and heat it to a rolling boil. Toast your bread before you put the eggs in the water. Set a timer for 4 and a half minutes and get you plate, cutlery and cup of tea ready. Lower your eggs into the water, set your timer and sort your soldiers out. Butter your bread, i like to twist the salt and pepper onto my soldiers, it’s easier than seasoning your eggs, and cut into 1cm think fingers. When your timer is done, quickly run the cold tap into the pan to prevent the eggs from cooking further. Even if there’s no water in the pan, if the eggs still feel warm they’re still cooking, so the cold water is a must! Pick out of the water, crack open and enjoy!

Maple-soaked pancakes with sweet smoked crispy bacon.

Breakfast, Brinner

This has to be, without a doubt, the best pancake recipe i’ve ever tried. I’ve added enough milk for them to be thicker than your average pancake, but not as thick an American pancake, they can be a bit too rich for me. But these babies hit the spot. And with gallons of Maple syrup, butter and that crispy bacon, these are just what you need, right now. Now. No seriously, get started!

Ingredients.

  • 225g plain flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 1tbsp brown soft sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 350ml milk
  • 30g melted butter
  • a few rashers of bacon
  • maple syrup
  • olive oil for greasing

Preheat your oven to about 200C for a gas oven, 210C for a fan. Lay the bacon out onto a lined baking tray. Drizzle over maple syrup and stick it in the oven for about 20mins, but check after 10, the maple syrup with start to burn, but just be sure your bacon’s doing okay. Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl and make a well in the middle. This will make it easier to incorporate the wet ingredients. Give your eggs a whisk in a separate jug, then add your vanilla extract, milk and butter. Give it another whisk then begin to mix into your dry ingredients a little at a time. Next, if you want to make things easier, clean out an old ketchup bottle and pour in your mixture. If you can’t be bothered to make life easier, use a ladle, you lazy bugger. Next, get a big non-stick pan on a high heat on the hob. Get a bit of olive oil in there and let it heat up for a few seconds. Next squeeze out a blob the size of however big you want your pancakes to be, mine here are about the size of an orange. The pancakes are ready to be flipped when the top is no longer shiny and is developing bubbles. Flip when ready and let them colour on the other side. This should take about a minute and a half in total. Stack up your pancakes, get a knob of butter on top, lather them with maple syrup and top with that delicious bacon. Pat yourself on the back and enjoy!

Brown sugar porridge with cinnamon-berry compote.

Breakfast

This morning was screaming out for a piping-hot bowl of this sweet but sharp porridge, just like Nanny used to make. The brown sugar adds more depth to the flavour and the cinnamon warms your belly just a little bit more. Go on, before you brave the ice!

Ingredients

  • 200g porridge oats
  • 250ml milk (I like my porridge stodgy, if you don’t add a little more milk!)
  • pinch of salt
  • 3tsp brown sugar
  • mixture of berries (i used a handful of each of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries)
  • 1tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1tsp ground cinnamon

In a non-stick frying pan, chuck in your berries, granulated sugar and cinnamon with about 100ml water. Put the heat on high and let the berries bubble and burst, stirring now and again so they don’t burn. When the berries have mostly turned to a mushy mess, remove from the heat. Next in a saucepan, lightly toast your oats before adding your milk, it’ll give you a better flavour than if you don’t, but that’s your call. When the oats are ready, pour in a third of the milk, stir and let it thicken before adding the rest of the milk. When the porridge has thickened to your liking add in the salt, stir and pour into a bowl. I like to pour a bit of extra milk onto mine before scattering over your brown sugar and a generous spoonful of your compote. Wolf it down and don’t forget your scarf!

Breakfast. Oozy scrambled eggs with watercress and spring onions.

Breakfast

When I woke up this morning I fancied eggs. In all honesty I always fancy eggs. They’re one of the most versatile, tasty and (occasionally) healthiest foods on the planet. So here is recipe number one, my oozy scrambled eggs on malty wholegrain toast with fresh watercress and spring onions, just for a bit of a kick.

Ingredients.

  • 3 eggs
  • 50ml double cream
  • a pinch of salt
  • a pinch of pepper
  • a pinch of sweet smoked paprika
  • a splash of olive oil
  • a little butter for the pan
  • a slice of buttered wholegrain toast
  • a handful of watercress
  • and a big pinch of chopped spring onions.

Let’s get cracking, shall we?

First off, make sure your plate, toast, cup of tea and newspaper are ready to go, cause as soon as the eggs go into the searing hot pan, they take a matter of seconds, you guys don’t have time to be messing around after the eggs start their magic.

Next, we need to get the eggs, cream, salt, pepper and paprika into a bowl, but don’t whisk them in any way and be careful not to break the yolks. Have your saucepan heating on the hob with your olive oil and butter, The oil is there to stop the butter burning, the fat content is so high it’ll take a matter of minutes for it to become a bubbling brown mess. Once your butter has dissolved and is starting to bubble, pour in the egg mix carefully. Let the eggs sit for a few seconds to form a skin around the side and bottom of the pan. Next, start to carefully and slowly stir the eggs in a figure of 8, avoiding the yolks and scraping round the sides to make sure the eggs don’t catch. When they are almost done, turn off the heat. They’ll continue to cook, but you don’t want to end up with dry eggs falling off your fork. Carefully scrape the eggs onto your toast, making sure the yolks are intact. I know I say ‘carefully’ a lot, but trust me, the extra care now means beautiful orange yolk all over the plate later. Top your eggs with a twist of salt and freshly ground black pepper, then your watercress and finally your onions. Now take a picture for Instagram if you have to, and enjoy!