Good things for breakfast

I have not been shy about admitting my love for a good breakfast. One of the things I look forward to all week is a leisurely and delicious brunch on the weekend - sometimes I get my brunch idea on a Monday and have to be patient until the Saturday when the idea comes to fruition.


This sujuk pide was not one of my carefully considered ideas. It was the product of an empty fridge. I wanted something hot and savoury, but we had no eggs or bacon. What I did have was a ball of pide dough in the freezer, a tub of sujuk, also in the freezer, a the remains of a jar of roasted peppers, a jar of pickled jalapenos and a piece of cheese. I didn't quite manage the torpedo shape of a proper pide, but my leftover creation certainly hit the spot.


We were watching Thomasina Miers' new series Mexican Food Made Simple a few weeks ago, and Paul commented on how she cooked eggs - in a lot of hot fat, spooning the fat over the yolks so that they were still runny inside, but without any snotty albumen. He said that was how he wanted his eggs. So I fried some of my homemade chorizo, added some beans and chopped tomatoes to it and used it to top a soft flour tortilla. And added fried eggs.

Paul announced that actually, that wasn't how he liked his eggs at all and that he still wanted them cooked all the way through, with no runny yolk. Like I usually cook them, in fact. Contrary bugger.


This is another dish from Mexican Food Made Simple - which you may have guessed is my new favourite cookbook. Plums poached with vanilla and rose syrup. I didn't have rose syrup so I added rosewater to taste. I piled them onto French toast. Absolutely gorgeous.


I think I made a mistake in my presentation of this one - I had a big plate piled with my delicious pea and halloumi fritters, but we ate off little bread and butter plates. Which makes it look like a mahoosive fritter, but actually it was about the size of the palm of my hand. The serving suggestion in the recipe was roasted tomatoes, but I thought it was a good excuse to revisit the tomato and bacon hash (originally Nigella's, discovered by me at Esi's blog) which I ate constantly for a while and then forgot.

The leftover fritters were also a delicious snack eaten at room temperature.


This omelette was another product of an empty fridge. I'd had a great idea for Sunday brunch (it needed to rest in the fridge overnight) but had neglected to consider the hungryness of Saturday. I had eggs and I had a bit of home-smoked trout in the freezer. So I flaked the fish into the eggs, added pepper (no salt - the smoked trout is salty) and chopped parsley and made a big fat omelette to share.


Lest you fear for our arteries - sometimes there is fruit. Melon sprinkled with mint sugar...


... or this particular concoction to which I am addicted and Paul doesn't fancy at all. It's based loosely on the Indonesian fruit salad Rojak, but it is generally a combination of whatever fruits and vegetables I have in the house (as long as one of them is banana and one is a citrus) with a sweet/spicy/hot dressing and some chopped peanuts. It's gorgeous and satisfying and makes me feel ridiculously healthy.