Saturday 5 February 2011

The most important meal of the day

One of the highlights of my weekends is a good breakfast. It's the biggest thing that I miss about the lifestyle in Sydney - eggs benedict and good coffee at the beach on the weekend. Don't get me wrong - I do pretty well for myself during the week (this week's breakfast has been these black cherry flapjacks, based on the plum flapjacks that Beth, from Jam & Clotted Cream posted, but with cherries instead of plums and treacle instead of golden syrup) .

But it is on the weekend that I really let my hair down and cook something delicious. We tend to have a late-ish brunch, and then an evening meal on weekends, so I don't feel so bad about the extremely calorific meals that sometimes appear on my table. It's very hard to beat classic bacon and eggs, but I do try to mix it up a bit.

These green eggs and ham are lovely - the eggs for my omelette whisked up with a couple of tablespoons of pesto (home made in summer, frozen in an icecube tray), then topped with cubes of pancetta fried with a clove of garlic, sliced, and some shreds of red chilli.

Nigel Slater's absolutely gorgeous cinnamon doughnuts were actually a request from Mr I-don't-have-a-sweet-tooth. He only likes a couple of doughnuts a year - which is a shame, because it is the first time I made them, and I wasn't expecting the holes to close up so much as they puffed in the hot oil. I want a re-match and I don't know if I can wait a year!


I've really been enjoying Jamie Oliver's 30-minute meals series - and both this tortilla and the glazed chorizo were from the tapas feast episode. I was really impressed with the chorizo, because I was expecting the honey and vinegar to leave a much more aggressive sweet/sour impression, but it was actually very well balanced and completely delicious. And the two dishes did take a lot less than 30 minutes, without even trying.


And I have had Natashya's Italian sausage recipe bookmarked for months. I used fennel pollen, instead of fennel seeds, and I added a bit of chilli sauce to the mixture because I love spicy Italian sausage but it is hard to find. These little sausage patties were so delicious, with eggs, sourdough toast and some fried tomatoes, they were definitely the right way to start the day. Although afterwards I wasn't really inclined to do anything other than sit in the conservatory with another cup of coffee.

12 comments:

Suelle said...

These dishes all look so delicious, but you know me, I'm going to comment specifically on the doughnuts and flapjacks! The doughnuts have me drooling over the keyboard, and I'm going to check out the flapjack recipe for future use!

MrOrph said...

i agree! weekend breakfast/brunch are the most relaxing meals. the comforting start to a lazy day. All these dishes look delicious.

u can't find good sausage? now that's a sin.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Suelle - the flapjacks were lovely!

MrOrph - hello Donald! We can get good sausage, just not spicy Italian sausage easily.

hungryandfrozen said...

They all look SO good. I absolutely love a good treat-y breakfast/brunch on the weekend. Those doughnuts look amazing, I'm a bit wary of deep frying but they look worth it...

mscrankypants said...

My first thought on your 30-minute Jamie meals was did you make them in less than 30 minutes? And you did! I've watched a couple of episodes and thought I could do them in 45!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Laura - since I have bought a digital thermometer, I have become much more comfortable with deep frying!

Cranky - I couldn't do any of the ones where he chops all the veg in a food processor (because I don't have a food processor) but all of the others pace themselves really well.

Bettina Douglas said...

I do like the pesto omlette = green eggs, very clever. Nothing like a tasty breakfast on the weekend.

Deb in Hawaii said...

It all looks delicious. I want some of those donuts! ;-)

Alicia Foodycat said...

Mother - we used to get green eggs in a cafe in Balmain. So delicious!

Deb - well come over and I will have an excuse to make more.

Choclette said...

How lovely to have a good breakfast and all of these look so delicious. Your green eggs and ham made me laugh - good idea. The flapjacks look particularly toothsome.

kat said...

I love a big weekend breakfast too but unless the hubs is cooking it we have it out

aionaccount said...

The thirty minute meal series sounds interesting! Will certainly research for that one. Cinnamon doughnuts are pretty tasty, don't wait for another year, try them now.

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