Category: Breakfast

Categories
Breakfast Desserts Recipes

Spiced Plum Compote

A plentiful supply of fresh plums has been arriving off the trees and into the ADK kitchen recently – I guess it’s that time of year. Here’s a very quick and easy way of cooking them up for use either as a breakfast topper, on oats or muesli, or as a dessert, with milk or natural yoghurt (see above). There are only 4 ingredients and the whole exercise will take about 10 mins.

And it’s delicious.

Servings

At least 6 servings.

Timings

10 mins.

You Will Need

  • 9 – 10 fresh plums
  • 1 tbsp demerara sugar
  • 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
  • juice of 1 lemon

Method

  1. Chop the plums and discard the stones. Place in a saucepan with the other ingredients.
  2. Bring to a boil and stir, then reduce to a simmer for 5 – 10 mins. Switch off.
  3. Allow to cool, and serve over oats, nuts and seeds or muesli, with milk or natural yoghurt, as a breakfast or dessert dish.

Customise It!

If you don’t have 5 spice, then mixed spice, cinnamon or nutmeg will be fine. Another idea is to chuck a cinnamon stick into the saucepan as the compote is cooking, if you wish.

Today’s addition to the Playlist is a track that came on a few days ago while I was driving. I’d forgotten how great it was, especially with the unmistakable jangling sound of Johnny Marr on guitar. Add in Bernard Sumner from New Order on vocals and you have one mighty Mancunian supergroup. This is Electronic with Get the Message.

Categories
Breakfast Mains Recipes

Bacon and Blueberry Pancake Stacks

A feast for Pancake Day that’s flippin’ marvellous!

I have made this a few times, having used the recipe in my Sunday Brunch Cookbook, from the makers of the Channel 4 show featuring Simon Rimmer and Tim Lovejoy (so a big ADK shout out to Simon and Tim!).

Fancy sweet blueberry pancakes interlaced with rashers of bacon and melted butter, topped with a soft poached egg and drizzle of maple syrup, with a few twists of black pepper? Read on…

Servings

There are 3 pancakes in a stack, and this will make 6 pancakes i.e. 2 servings

Timings

15 mins to prepare the pancake batter (which can be done in advance), and then 15 mins to cook.

You Will Need

  • 1 egg for the batter
  • 25g butter
  • 125ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 60g cottage cheese
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 25g caster sugar
  • 120g fresh blueberries
  • oil
  • 2 eggs for poaching
  • 6 rashers of streaky bacon
  • maple syrup to drizzle
  • black pepper
  • some slivers of butter

Method

  1. Begin by making the pancake batter: combine the egg, milk, and cottage cheese in a bowl. Melt the butter ( I give it 12 – 15 seconds in a small bowl in the microwave) and add it in.
  2. In a separate bowl combine the flour, bicarb and sugar, the sieve it into the egg mixture. Give it a good stir, and feel free to use a mixer or hand blender to remove any lumps, if you wish.
  3. Add in most (about 100g) of the blueberries. Make sure you do this after using your mixer or hand blender, as you want them to stay whole! Give it another good stir and set aside.
  4. Warm an oven to around 100C and put in a plate that you can use to keep the pancakes warm as you cook them.
  5. Rub the base of a frying pan with a piece of kitchen paper dipped in oil, so that it has a light coating all over. Put it on the hob to heat up.
  6. Ladle in around 2 heaped tbsp of the batter. It will spread out to form a pancake about 1cm deep and 10cm in diameter, though don’t expect it to be a perfect circle (and this doesn’t matter). See the first of my photos below.
  7. After a few minutes, when it’s looking like it’s firming up, insert a spatula underneath and carefully flip it over to cook on the other side. See the second of my photos below.
  8. When both sides are cooked to a golden brown, remove and set on the warming plate in the oven.
  9. Repeat steps 6 – 8 to make 6 pancakes in total.
  10. With all 6 pancakes made, lay out the rashers of bacon in the pan and cook till crisp and golden.
  11. While the bacon is frying, soft poach the eggs. I find about 4 mins, once the water has reached boiling point, is the right length of time for large size eggs.
  12. Remove the bacon to the warming plate when done.
  13. Take the poached eggs off the boil when done.
  14. On two plates, you can then assemble the stacks. Begin with one pancake, then lay a rasher of bacon on top. Add a sliver of butter, which will soon melt. Repeat with another two layers, placing the rasher of bacon at 90 degrees to the one below. This will help the top stay flat(tish), which assists when adding the egg topping.
  15. Carefully place a poached egg on top. Drizzle with maple syrup and give it a few twists of black pepper from a mill. Scatter the remaining blueberries around the plates. Hopefully it will resemble my main photo at the top of the post.
  16. Serve!

Customise it!

I wouldn’t change the core ingredients of sweetened blueberry pancakes, bacon and soft poached egg. However, you could drizzle honey rather than maple if you wish, and also sprinkle some chilli flakes.

Next track for the ADK Spotify Playlist is from The Snuts, a young indie band who hail from West Lothian in Scotland. I like their sound and think the vocalist, Jack Cochrane, has a great voice. These boys can go far! This is Hallelujah Moment.

Categories
Breakfast Desserts Recipes Snacks

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

A feature of autumn is having lots of weird coloured and wonderful shaped pumpkins and squashes on our vegetable stalls. This recipe uses one of these to bring sweetness and moist texture to a set of freshly baked muffins. I recently made these on Halloween (as my photo shows!), but they are just as enjoyable for an autumn-themed breakfast, dessert or a snack with tea or coffee.

Servings

This will make 12 muffins.

Timings

10 mins to chop the squash, and 30 mins to roast it. The rest of the prep can be done while the squash is roasting, and the muffins will then take 25 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

  • Pumpkin, butternut or other squash, peeled with seeds and pith removed, and cut into chunks. You will need 250g of chunks.
  • 255g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • half tsp salt
  • 2tsp mixed spice
  • 140g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 150ml milk
  • 2 tablesp runny honey
  • 90 ml vegetable oil
  • 50 g dried fruit
  • 50g chopped mixed nuts
  • a few handfuls of pumpkin and sunflower seeds to garnish

Method

  1. Spread the chunks of squash out on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, and roast in an oven at 180C for 30 mins.
  2. While the squash is roasting, prepare a muffin tin or mould.
  3. In a bowl, sift together flour, bicarb, salt, spices and sugar. Add the nuts and dried fruit and stir well.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, oil and honey.
  5. When the squash has finished roasting, remove from the oven. The chunks should be charred and caramelised at the edges. Lift them on to a plate and set aside to cool for 10 mins.
  6. Whirl the squash chunks in a food processor with blade fitted, till you have a puree. This process should also help the squash to cool further.
  7. Scrape the squash puree into the egg mixture and stir. Then add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine.
  8. Spoon the combined mixture into the muffin tin or mould. Sprinkle a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds on top of each muffin. Bake in the oven, still at 180C, for 25 mins until golden.

Customise it!

Cut down on time to bake the muffins by roasting the squash earlier, perhaps when you already have the oven on cooking something else. Puree it and set aside to cool, then use as stated. Feel free to substitute other types of nuts and seeds as you prefer.

Musical choice for this post comes from Inspiral Carpets. I have just obtained tickets to see the band on tour in London next spring. I’m excited about this – I have grown to really like their music in the last few years but haven’t seen them before. I especially like the 60s sounding farfisa organ played by Clint Boon. They have lots of great tracks but this one seems particularly appropriate to the season – She Comes in the Fall.

Categories
Blog Breakfast

The Sweetest Feeling

During the recent period of national mourning, I spent a few days in Essex visiting relatives. I made a point of stopping off at Tiptree, home of the famous jams and marmalades produced by Wilkin and Sons since 1885. I learned that their range of preserves has been supplied to the Crown under Royal Warrant since 1911, and is enjoyed in over 70 countries all around the world. I wonder if you have heard of it where you live?

On the same site as the factory where the jam is made, you can tour a museum display explaining how the company has grown over the years from its Victorian origins. There is also a shop selling the full range of preserves, including some varieties I was unaware of, such as Little Scarlet (a type of strawberry).

On display is a selection of spicy sauces and chutneys to choose from. We brought some chilli jam as a gift for our son. It’s a great place to treat yourself, and friends and family. Hey, we deserve it!

I opted for a jar of Old Times English Orange Marmalade to take home, which (as you can see) I shall be enjoying over many breakfasts ahead. It has a very delicate balance between bitter and sweet.

However, my highlight, and undoubtedly a favourite part of the visit for many devotees, is (not totally surprisingly) the Tea Room. Here you can place your order and, while waiting at a table for your own delights to arrive, be entertained by the succession of delicious cakes and carefully trimmed sandwiches making their way to the tables around you, beautifully presented on old-fashioned 3 tier china cake stands.

I opted for afternoon tea, with a toasted teacake and a choice of preserve, washed down with a pot of tea. My chosen preserve was a miniature jar of dark morello cherry jam, which was delicious. You can see it in my main photo, along with the fittingly sweet message on the underside of the lid, which says simply:

From Tiptree With Love

Categories
Breakfast Recipes Snacks

Banana Oat Breakfast Bars

The recipe for these first appeared on page 66 of the February 2005 issue of Sainsbury’s Magazine. I know this because I ripped the page out and have kept it carefully ever since. I have lost count of the number of times I have made these – the recipe has proved reliable as a fresh, tasty and healthy snack for breakfast, lunchboxes, car journeys, filling the gap at half-time at a football match etc.

Servings

Depending on how you cut these, it will make 16 squares or around 20 rectangular bars.

Timings

15 – 20 mins preparation, plus baking time 25 mins.

You Will Need

  • 75g mixed nuts
  • 110g margarine
  • 75g demerara sugar
  • 3 tablespoons golden syrup
  • 200g rolled porridge oats
  • 75g self-raising flour
  • 40g dried cranberries
  • 2 medium ripe bananas
  • 1 egg

Method

  1. Spread the nuts across a baking tray and toast in the oven at 180C for 5 mins.
  2. While the nuts are toasting, combine margarine, syrup and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until all have dissolved into a thick paste.
  3. Remove the nuts from the oven and chop in the food processor with blade fitted. Leave the oven on.
  4. Combine nuts, flour (sifted), oats and dried cranberries in a bowl.
  5. In a separate bowl, peel and mash the bananas, and mix in the egg.
  6. Combine the banana/egg with the oats/flour and give it a good stir. Finally , add in the syrup/sugar paste. Mix well so that there is no dry flour and all the oats are covered in the brown syrupy paste.
  7. Tip the combined mixture into a traybake tin. The one I use is 20cm square, but it also works with a rectangular tin measuring 25cm x 16cm ( I have made both with these ingredients).
  8. Bake in the oven, still at 180C, for 25 mins.
  9. Remove and leave to cool in the tin. Once cool, invert it on to a chopping board, then carefully invert it back again on to another board. You can then chop it into rectangular bars or squares, as you wish. These will keep in a tin for up to 3 – 4 days, though they are usually all gone well before that!
Categories
Breakfast Recipes

Blueberry and Apricot Muesli

This breakfast dish looks and tastes great – the bright blue and orange combination making for a lively, satisfying and healthy start to your day.

Servings

Makes one bowl for immediate consumption!

Timings

5 mins to prepare

You Will Need

  • 4 – 5 dessert spoonfuls of rolled oats
  • 1 dessert spoonful of pumpkin seeds
  • 1 dessert spoonful of sunflower seeds
  • 1 dessert spoonful of mixed dried fruit
  • a handful of fresh blueberries
  • 1 fresh apricot, chopped
  • a few dessert spoonfuls of natural yoghurt
  • 1 dessert spoonful of chopped nuts

Method

  1. Combine all the ingredients, other than the yoghurt and nuts, in a breakfast bowl. Reserve 2 – 3 blueberries and apricot pieces.
  2. Top with the yoghurt, sprinkle over the chopped nuts, and add the reserved blueberries and apricot to garnish. Enjoy.

Customise It!

Keep to the core ingredients of oats, seeds, fruit and nuts, otherwise swap in whatever is fresh and seasonal or whatever you have to hand. Raspberries or strawberries work well, and later in the summer I will be using freshly picked blackberries. Add milk in place of yoghurt, and add a swirl of honey if that’s your thing.