buttered toast
1. Using either an egg topper or a little knife or spoon, carefully open the egg at the top as you would a boiled egg. Pour the egg into a saucepan and add the cream and butter, season with salt and pepper and beat well with a fork or whisk. Place the empty eggshell in an eggcup (see tip).
2. Scramble the egg over a low heat, stirring all the time. When the egg is just cooked but still soft and a bit runny, spoon it carefully back into the eggshell. Serve with a teaspoon and lots of hot buttered toast.
TIP
You can rinse the eggshell and dry it in the oven, if you wish. Place it, cut side down, on kitchen paper in a very cool oven, preheated to 100°C (212°F), Gas mark ¼ for 10 minutes.
Sweet eggy bread
SERVES 4
Sweet, comforting and completely delicious, one taste of this brings me back to my childhood in an instant.
2 large eggs
4 tbsp regular or double cream
1–2 tbsp caster sugar, to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tsp ground cinnamon
a little pinch of sea salt
50g (2oz) butter
4 large slices of white, wholemeal or sourdough bread
To serve
maple syrup, crispy bacon slices or icing sugar
1. In a bowl large enough to dip slices of bread into, whisk the eggs, cream, sugar and vanilla extract or cinnamon powder together with a pinch of salt.
2. Melt a knob of the butter in a frying pan over a medium-high heat until foaming. Dip both sides of a slice of bread into the egg mixture and then fry on both sides, adding more butter as needed, until golden. Keep warm in a low oven while you repeat with the remaining bread.
3. Repeat until all the slices of bread are fried. Serve drizzled with maple syrup and slices of crispy bacon or dusted with icing sugar.
Buckwheat crêpes with ham, cheese and eggs
SERVES 6
I love the nuttiness (and added nutrition) that buckwheat flour brings to these crêpes. This makes for a superb brunch or supper.
For the batter
100g (3½oz) buckwheat flour
½ tsp sea salt
1 egg
200ml (7fl oz) milk
40g (1½oz) butter, melted
For the filling
200g (7oz) Gruyère, Emmental or Comté cheese, grated
6 slices of best-quality ham
a little butter, for frying
6 eggs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. First, make the batter. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Put the egg, milk and melted butter into a measuring jug, add 100ml (3½fl oz) water and whisk. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then pour the liquid into the well, whisking all the time to gradually draw in the flour from the edges of the bowl, until you have a smooth batter with a few bubbles on top. Use straight away, or it can store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
2. Preheat the grill to medium or the oven to 200°C (400°F), Gas mark 6 (see tip).
3. Heat a frying pan (ovenproof if you’re using the oven). Rub a piece of kitchen paper in the butter and wipe it over the base of the pan – do this each time you put in a new batch of batter. Pour in some of the batter and swirl it around to coat the base of the pan with a thin layer. Allow to fry until it sets and is golden underneath, then flip it over and immediately place a slice of ham in the centre of the crêpe. Cover the ham with grated cheese, leaving a little dip in the middle, and break the egg into the dip. Fold up the edges of the pancake to meet the edge of the egg white, then place the pan under the grill or in the oven until the cheese has melted and the egg is cooked. Repeat for all the other crêpes, serving each finished one at once.
TIP
You can either make all the crêpes first then fill and bake them one at a time, or if you have two pans and a bit of nerve, you can leave one pan cooking the finished crêpe in the oven while the other is cooking the batter on the hob.
Potato pancakes with black pudding and glazed apples
MAKES 12 PANCAKES
A great way to use up leftover potatoes, these little pancakes are almost blini-like and I adore the meaty black pudding and sweet, sticky glazed apple topping. Another great topping for these pancakes is the Beetroot, Dill and Horseradish Gravlax with Mustard and Dill Mayonnaise.
For the pancakes
75g (3oz) plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt
2 eggs
125ml (4½fl oz) milk
225g (8oz) cold mashed potato (no butter or milk added)
15g (½oz) butter, for frying
For the glazed apples
40g (1½oz) butter
2 eating apples, peeled, quartered, cored and cut into 5mm (¼in) slices
30g (1¼oz) caster sugar
juice of ½ lemon
For the sage butter
50g (2oz) butter
2 tsp chopped sage
For the black pudding
15g (½oz) butter
about 24 slices (cut 7.5mm/⅜in thick) black pudding (2 per pancake) – peel the skin off the black pudding before slicing
1. First, make the pancakes. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, add the salt and mix. Crack the eggs into another bowl and whisk, then mix in the milk and mashed potato. Pour this into the dry ingredients, whisking as you add it. Set aside.
2. Heat a pan over a medium heat. Rub a piece of kitchen paper in the butter and wipe it over the base of the pan – do this each time you put in a new batch of batter.
