Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

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Breakfast and Brunch

Coconut, Pistachio and Goji Berry Granola Bars

You can read my full review of Packed, by Becky Alexander and Michelle Lake, published by Nourish Books here. Today, I’m happy to be sharing one of my favourite recipes from the book, Coconut, Pistachio and Goji Berry Granola Bars, from the Get Up and Go chapter. These bars perfect for mid-morning munchies or an afternoon snack. I’ve also made these with dried cranberries and raisins, in place of goji berries, but goji berries pack the most punch!

Recipe and image shared with the permission of the publisher. Image by Haarala Hamilton. 

Goji Granola Bars Haarala Hamilton
Photo: Liz and Max Haarala Hamilton

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Yield 8 bars

Easy to rustle up, these bars are a good option when you need to eat breakfast on the go or for an afternoon snack. Almond, cashew or macadamia nut butters all work well to add protein and flavour. 

Ingredients

  • 100g/3 1/2 oz/ 1 cup jumbo/rolled oats
  • 50g/1 3/4 oz/ 1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil 
  • 2 tbsp honey (I use raw honey)
  • 2 tbsp nut butter (of choice)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract 
  • 3 tbsp raw, shelled pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
  • 50g/1 3/4 oz/ 2/3 cup desiccated coconut/dried shredded coconut
  • 2 tbsp dried goji berries 

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a 23 x 15cm/9 x 6 inch shallow baking pan with baking/parchment paper. Spread the oats thinly over the parchment and bake for 15 minutes or until golden. 
  2. Put the oil, honey, nut butter and vanilla extract in a saucepan over a medium-low heat, and heat gently until well combined and the oil is melted. 
  3. Stir in the baked oats until well coated. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. 
  4. Tip the mixture back into the baking pan and press down firmly using damp hands.
  5. Put in the fridge for 1 hour, or until firm, and then cut into 8 bars. Wrap each bar in parchment to take to work. Store in an airtight container for up to one week or freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature for a couple of hours.  

Notes

"Packed with...Vibrant red and intensely flavoured, the goji berry is rich in carotenoids and antioxidents that help to protect our eyes from damage. They are a little pricey, but they keep well and you only need to add a small amount to bars, porridge/oatmeal, granola or salads to reap their health benefits." 

Courses Breakfast, or lunchtime snack

Cuisine British

Recipe and image shared with the permission of the publisher. With thanks to Nourish Books, Becky and Michelle. 

Salmon, Egg and Cress Sourdough Toasts

Read this post to learn about growing your own cress at home

Salmon Egg and Cress Toast

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Salmon, Egg and Cress Sourdough Toasts

Yield 2 slices

A high-protein breakfast, brunch or spring starter made with sourdough, roasted salmon, egg and home grown cress

Ingredients

2 slices fresh sourdough

2 tsp butter

1 egg, hard boiled, sliced

1 poached or roasted salmon portion (90g)

2 tbsp cress (try growing your own)

Black pepper

Instructions

Lightly toast the sourdough bread. Spread with butter. Cut each slice into three fingers.

Arrange the sliced hard boiled egg over the top. Scatter over the cooked salmon and cress.

Season with a little freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

 

Super Smoothie: The Goji Beetroot Blast

Charlie Richards, John Lewis Smoothies

Recently, I was invited along to the Waitrose Test Kitchen to create my ultimate super smoothie recipe for the John Lewis website. Images courtesy of Charlie Richards. Smoothie styling by Cynthia Blackett. Recipe by Ren for John Lewis. 

Charlie Richards, John Lewis Smoothies

Move over clean eating, the new kid on the block is wellbeing. This is good news, because it means we can move away from ruling things out, and instead, focus on the good stuff that we can put in to keep ourselves nourished, well and happy.

I was very excited to be invited along to the Waitrose Test Kitchen by the John Lewis team – cue shelves packed with colour-coded cookbooks, and a workspace filled to the brim with fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and a selection of alternative milks plus an array of mixers and blenders for us to try out.

Here are some smoothie-making tips:

  • Add a small amount of liquid to your chosen blender first to help everything blend well and add more at the end to get the consistency you require.
  • Fruit smoothies can be sweetened with fresh or frozen berries and a squeeze of honey – keep small bags of pre-prepared fruit and veg in the freezer ready to whiz up into instantly in a high-powered blender.
  • Creamy smoothies, such as smoothies blended with banana, go well with dates, honey and almond, coconut or oat milk.
  • One of my favourite smoothie secret ingredients is half  an avocado, peeled and stoned which lends extra silkiness plus a boost of good fats. You’ll never know it’s in there.
  • Sprinkle in nuts, seeds and powders, such as spiriluna or stir in a little nut butter for an extra protein boost. If adding chia seeds, flax or spirulina – do so carefully and sparingly. A little goes a long way.
  • Experiment with adding organic, natural yoghurt or kefir for better digestion and gut health.
  • Add a variety of fruits/vegetables or greens and try and vary the textures. Dried fruit, such as goji berries, work too and add a great boost.
  • A cube or two of ice can help to keep your smoothie fresh and cool.
  • Experiment with nutritional extras such as a little bit of grated fresh ginger, mint, spinach, unsweetened cocoa powder, a pinch of cinnamon or ground turmeric powder – depending on your base ingredients. Check out our varied super charged smoothies here for more ideas.

So, our challenge was to get creative and to blend our own recipe inspired by the freshness in front of us – our signature smoothie perhaps – which was then be beautifully styled by Cynthia Blackett and professionally shot by by Charlie Richards.

And ta-dah – here is my recipe creation for John Lewis, full of goodness – beetroot, avocado, goji berries, raspberries, strawberries, a dash of almond milk and a squeeze of lime.

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Ren's Goji Beetroot Blast 

Yield 1 smoothie

A super-charged smoothie, featured by John Lewis.com 

Ingredients

20 raspberries (frozen, ideally)

10-12 Waitrose LOVE life dried goji berries

5 strawberries

1 small cooked beetroot (not in vinegar)

1/2 avocado, peeled, stone removed

A squeeze of fresh lime

125ml almond milk (or more depending on thickness)

1 ice cube

Instructions

Place all the ingredients into a high-powered blender. Blend until smooth, adding a dash more almond milk if required.

With thanks to John Lewis for the invitation to this smoothie and #MyWellBeing event. I received a fee for taking part.

3 Quick Cheese Snacks for the Good Food Channel

Today is officially the last day of National Vegetarian Week 2014. In case you’ve taken the challenge and are in search of some simple and tasty recipes to round off the weekend, I thought I’d highlight three recent quick cheese snacks, created for the Good Food Channel. Really though, who needs an excuse to indulge in a little melted cheese?! Of course, you can also use any of your favourite vegetarian alternative cheeses in these recipes…

Three Cheese Snacks
3 Quick Cheese Snacks created for the Good Food Channel

Firstly, a super-quick Mexican inspired snack – my Cheese Quesadillas with tinned black beans, tomatoes, spring onions and grated cheese. Use a chilli cheese if you fancy, and any beans – black, pinto or fava beans – drained and washed.

Cheese Quesadillas

Cheese Quesadillas {Recipe Here} for the Good Food Channel

Next, one of our favourites for a quick cheese snack, are my Three Cheese Toasties, with leek, garlic and thyme on sourdough. They take around ten minutes to make, and I simply used a griddle pan to make mine, weighed down a little with a heavy lid. If you have a panini machine or a toastie maker, you can use that instead. I usually like to use a combination of cheddar, mozzarella and Gruyère or Comte – but really, use any cheese that you like or have in the fridge to use up – or a vegetarian alternative.

Three Cheese Toasties

 Three Cheese Toasties {Recipe Here} for the Good Food Channel

Finally, if you have hungry kids, you can’t go wrong with these Cheese and Marmite Swirls. Simply keep a packet of ready rolled/ready to use puff pastry in the fridge or freezer, then unroll, spread with Marmite, sprinkle over the granted cheese and roll up. Once sliced, place them on a baking tray lined with paper, brush with a little beaten egg and bake for fifteen minutes. Serve when warm, but not too hot for little fingers!

Cheese and Marmite Swirls

Cheese and Marmite Swirls {Recipe Here} for the Good Food Channel

I hope that’s given you a little inspiration for the Bank Holiday weekend, or perhaps, for an after school snack or quick lunch.

How did you get on with the challenge to “go green” for National Vegetarian Week?

Recipes commissioned by the Good Food Channel – recipes, styling and photography by Ren Behan. 

Cinco de Mayo Breakfast Burittos with a kick!

It’s rare that I post about breakfast, but this is a spur-of-the-moment post inspired by today’s breakfast. We fancied Mexican scrambled eggs – something with a little kick to get this Bank Holiday weekend rocking. Breakfast burittos are actually a great way of using up bits that are leftover in the fridge – my burritos happen to be vegetarian, with spring onions, a red chilli and a little cheese and hot sauce. You could also add fresh tomatoes, some chopped up meat, chorizo or other crumbled sausage to your scramble.  Avocado on the side would work well, too. If you’re in Mexico or the United States, you might be gearing up to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (on 5th May) or you may have your piñatas at the ready already! In Mexico, it’s a national holiday, known as “Battle of Puebla Day” or “Battle of Cinco de Mayo” and celebrations usually include lots of Mexican snacks, such as guacamole, Mexican salads and dips, tacos or burritos, and possibly even a Margarita cocktail, or two.

Mexican Burritos

Mexican Burritos

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Cinco de Mayo Breakfast Burittos

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 2

Scrambled eggs with a kick rolled in two soft flour tortillas - perfect for a Mexican-inspired breakfast or brunch

Ingredients

  • A splash of oil
  • 2 spring onions/scallions, sliced
  • 1 red chilli, finely sliced
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup Cheddar or Mexican cheese
  • 1 teaspoon hot chilli sauce (optional) e.g Tabasco
  • 2 soft flour tortillas

Instructions

  1. Add a splash of oil to a pan and gently fry one of the spring onions/scallions along with the red chilli. Add in the eggs and gently scramble - cook on a low heat whilst stirring.
  2. In the meantime, heat the two soft flour tortillas (20 seconds in the microwave works fine)
  3. Fill the soft tortillas with the scrambled eggs, top with the second spring onion/scallion, a little grated cheese and a dash of chilli sauce, or Tabasco. Roll up and eat right away!

Notes

You can add chopped tomatoes, red onions, ham, crumbled sausage or chorizo and serve with a salsa or chopped avocado.

Courses Breakfast

Cuisine Mexican

The very best part of any celebration is to finish off with something sweet, so check out these beautiful “buñuelos” or Mexican fritters by Muy Bueno – a lovely blog filled with Latin American recipes. Also, if you in the mood for a party and are looking for extra inspiration, have a look at this amazing Cinco de Mayo, Baby homage to all things Mexico by Tasty Kitchen contributor Erika.

Mexican Burritos

Happy Cinco de Mayo (or rainy British Bank Holiday) weekend!

Roasted Rhubarb and Ginger Curd Pancakes

It’s Pancake Day! Whilst today may be the perfect day to indulge, for the folks over at Abra-ca-Debora, everyday is Pancake Day! I was so pleased to see that my giveaway for an Abra-ca-Debora Pancake Day Hamper, filled to brim with goodies was so popular – thank you to everyone who entered to win. The winner has been announced on the giveaway post. I also received a hamper for review and couldn’t wait to try some of the pancakes and sweet treats buried within. For the grown-ups, I made some Maple Syrup Roasted Rhubarb and Ginger Curd Pancakes. I used the Abra-ca-Deborah Sweet Dutch Pancakes, along with some in-season British rhubarb and some of the luxury ginger curd within the hamper, made by The English Provender Co. If you can’t get your hands on any of the curd, some sweet lemon curd would work well, too, or simply a good splash of Maple syrup or honey.

Rhubarb and Ginger Curd Pancake

The Diddy Dutch Pancakes were another story altogether! They were a huge hit with my kids, who gave them a big thumbs up! They are firmly on our menu for tonight. The Diddy pancakes are perfect size for little fingers to pick up and dip into some tasty pots; we tried melted chocolate, lemon curd, fruity coulis and some warmed maple syrup.

Abra Ca DeboraThe Diddy pancakes can be warmed in the oven or just in the microwave for a few minutes, they are also quite sweet as a special little lunch box snack.

Diddy PancakesSo. along with our Blueberry and Vanilla Cheesecake Pancakes, we’re in for quite a treat tonight. For a savoury treat, I’d recommend my Creamy Spinach and Chicken Pancakes, as featured on the Abra-ca-Debora website. Some of the most popular answers in the giveaway as to your favourite toppings included –

  • Classic lemon and sugar or golden syrup
  • Baked cinnamon apples
  • Banana and chocolate spread or Nutella
  • Fruit, such as strawberries and blueberries with cream
  • And one of the most intruiging suggestions by Adam; cream cheese and chestnut puree with sour cream

I wonder whether any of these toppings or one of my recipes will take your fancy?!

My Roasted Rhubarb and Ginger Curd Pancakes are my entry into this month’s Simple and in Season, now open for March. Please do link up your seasonal recipes, too.

Simple and in Season

Rhubarb and Ginger Pancakes

Here’s the rhubarb and ginger curd recipe –

Rhubarb and Ginger Pancakes

1 vote

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Roasted Rhubarb and Ginger Curd Pancakes

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 6

Dutch pancakes topped with roasted seasonal rhubarb, a splash of maple syrup and a light touch of ginger curd

Ingredients

  • 6 x Abra-ca-Debora or other pancakes or crepes
  • 400g rhubarb, sliced into small pieces
  • 50ml maple syrup (plus extra for drizzling)
  • 2-3 tsp ginger or lemon curd
  • A little extra thick double cream, optional, to serve

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C/gas 5. Place the washed and chopped rhubarb pieces into a baking tray and drizzle with maple syrup. Bake in the oven for fifteen minutes, until just soft.
  2. Warm the pancakes and spread a little ginger or lemon curd onto each pancake. Top with the warm roasted rhubarb, an extra drizzle of maple syrup and some thick double cream. Eat straight away.

Courses Dessert

Cuisine British

With many thanks to Abra-ca-Debora for sending me a hamper to review and also for providing a second hamper as a giveaway prize. I was not expected to write a positive post, nor was I paid to do so. 

Happy Pancake Day!

Polish Apple Pancakes

Polish Apple Pancakes

Happy New Year! I’m back. I’ve indulged in a long break. In fact, the longer I took, the harder it became to throw myself back into blogging and recipe creating. This year I’ve buried my head in the sand a bit too when it comes to ‘diet’ food or New Year’s resolutions. I make resolutions throughout the year. I constantly try and stick to things, and I fail, so I set new goals and targets and start again. It’s never just a January thing. Besides which, it’s far too grey and cold outside to think about salads or healthy things or fresh starts. I still want to hibernate and eat pancakes and wrap myself up in a big blanket. The funny thing is that the two most popular recipes on my blog so far this year have been my Healthy Hot Chocolate Breakfast Smoothies and my Nutella Bread Pudding with Leftover Christmas Panettone. So I’m thinking, that whilst half of you are searching for the good stuff to help you along with diets and food resolutions, half of you (like me) want to prolong the festive sweet-fest, invoking the excuse of finding ways of using up all the tempting treats lurking in our cupboards….

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Breakfast Club: Quick Rhubarb Muffins

A quick post to say that this month, I’m joining in with Fuss Free Helen’s Breakfast Club hosted this month by (BiB’s Finalist!) Katie over on her brilliant blog Feeding Boys and a Firefighter. I’ve had lots of rhubarb given to me recently, from friends and neighbours, who are reporting great crops! The theme is Breakfast Bakes and I fancied making some rhubarb muffins so I  found a super-easy recipe on BBC’s Good Food for Rhubarb, Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Muffins. I made six large muffins rather than twelve small ones and as I wanted to make them for a quick grab-and-go breakfast, I used Agave Nectar in place of the sugar and added 50g of oats into the mixture as well a sprinkle of oats onto each muffin. Make them! Enjoy!

Rhubarb Muffins

Rhubarb Muffins

Linking up to Simple and in Season, too!

RhubarbSimple and in Season

Fish is the Dish – Smoked Mackerel Omelette

The Easter weekend is upon us and I am reminded of how, growing up, we would always eat fish on a Friday, not just on Good Friday. And before the chocolate frenzy begins, there is still time to eat simply. We’re starting our day with a Hot Smoked Mackerel Omelette, for a quick and easy omega-3 boost.

Smoked Mackerel Omelette

For the last few weeks, I’ve been roughly following a plan and a challenge called Healthy Happy Hearts, encouraging us to eat two portions of fish a week. It isn’t a big change for us, as we already try and eat fish once a week, but upping our intake to two portions means that I’ve enjoyed experimenting a little more with fish at different mealtimes.  I’ve written about the Fish is the Dish campaign before and was lucky to have  had one of my recipes featured in their free family cookbook along with lots of other bloggers.

Fish is the Dish Family CookbookDowload the cookbook in the Fish is the Dish site  

This time, Fish is the Dish have been working with one family specifically to help them to eat two portions of fish a week, encouraging us all along with extra hints, tips, menus and recipes. There is research to show that eating fish twice a week will help to raise levels of omega-3 in the body. As a ‘good’ fat that is essential to our diets, Omega-3 helps with brain development, joint function, healthy skin and eyes as well as better mental health.

Smoked Mackerel

The hardest part of any cooking-based challenge is to find ways of getting the children to eat more healthily, so I came up with this quick and easy recipe, which the kids, to my surprise, devoured. I did think that smoked mackerel would be too strong a flavour for them, but then, they do like smoked salmon and actually tolerate ‘big’ flavours, such as fresh olives, better than I do. So sometimes, kids will surprise us. Mine were even picking the mackerel out of the bowl before we got it in the pan!

Fish is the DIsh 

Getting them involved in the cooking or preparation process also helps, too and I find that my kids are more likely to try something new if they’ve helped to make it. I came across this infographic this week whilst writing about Cooking with Kids for Great British Chefs, backing up my theory. A survey showed that 84% of parents said that cooking with their children made them more likely to try new food types.  Since the Easter holidays are now upon us, we’ll definitely be spending plenty of time cooking together in the kitchen – we’ll have lots of chocolate Easter eggs to use up (great for crispy cakes or fridge cakes) but we’ll also be making some healthy fishy dishes together, too!  

Intro-to-Cooking-with-Kids

Cooking with Kids – find the full infographic here

How to make a Smoked Mackerel Omelette

Making this omelette is quick and simple. We used some ‘responsibly sourced’  Smoked Mackerel fillets, on offer at the supermarket, too.  They were in a vacuum sealed packet. Start with one, or even half a fillet if mackerel is a new flavour for your family.  Using your fingers, pull the mackerel away from the skin (it will flake up) and put it in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk up two eggs, add an (optional) little swirl of fresh double cream for a little extra decadence. Next, grate up some cheese, Parmesan or Gruyere work well. Switch on the grill and leave it to heat up. Add a small drizzle of olive oil or rapseed oil (extra omega-3) into a small frying pan, pour in the eggs and put the pan on a medium heat on the hob. The egg will start to set, you can give it a little stir at the beginning, then leave it to start setting on a low heat. After a minute or two, add the flakes of mackerel to the pan and sprinkle over some of the cheese. Cook for one minute and then put the frying pan under the hot grill so that the top of the omelette cooks and puffs up a bit. Once it looks golden on the top, take it out and add an extra sprinkle of cheese. Serve  and eat straight away.

Fish is the DIsh

I hope you have time to try this over the long and lazy Easter weekend. I’ll be back tomorrow with an Easter sweet treat!

With many thanks to Fish is the Dish for sending my family some fish to try as part of the Healthy Happy Hearts challenge. No additional payment was received.

Follow @FishistheDish on Twitter for extra hints and tips or search for the #HealthyHappyHearts challenge.

Polish Sweet Cream Cheese Pancakes (Nalesniki)

Polish Pancakes Nalesniki

I’m excited to share this recipe with you as it’s really delicious and probably quite different to anything you may have tasted before. It’s Shrove Tuesday tomorrow, or Pancake Day here in the UK and this is one of my favourite pancake fillings. Imagine eating a soft and creamy cheesecake, but then imagine that flavour folded inside a thin and delicate crepe or pancake. This is a very well-known dish in Poland, called Naleśnik z Serem or Polish Sweet Cream Cheese Pancakes. They are traditionally made with farmer’s cheese, or curd cheese, which I have seen in the shops. But if you can’t find any, use full fat cream cheese.  You can use any crepe or pancake recipe you like. My favourite is a recipe called Make Ahead Pancake Mix from Vanessa Kimbell’s Prepped. You can store the leftover dry mix in a container and then use it for quick suppers.

Polish Pancakes Nalesniki

I mentioned ‘Fat Thursday’ recently in a post, the day when Poles eat lots of doughnuts and sweet things to mark the start of Lent. We don’t have  a pancake day, specifically. Naleśniki can be eaten sweet, filled with plum jam, fruit, or sweet cheese,or even savoury, perhaps with wild mushrooms.  I’ve shared quite a few Polish recipes recently, which I hope you’ve all liked. I’m currently working on setting up a new site just for my Polish recipes, so that they can have a home of their own. I’ll keep you posted!

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Polish Pancakes

I don’t know about you, but I’m really looking forward to pancake day tomorrow. I’ll be back with some more ideas tomorrow, too.

What’s your favourite filling?

One Pan Polish Breakfast – Farmhouse Breakfast Week 2013

You may have noticed that we’re part way through Farmhouse Breakfast Week (20th-26th January 2013) here in the UK, aiming to highlight the importance of breakfast with a campaign called ‘Shake Up Your Wake Up!’  Coincidentally, I wrote a piece about breakfast early last week, focusing on the importance of a good breakfast for children before school and mentioning the Primary School Free Breakfast Initiative. This week, we’ve been struck down with illness again, but despite feeling pretty rubbish we’ve managed to keep up our good breakfast habits in order to have enough energy to start to feel better. We don’t always have time for a full cooked breakfast like this one, but on more leisurely mornings, this is our favourite – it’s a One-Pan Polish Breakfast, and I usually use a Polish garlic sausage (available now in UK supermarkets) to give us an extra boost, along with mushrooms, tomatoes, organic free range eggs and a sprinkle of dill – optional!  This is the kind of breakfast my dad would cook for us before school. The best bit? There’s hardly any washing up!

One Pan Breakfast

Polish Charcuterie

The Poles love their charcuterie, which include sausages, such as smoked kabanosy and cured hams. Cold Cuts are generally known as Wędliny, whilst sausages are Kiełbasy. Polish charcuterie has been made since ancient times and it graces the tables of both the richest and the poorest Poles, often served as part of breakfast, but also often added to soups and stews. The basic processes of making Polish charcuterie involves curing, salting and smoking. In the UK, I regularly now see a few different varieties of Polish sausages and meats, the most popular being Polędwica Sopocka, which is a high quality ham made of pork loin, Polskie Kiełbasy, or Polish sausages, such as Wiejska or Sokołów and Kabanos, a thinner variety of smoked Polish sausage. Each has its own distinctive flavour, some have garlic, others more subtle herbs and spices. Here’s one way of eating Polish charcuterie, but you can also use it to make sandwiches, serve it as a cold cut or add it to pasta dishes or stews.

Polish Sausage

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that I over-cooked my fried eggs – I’m still adjusting to my new tri-ply copper pans, which retain the heat even when you take them off the heat! Ideally, your eggs should be just cooked and lovely and runny!

One Pan Polish Breakfast

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I’m linking this post up to Helen’s Breakfast Club Event, this month hosted by Janice at FarmersGirl Kitchen with a theme of ‘Cooked or Baked’ breakfast!

 

I hope you manage to cook up a lovely Farmhouse breakfast – there are plenty of ideas for light healthy breakfasts, as well as more substantial cooked breakfast on the Farmhouse Breakfast Week site and you can search under the hashtag #BreakfastWatch for more ideas, too.

One Pan Polish Breakfast

Here are some other breakfast ideas –

Polish Scrambled Eggs with Chives

Swiss Scrambled Eggs with Croissants

Healthy Hot Chocolate Breakfast Smoothies

Feta and Chive Omelette

Buckwheat and Buttermilk Pancakes with Pears and Maple Syrup

Honey Nut Toasted Oats with Ribena Berry Sauce

Happy National Farmhouse Breakfast Week!

Brunch: Swiss Scrambled Eggs, Croissants and Shakes

Believe it or not, this breakfast-brunch was not a hangover cure. We have been recovering from the winter flu bug and I’m trying to cram in as many vitamins and as much goodness into us all as possible. So, here are my Swiss Scrambled Eggs – a warmed all-butter croissant, filled to the brim with spinach, ham, Gruyère cheese and scrambled eggs. You could use cheddar, but then it wouldn’t be a Swiss Scramble. On the side, a shot of raspberry and oat, live yoghurt shake. I think that’s us feeling a whole lot better already.

Repair, restore, recover – that’s my theme today.

Swiss Scramble

Swiss Scramble with Croissants

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon olive or rapeseed oil
  • 50g ham or bacon, chopped
  • A handful of fresh spinach or about 5 frozen balls of spinach
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 50g  Gruyère cheese, grated
  • 2 large croissants

Method:

  1. If you are using frozen spinach, put it in a bowl and microwave it for a minute or so, until defrosted. Drain any excess water. Put it to one side.
  2. Take a frying pan and add a teaspoon of oil. Add the ham or bacon to the pan and fry for a few minutes. If using bacon, make sure it is cooked and a bit crispy.
  3. Add the spinach and stir into the ham/bacon. Add the beaten eggs and stir the eggs around the pan a little. Before the eggs are fully cooked, add the grated Gruyère cheese and mix until the eggs are scrambled/cooked to your liking.
  4. Split the croissants in half lengthways. Heat for ten seconds in the microwave if you want them warm. Fill with the scrambled eggs and serve.

As an alternative, or for a treat, use smoked salmon in place of the ham/bacon.

Good Heavens

Good Heavens!

A word about the shakes. No, not those kind of shakes. We’ve been trying some Good Morning breakfast drinking yogurts by Good Heavens! They are a great alternative to making your own smoothies if time is short, or if you’re sick, like we were. Little shots (125ml) of creamy yogurts at less than 100 calories per bottle. If you are five years old, then 100 calories in an otherwise pretty unadveturous diet is an extra hit. If you are me, and every 100 calories count, these drinks are creamy enough to taste indulgent, but are not off the scale. They are aimed at adults, but my kids liked the ‘Luscious Strawberry’ flavour the best, as it was smooth. I liked the ‘Raspberry, Oats and Honey’ flavour, they were quite tangy. I also like the fact they are made in a boutique dairy, yet you can pick them up fairly easily at the supermarket.

Swiss Scramble

Hope you try the stuffed croissntas. On Christmas Day, I like to make these with smoked salmon, spinach and swiss cheese.

Swiss Scramble

That’s Captain Barnacles trying to get in on the action. We’ll let him.

Sending this across to Helen’s Breakfast Club this month themed as ‘Brunch’ and hosted by Bangers and Mash.

With thanks to Good Heavens! for the drinking yoghurt samples. You can find the Good Heavens! dairy on Twitter @GoodHeavens1

Healthy Hot Chocolate Breakfast Smoothies

My children love chocolate and they’d ask for a sprinkle of cocoa every day if they could. Luckily, we manage to avoid most sugary breakfast cereals and instead we go for a bowl of milky porridge or Weetabix, so they are usually allowed a little pinch of cocoa. Breakfast smoothies are a good option, too, if time is tight. I’ve even found a way of making hot chocolate breakfast smoothies, which are always a hit, by blending the ingredients with warm milk. I also add oats and chia seeds for an extra health kick.

Hot Chocolate Smoothies

When I saw that Helen’s Breakfast Club this month was being hosted by Choclette with a theme of chocolate, I knew that it would be really easy for me to rustle up one of our favourite chocolate-themed morning treats. We’re not talking bars of Dairy Milk here, just a square or two of Fairtrade, organic dark chocolate. We like chocolate orange flavour and we buy ours from The Co-operative Food as their own-brand range is Fairtrade.

Chia Seeds and Chocolate

Earlier this year I was also incredibly lucky to win a Vitamix machine, by entering my card into a draw at Food Blogger Connect. I’ve learnt that the trick, with any kitchen gadget, it to keep it out on the counter. As soon as it goes into a cupboard, whether its a juicer, blender or food processor, it never gets used again. So my Vitamix has taken pride of place on my counter and we use it most days. It has encouraged me to experiment with extra ingredients in our smoothies, such as adding a handful of spinach, or a ripe avocado, or some super-healthy chia seeds. It would be incredibly difficult to get the children to eat any of these ingredients in large amounts, so blending them with milk and dark chocolate is a great way to sneak in some extras. I’ve also been whizzing up super-fast and healthy soups, sauces (cheesy bechamel in an instant) and you can even make sorbets, frozen cocktails and ice-cream. We no longer have a fridge full of leftover vegetables, they all get whizzed up in some form or another in our Vitamix.

Vitamix

The main advantage to the Vitamix machine over a standard blender is the power of the commercial motor and the blades – the Vitamix will even blitz down peel, pulp and seeds and you can use raw ingredients, too. Unlike a juicer, you don’t lose any of the fibre because it all gets whizzed up. It can also make steaming hot soup in under five minutes and if you use ice-cubs and frozen fruit, you can make instant ice-cream. They are pricey…but if Santa is feeling generous this year…

Back to the smoothies, I think you could make these in a standard blender, too. Just keep whizzing, grate your chocolate and use a very ripe avocado. You could add spinach, a banana and more milk if it is a little thick. If you haven’t heard of Chia Seeds yet, pop down to your local health food shop. They are being described as the new super-food (there’s always a new one, isn’t there?) containing stacks of Omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants and fibre. They are gluten free and sugar free and were the ancient discovery of  the Aztecs.

Healthy Smoothies

Healthy Hot Chocolate Breakfast Smoothies

Ingredients:

  • 50g/a couple of squares Fairtrade dark chocolate (grated if not using a Vitamix)
  • 1 avocado – super-ripe, stone removed, scooped out
  • 1 tablespoon Chia Seeds – or you can use flax seeds
  • 1 teaspoon honey, we used local honey
  • 2 tablespoons raw oats or up to one Weetabix biscuit
  • 500ml/2 cups warm milk – we used whole milk
NB You could also use a banana in place of the avocado.

Method:

Vitamix Instructions –

  1. Place all the ingredients together into the Vitamix container and secure the lid. Select Variable 1. Turn the machine on and increase the speed to variable 10. Blend for 30 seconds or until you get the right consistency. Add extra milk and blend again if the smoothie is too thick. Pour into small cups or milk botttles and drink immediately.

Jug Blender/Hand Blender Instructions –

  1. Put all of the ingredients into your jug blender or into a tall container if you are using a hand blender stick blender. Add all the ingredients together (apart from the milk) blend together and then slowly add the warm milk. Blend for another two minutes until the mixture is smooth. Pour into small cups or milk bottles and drink immediately.

Healthy Smoothies

Note: I won a Vitamix blender through a random prize draw at Food Blogger Connect – I was not required to write a post about it, but since I use it so often, it was bound to feature! Many thanks to Vitamix UK.

Hope you enjoy these smoothies for breakfast soon!

Late Summer Fruit Salad with Pomegranate and Pistachio

A beautifully bright Saturday morning! If you are on a health kick, or as in my case, feel like you need to be, then this salad is the perfect prescription – my late Summer Fruit Salad with Pomegranate and Pistachio.

Late summer fruits are always the most delicious. They’ve had lots of time to soak up the sunshine. My nectarines and purple plums here were honey-sweet. So fresh, so pure, I ate two of them whole while I was chopping the rest. The raspberries, at this time of year, absent of any sharpness. Tiny pomegranate pearls capturing crimson essence. A little bit more crunch from finely chopped pistachio. A drizzle of plain yoghurt was a last minute thing, just because it was breakfast. Pretty violas, organic and edible, because I was just in that kind of mood.

 

Print

Late Summer Fruit Salad with Pomegranate and Pistachio

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Slice the plums and the nectarines, removing the stones and scatter on a large plate.
  2. Sprinkle over a handful of raspberries, the pomegranate seeds and the finely chopped pistachio nuts.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the natural yoghurt, runny honey and a tablespoon of milk to loosen. Drizzle over the fruit and decorate with edible violas. Serve immediately.

Notes

You can add any fruit of your choice, figs would work, fresh apricots, ripe pears etc. Substitute a flavoured yoghurt if you prefer.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 2

Amount Per Serving

% Daily Value

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Fuss Free Helen’s Breakfast Club is being hosted by Urvashi over the The Botanical Baker this month with a theme of fruit…do join in if fruit is your thing in the morning. And if it’s not, perhaps this salad will convince you to try.

Fuss free flavours breakfast club

This whole plate screams of Simple and in Season so I will be linking up to Katie at Feeding Boys and a Firefighter who is hosting for me this month.

I’m looking forward to seeing all the seasonal offerings around this month as well as all the fruitiness of Urvashi’s Breakfast Club.

If you’re lucky enough to find some fresh pomegranate fruit and want to know how to get the seeds out take a look at Sally’s beautiful Pomegranate Season post here.

Have a lovely weekend – and thank you for all your kind comments about my refreshed blog!

 

 

Review: Jersey Black Butter and a tasty twist on Eggy Bread!

I have never actually visited the island of Jersey, but I do know that it is well-known for its local produce and that it has become something of a hot-spot for award-winning restaurants and producers. It’s definitely on my rapidly growing ‘must-visit’ list! Every year I look forward to the new season’s Jersey Royals, which in my opinion, are pretty hard to beat as far as potatoes are concerned. As an island, Jersey is also historically known for its apple orchards. Farmers used to be paid in cider and following the winter apple crop, communities would gather to make Jersey Black Butter or Le Niere Buerre made from cider apples. Production of the butter would not only involve peeling mountains of cider apples, but also singing, dancing, storytelling and I am quite sure, a glass of cider or two!

It’s always a pleasure to review items that have a little bit of a story behind them, especially products that are handmade, made to a very traditional recipe and feature local produce, such as Jersey Black Butter.

The Jersery Black Butter that I ate my way through over the weekend was made at the La Mare Wine Estate and carries the “Genuine Jersey” mark  as well as being the proud winner of three gold stars in the 2009 Great Taste Awards. 

Jersey Black Butter is a jarred preserve, made by boiling cider apples for up to two days and then reducing it down by half, adding sugar, lemon, spices and liquorice. It has a very distinctive black colour and it smells and tastes almost like mince pie filling, but without the bits! The mixture has to be continually stirred, so aside from peeling all the apples, it is something of a labour of love. The National Trust for Jersey and Jersey Heritage also host annual events around the black-butter making process. 

It was a good job then that I managed to put it to such good use. It was delicious on hot buttered toast and its sweetness (reminding me of maple syrup) prompted me to use it to make a lightly spiced and extra-sweet version of Eggy Bread or French Toast. I made it by lightly spreading some of the black butter on bread, before dipping it in beaten egg and pan-frying it for a minute or two on each side in some butter for a luxurious and rather indulgent breakfast treat.

 

Black Butter Eggy Bread

Jersery Black Butter also goes very well with scones and it can be mixed into other recipes to add a twist of flavour, such a ice cream, cheesecakes and apple pies. It is also great served alongside a cheese board, or with cold meats. There are a couple of delicious recipes on the La Mare Jersey Black Butter website for Jersey Black Butter Crème Brulee and Jersey Black Butter Cheesecake. It is available to buy online and can be easily shipped to the UK.

Jersey Tourism Competition

Happily, Jersey Tourism are currently running a ‘Food Week’ special on their Facebook page until this Thursday 21st June. You could be in with a chance of sampling Jersey’s culinary delights for yourself, including a three-night stay, some of the freshest seafood, dairy produce made from creamy Jersey milk and hopefully some of the island’s famous black butter, too. You could also win a hamper full of black butter goodies from La Mare Estate.  

Pop over to the Jersey Tourism Facebook Page for more details. 

Image: Jersey Tourism

Thank you to Jersey Tourism for sending me some Jersey Black Butter to try. I was given no other incentive to write about the product in a positive way and this is not a paid post.

Had you ever heard of black butter? Have you visited and would you recommend a trip to the Channel Isles? 

        

 

Meli Melo Tomato and Parmesan Scramble

We are always in a hurry on weekday mornings, but as often as possible I try and go for a protein-based breakfast over sugary cereals. The children tend to eat porridge or a whole wheat cereal (they are well trained) but sometimes we have quick scrambled eggs with various bits thrown in. Often we add ham, spring onions or mushrooms, too.

This morning I looked in the fridge to find a handful of Meli Melo cherry and baby plum tomatoes (red, orange and yellow, so pretty!) and a small wedge of Parmesan  – mostly rind. These were the leftover ingredients from a baked salmon dish and our favourite carrot risotto. I thought that they would make a fine breakfast, scrambled up with a couple of eggs. Tomatoes which are slightly starting to pass their premium are perfect for this dish, because they are already squidgy so just need a minute or two in the pan before the eggs go in. This would also be great for a Father’s Day breakfast treat,  brunch with friends, or as supper. I skipped the bread, but a lovely crusty granary loaf would be my carb of choice.

[gmc_recipe 5322]  

I’m sending this across to Helen’s Breakfast Club, this month hosted by Monica at Smarter Fitter, who set the theme as leftovers. Like Helen, Monica writes an awesome blog, so go and check them both out and join in, too!

I’m also linking this up to Family Friendly Fridays, this month being hosted by Solange at Pebble Soup. My kids love tomato and eggs, so this is perfect for them. You could change the cheese to mild cheddar if the Parmesan is too strong in flavour. You could also whip this up for a simple but impressive Father’s Day breakfast, too. Get the kids to crack the eggs, carefully cut the tomatoes in half and/or grate the cheese.

 

What’s on the breakfast menu at your house?

Recipe: Feta and Chive Omelette (and a Neoflam Pan Review)

I have a slight obsession with chives and unfortunately for my husband who dislikes it, with dill. It stems from my Polish foodie upbringing as both herbs are used fairly extensively in Polish cooking. Chives are called  Szczypiorek and dill is called Koperek. Both can be grown easily and I tend to chop mine and freeze it too, so there’s always some on hand. I used to get sent to school on a breakfast of scrambled eggs with chives (see the recipe here) or scrambled egg with Kielbasa, garlic sausage. With that fragrant combo it’s a wonder I had any friends! Interestingly, last week I also went on my first guided foraging walk (more about that to come, I ate squirrel!) and we found some hedge garlic growing wildly, which is an alternative to chives, onion and garlic, so I’ll be using some of that too, soon.

I love the combination of chives with cream cheese and also like to pair chives with locally produced British goat’s cheese, as well as with feta. So this is a very quick omelette with feta and chives sprinkled in, but really, any crumbly white cheese would work.

…

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Buckwheat and Buttermilk Pancakes (with Pears and Maple Syrup)

This weekend we treated ourselves to a fine American breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup. I was inspired by a recipe in Diana Henry’s newly re-published book Roast Figs, Sugar Snow ,which is packed full of cold-weather recipes. As it happens, Sunday was lovely and mild, but the pancakes did set us up perfectly for a trip to Peppa Pig World!

Diana’s recipe for ‘Mile-High Buttermilk Pancakes’ comes with an instruction to “bring them to the table in a mile-high pile as if you’re running your own diner – with a big pot of steaming coffee.”  Diana suggests serving her pancakes with date and pecan butter, which sounds divine too – butter, brown sugar, chopped pecans, dates and vanilla, but my cupboard was sadly lacking in any pecans or dates, so I didn’t make the butter. A few pears in the fruit bowl, did, however, inspire me to do as the Poles do and slice some fruit into some of the pancakes as the batter hit the pan. You can do this with peeled apples too, or even banana. Pancakes are also a great way of using up random bags of flour and since I had some organic buckwheat flour (happens to be gluten free)  in the cupboard, I used that instead of plain flour and sweetened the batter up with cinnamon sugar, instead of caster sugar. That’s what I love about pancake batter – it’s a great vehicle for a little twist or two. Adding the buttermilk and beaten eggs whites to the batter are what make Diana’s pancakes soft and light as air.

I’m looking forward to cooking lots more from Diana’s book and giving it proper credit very soon. I’m also going to be meeting her next week (I am SUPER excited) and am looking forward to asking her what her very favourite recipes are from the book.  Any burning questions for me to ask her?

 

Buckwheat and Buttermilk Pancakes (with pears and maple syrup)

(adapted from Diana Henry’s Mile-High Buttermilk Pancakes from Roast Figs, Sugar Snow)

Ingredients:

250g flour – I used organic buckwheat flour, you can use this or plain

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

2 tbsp cinnamon sugar

500ml buttermilk (I made my own by adding 2 tbsp lemon juice to 500 ml whole milk and leaving it for ten minutes)

50g melted butter

3 large eggs, 2 of them separated

Vegetable oil or spray for the pan

3 ripe pears or apples sliced

Maple syrup – loads of it!

(You’ll need 3 clean bowls)

Method:

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl.

2. Mix the buttermilk, melted butter and eggs together in a second bowl – keeping the two egg whites seperate.

3. Make a well in the centre of the flour bowl and gradually add the buttermilk mixture, whisking as you go along.

4. Beat the two eggs whites with a clean whisk in your third bowl until they form soft peaks. Add a scoop of the beaten egg whites to your pancake batter and gently mix in then add the rest of the egg whites and only stir until it is all mixed in then stop.

5. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan (or use butter) and use a ladle to pour your pancake batter into the pan (you are aiming for small round pancakes – my pan fit in three at a time). Once the batter is in the pan, place a few slices of pears or apples onto each pancake. Bubbles will appear on the sufrace and after a minute or so you can flip them over – they should be golden on the bottom.

6. Add a tiny bit more oil to the pan as you make each batch. Serve as you go along or layer the, up and keep them warm in a low oven.

7. Drizzle with maple syrup once at the table.    

 

As this was an America-inspired breakfast, I’m linking it up with Helen’s Breakfast Club #16 Stars and Stripes, this month hosted by Susan of  A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate… 

A recipe to bookmark for next Sunday perhaps… How was your weekend? Any tasty treats or adventures to share?

 

 

Baked Victoria Plums & My First ‘New Home’ Post!

Well, this is both exciting and scary at the same time! Ta da  – Fabulicious Food! has made the very long cyber journey across from Blogger to WordPress!

I am totally overwhelmed by the help, expertise and professionalism of Liz of Violet Posy Design who has done an amazing job, with about a million technical issues thrown at her too.

It’s going to take me a little while to settle in and get used to the way things work, but hopefully not too long.

If you are experiencing any problems or issues, please do drop me a line.

If you previously subscribed to posts via the RSS feed I’m afraid it has changed and you’ll have to re-subscribe using the icon to the right.

On Monday I will also be hosting a really amazing giveaway so do stay tuned.

For now, I’m sharing this lovely autumnal plum recipe as there are tons of English plums around at the moment and they are my very favourite fruit.

Simple and in Season September is now open and working – anyone who left me a comment with a link should now find themselves on the current link-up page.

About to hit ‘publish’ so here goes!

 

 [gmc_recipe 382]

 

 Thank you for visiting and for all your lovely comments so far.

Sausage, Fennel Seed and Tomato Crostini

I want to win a week in a Tuscany Villa!

I was recently challenged to create a Tuscan-inspired recipe, which included three key Tuscan ingredients – olive oil, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.

Tuscany, Tuscany, Tuscany…

I last visited Tuscany around nine years ago, during a visit to my sister, who lives in a small village in the North of Italy. We challenged ourselves to take a cross-country coach trip to the alluring town of Florence and I think it remains the single most memorable daytrip of my life. 
 
We passed through the region of Chianti and I was simply stunned by the beauty of the Tuscan countryside. Since then, it has always been my dream to go back and visit Tuscany.
 
So, here goes. I have created a recipe called Tuscan-Inspired Sausage, Fennel Seed and Tomato Crostini. I remember eating plenty of crostini and brushetta in Florence, although not with sausage meat though I hope the Italians would approve.
 
 
In Tuscany, the flavour of fennel and fennel seeds is common although if you can’t find fennel sausages you could just use the best-quality lean pork sausages you can find and flavour with fennel seeds.  Italians often buy good sausages and split them open to use the meat.

Creating Italian recipes is never a chore for me, since I love nothing more than to stop by at my local Italian delicatessen called Buongiorno Italia. Established over 30 years ago, Tony, the owner, is always super keen to recommend fantastic Italian produce as well as some wonderful fresh seasonal produce and the most amazing locally-made gelato.

So, I picked up the three key ingredients – Olive Oil which happens to come from Tuscany called Seggiano – produced by smallholders from the Olivastra olives of Seggiano in Tuscany, Pomidori Pelati Italiani (Italian peeled tomatoes) and of course, the obligatory wedge of Parmesan Cheese.  
I also found some Salsiccia Finocchio – Fennel Seed Sausages – made at La Bottega di Ado, some fresh garlic, one white onion, fresh ciabatta and fresh basil.
 


Tuscan-Inspired Sausage, Fennel Seed and Tomato Crostini
Serves 4


Ingredients:


1 small loaf Ciabatta or other country-style bread
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
2 whole garlic cloves, minced or crushed
4 best-quality pork sausages, flavoured with fennel if possible
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
200g Italian peeled plum tomatoes (in a tin)
2 teaspoons tomato puree
50g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
A few springs of fresh basil


Method:

1. Remove the sausages from their casings and put to one side.

2. Put a large frying pan on a medium heat, pour in two tablespoons of olive oil and gently fry the chopped onion. Once it starts to soften, add the garlic and gently fry too for just a few minutes.

3. Add the fennel seeds into the pan and stir then add the sausage meat into the pan, breaking it up with your hands as it goes in.  Fry for around 6 minutes on a medium head, until the sausage meat browns and is cooked through. If there if too much fat, you could drain a little off at this stage. Keep stirring the sausage meat to break it up some more and make sure it doesn’t burn or stick.

4. Add the tinned tomatoes and tomato puree and stir well. Sprinkle some of the Parmesan cheese into the pan which will help to bind the sausage meat making it easier for topping the toast.

5. Leave the sausage and tomato mixture to cook gently while your prepare the crostini/bread.

6. Slice your Ciabatta or other bread (I like to cut mine diagonally across the loaf) drizzle with the rest of the olive oil and either place under the grill or in a griddle pan until golden.

7. Top each slice of bread with some of the sausage mixture, a scattering of more Parmesan cheese and some fresh basil leaves.



Enjoy!

Honey Nut Toasted Oats with Ribena Berry Sauce

This is a quick breakfast post in response to Helen’s Breakfast Club challenge this month hosted by Helen herself over at Fuss Free Flavours.

The theme this month is cereal and we are asked to do something interesting with it. So, I made homemade ‘granola’ using rolled oats very lightly coated with honey, rapeseed oil and mixed nuts gently toasted in the oven.
Granola is very popular breakfast cereal in America, essentially it is a cereal made of oats that are baked until crisp and then dried fruits are added. Muesli (Swiss) is also a well-known breakfast cereal, but in muesli the oats are not baked. Granola is really easy to make, stores well in an airtight contained and best of all as you are making it yourself you can adjust the flavours, for example, to include more cinnamon. I used cinnamon sugar as I had it in my cupboard but if you don’t have that use brown sugar and add a teaspoon of cinnamon powder instead. This granola can also be sweetened with maple syrup too instead of honey before baking.
Once baked the granola is crisp and crunchy and can be eaten either with milk or yoghurt. You could also make it healthier by adding fresh fruit to your bowl. This weekend we had ours with little pots of homemade blackcurrant compote – calling it ‘Ribena Berry Sauce’ encouraged my kids to add some to make their cereal purple! I also slightly defeated the pursuit of crunchiness by pouring hot milk over mine – but that’s just because I am fan of having hot milk with all kinds of cereal.

Add your fruit, whether dried or fresh to the oats and nuts after baking. You are looking out for a gentle golden colour so be careful not to burn!

 

Honey Nut Toasted Oats with Ribena Berry Sauce
Oats inspired by a recipe for ‘Crunchy Granola’ by Michelle Stern
The Whole Family Cookbook

Ingredients

300g rolled oats (not quick cook)
50g pecan nuts, finely chopped
50g almonds, finely chopped
75g cinnamon sugar
A pinch of salt
60ml honey or maple syrup
60ml rapeseed or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g raisins and/or chopped dates

For the Blackcurrant Compote/Ribena Berry Syrup

150g blackcurrants
2 tablespoons caster sugar
60ml water

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius

2. Put the oats, nuts and cinnamon sugar into a bowl and mix well.

3. Combine the honey, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl, mix and then pour over the oats and nuts. Stir well to combine – it won’t be greasy.

4. Pour the mix onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof or baking paper and spread into an even layer.

5. Bake for 20 minutes and stir after 10 minutes to ensure the top bits don’t get too toasty.

6. While this is baking, put the blackcurrants, sugar and water into a small pan. Heat until the mixture begins to bubble, stir and cook for five minutes. (Check your oats in the oven!!) If you want the blackcurrant sauce to be thicker, cook for a further few minutes on a low heat. Take off the heat and leave it to one side.

6. Take the oats of the oven and leave to cool. Add the raisins and/or chopped dates.

7. Serve with cold or hot milk or yoghurt. Store the rest in an airtight container.

 

Blackcurrants are in season in the UK at the moment – they are a wonderful summer fruit – so I will link this up to Simple and in Season too.

Chive Scrambled Eggs on Rye with Local Goat’s Cheese

I don’t often share breakfast posts, usually because we are in too much of a hurry in the mornings, but very often breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. When I was young, whenever my dad made breakfast, he would always make scrambled eggs with chopped chives, in Polish ‘szczypiorek‘ – try saying that before 8am! The Poles are also very fond of grains and rye bread is quite typical, so this morning I served mine on rye sourdough. I also couldn’t resist crumbling over some of the most delicious locally produced Goat’s Cheese from Childwickbury Farm, found in a local deli yesterday.

 

You could add chopped Polish ham too, but as it’s National Vegetarian Week (the goat’s cheese is made using vegetarian rennet) I have left it out.
 
Chive Scrambled Eggs (with Goat’s Cheese)
(Serves 2)
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons butter
1 tablespoon fresh garden chives, chopped
2 organic, free range eggs, lightly whisked
2 slices bread (I used rye sourdough)
1 tablespoon crumbly goat’s cheese – optional
Method:
1. Toast and butter your bread
2. Melt a teaspoon of butter in a frying pan gently – take care not to burn it
3. Add in the chopped chives and coat in the butter
4. Mix in the lightly whisked eggs, allow to cook for 30 seconds and then begin stirring the eggs until they scramble.
5. Once cooked, serve the scrambled eggs on toast, sprinkle with goat’s cheese and a few fresh chives.