Baghdad Eggs - possibly the perfect breakfast?

These spiced fried eggs made for a really fresh and interesting brunch dish and they were a welcome change from the more usual scrambled or poached. Eggs go so well with herbs and spices and this dish used both in abundance.

Pitta crisps are easy and delicious, and so useful that I often make a double or even treble batch. They store brilliantly in an airtight tin for a week or two and are great with all manner of dips or just for snacking on when you feel peckish. So much tastier and healthier than reaching for a bag of regular crisps. I normally add chilli flakes as I can’t resist the opportunity to spice them up a bit them but do leave them off if you prefer.  

Served 2

for the pitta crisps:

3 pitta breads

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper 

for the herb yogurt:

160g greek yoghurt

a generous handful of mixed fresh herbs, finely chopped (coriander, mint, parsley & chives are all great)

a little salt & freshly ground black pepper

for the Baghdad eggs:

2 tsp cumin seeds

50g unsalted butter

a splash of olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tsp paprika

4 eggs

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Slice the pittas into 3cm wide strips and peel apart the 2 layers of each strip. Lay in a single layer on a baking tray, drizzle over the olive oil and scatter on the cumin seeds, chilli flakes and a generous seasoning of flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until completely dry and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack

Make the yoghurt sauce by stirring through the herbs and seasoning to taste with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spoon onto two plates and set aside.

In a large frying pan, dry fry the cumin seeds for just a minute or so. As soon as you smell their aroma lifting from the pan tip them into a pestle and mortar and grind coarsely . Add the butter to the pan, along with a little drizzle of olive oil to help prevent it burning.  When it has melted and starts foaming, stir through the garlic, paprika and ground cumin and fry for a couple of minutes. Then crack in the eggs, and fry, basting in the spiced butter until they are cooked to your liking.

When the eggs are cooked use a fish slice to lift them out onto the serving plates, two per person, and drizzle over the butter. Serve immediately, with the pitta crisps to dunk in both the yolk and the herby yogurt.

Bacon, parsnip & cheese brunch muffins

Here's a recipe for savoury brunch muffins I made last weekend - I suddenly realised the week had been whistling by, I can't believe its Thursday already. As some of you may be dreaming up your weekend breakfast already it seems like an opportune moment to share this. 

Savoury muffins are really easy to knock up and the tasty permutations are endless. These contain bacon and a grated parsnip. I had one lurking in the fridge and thought if you can have a carrot cake, then surely you can have a parsnip muffin. Celery, gently softened in a little butter or oil, would be good too, as would red onion or grated courgette. Add a few chopped herbs, a bit of bacon, chorizo or shredded ham, and some sort of crumbled hard cheese - experiment to your hearts content, just try to keep roughly the same flour to egg and yogurt ratios. 

Bacon, parsnip & cheese brunch muffins

6 rashers smoked streaky bacon, cut in 1cm strips

1 fat parsnip, peeled & coarsely grated

150g plain flour

100g wholemeal plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 

½ tsp smoked paprika 

130g cheese, crumbled or grated (e.g. cheddar, feta, manchaego)

250g Greek (or other wholemilk) yogurt

2 eggs

4 tbsp olive oil 

Salt  & freshly ground black pepper

12 hole muffin tin, lined with cases

Preheat oven to 180°C

Fry the bacon for a few minutes until crisp but still succulent. Stir through the parsnip, turn off the heat and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together both flours, the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and the smoked paprika. Stir though the bacon and parsnip, and about 100g of the cheese, ensuring it is well mixed.

In a small bowl beat together the yogurt, eggs, olive oil and season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and fold through to roughly combine. Don’t worry about a few lumps and bumps, or even little bits of unmixed flour, muffins, savoury and sweet, benefit greatly from a light touch.

Spoon into the muffin cases, sprinkle over the rest of the cheese and bake for about 20 minutes until deeply golden and springy to the touch. 

These are best ate whilst fresh and warm, possibly smeared with a little butter. As a bonus they also freeze really well so you could always make a double batch and freeze half for a later date. To serve, defrost then warm slightly in the oven to bring them back to life.

Cheese & tomato scrambled egg - a hearty breakfast for a hungry day

I am not normally a breakfast person, my only true necessity being a bucket of strong coffee to get me going first thing. In contrast my husband, Rob, can devour 4 weetabix in a single (and indeed brief) sitting, a fact I have never quite got my head around. But just occasionally I feel ravenous in the morning. Today proceeded in its usual chaotic, flying by the seat of my pants fashion - two kids fed & watered, two packed lunches, a bit of shouting to get a move on, cleaning up after the not-quite-toilet-trained puppy - and once I returned home from the school run I found my thoughts greedily turning to food. I found inspiration from the bowl of shiny super ripe pomodorino tomatoes sitting on the worktop. Its such a perfect time of year for tomatoes, ripened sweetly over a long period of time I think they are at their most delicious in September. Rather guiltily I whipped myself up a breakfast of cheese and tomato scrambled eggs and quickly ate them with a thick slice of toasted rye bread. And I have to say it absolutely hit the spot and kept me going for hours in a way that a bowl of cereal never could. I shall eat eggs for breakfast more often.

Serves 1 (could be be easily scaled up to feed more)

Knob of unsalted butter

5 ripe Pomodorino tomatoes (cherry or baby plum would be good too), sliced in half

2 eggs, lightly beaten, seasoned generously with salt & freshly ground black pepper

Small wedge of mature cheddar (about 40g) grated

a thick slice of toast - ideally wholemeal, granary or rye 

Melt the butter gently in a small heavy based saucepan and sauté the tomatoes for a minute or two until they just begin to soften. Pour in the seasoned egg and add the grated cheese and continue to cook, stirring from time to time, until they are creamy and just set. Eat immediately - so hungry was I that I devoured them standing at the kitchen counter.