How do you like your eggs in the morning?

Just a quick post, (I wanted to do a longer one but they do take me quite a while and I like to take my time) I realised I haven't covered breakfast on here yet which is by far my favourite meal of the day, I'm going through a bit of a weird phase at the moment where it seems too early to eat and can't seem to eat in the mornings anymore which annoys me because eating breakfast helps kickstart your metabolism into working! However, for those days that I do eat breakfast, I like to make quite a lot of effort and it usually involves eggs.

I prefer having poached eggs, it's so delicious when the yolk is lovely and runny! My poached eggs always look quite strange (just because of how they are done in the saucepan) but they do work!

My top tips are -

- use a saucepan full of boiling water - put a few drops of vinegar in (this helps the egg stay together) you can use white wine vinegar, malt vinegar or even balsamic vinegar. I quite like the taste of vinegar so I don't mind it when eating the egg but would recommend a couple of drops of malt vinegar if you're not a big fan!

- when the water is near bubbling pour the raw egg in, it may sort of spread out in the pan so gently using a wooden spoon push the egg so it's more together

- leave for around 3 minutes for a nice runny egg, the water may go crazy and bubble a lot so you will have to turn it down but by that time it is usually near done

- scoop the egg out of the saucepan using a slotted spoon so the water can drain through and you don't get soggy bread!

My breakfast of a sesame seed bagel with caramelised onion chutney, 2 poached eggs, pepper and a scattering of fresh thyme

(you will be able to see in the image what I mean about how the poached egg looks, but trust me, it's good and like a normal poached egg!)

hangover breakfasts

Last weekend was a very good one, aside from the great Vintage Fair I went to, I spent Friday to Saturday at a hotel for a friend of a friend's birthday, we relaxed in the spa and then went out for drinks and dancing. I had such a fun time but unfortunately after quite a bit of drinking, I woke the next day with an awful hangover. One hangover cure I found was definitely the amazing breakfast I had with one of my best friends and her boyfriend. We went to a Spanish bar around 10 minutes from my house and I had beautiful poached eggs on crumpets with Hollandaise sauce on the top, tomatoes and a good helping of their homemade tomato sauce, which tasted so sweet. I was so very happy with this breakfast, it cheered me up out of my hangover no end. I would definately recommend a Spanish esque breakfast to rid yourself of a mean hangover!

Love FF x 

every morning should start with blueberry risen pancakes

I have taken and modified this recipe from the lovely "Spooning with Rosie" by Rosie Lovell. I have just found her blog today as well which I've now added to my sidebar. It's a lovely blog with pictures of the meals she makes and places she goes.

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, so I always try and make it special to start the day on a high, I had never made pancakes before this either so that was a bit of a trial and I was very pleased with the outcome.

Ingredients:

1 medium egg

130g self raising flour

50g caster sugar

a pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

150ml full fat milk (I used semi-skimmed and they still turn out fine, but full fat would probably be better)

2 tablespoons butter

150g blueberries (or enough to dot 5 or 6 in each small pancake)

(I've taken these instructions from Rosie's recipe, so not claiming it is my own apart from a couple of my minute modifications!)

Beat the egg in a mixing bowl, add half the flour, the sugar, the salt and baking powder and beat with a whisk. This will form an elastic batter. Then add the milk, making sure the batter isn't lumpy and is of a light and smooth consistency. Then add the remaining flour. It may need a little water to loosen it further. The mixture should be entirely lumpless. Set aside for an hour as it makes for a better pancake.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large bottomed frying pan so it is silky with fat but not to the point of deep frying. Allow the butter to melt and become hot and slippy when the pan is tilted.

Dot 5 or 6 blueberries in 3 corners of the saucepan. Pour a small amount of batter over each collection of blueberries to form three small pancakes in the pan. Allow them to really brown and go golden on the bottom. They will be ready to turn when the top side is beginning to firm and is bubbling. Flip each one over with a heatproof spatula and brown the other side. They should rise a little and each side should take just over a minute.

Dust some icing sugar over the top for a delicious morning treat.

Love FF x