I've finally fixed my internet -- and found an awesome recipe for Breakfast!

So, it's been (yet again) a little while but my internet problems have now been fixed! Huzzuh!

In the meantime, I have been endeavouring to find a breakfast meal that involves as little processed carbs as possible (toast, porridge etc), but still leaves me full.

The idea of having just eggs does not appeal: eggs belong on top of something, not just floating about the plate by themselves.

After a bit of google-ing, I came across a few variations of this recipe. I am not normally a fan of pumpkin, or sweet potato, but it has been growing on me the last year or so. At least to the point where my first reaction to it isn't 'Hell No!'

The great thing with this recipe is, once you've cooked the patties, you can wrap them in clingfilm, and keep them in the fridge to take to work (if you're like me & eat your breakfast in the office). That said, the chopped up mix will last a while in the fridge, and actually frying up the pattie is pretty quick. 

Don't worry if you can't get quinoa. I only through it in to help bind everything together, but the mix can hold up without it.

Anth's Breakfast Patties

1 half of a butternut pumpkin,

1 sweet potato,
2 cloves garlic
6 baby tomatoes,

olive oil

3 tablepsoons cooked quinoa

Preheat oven to 180'C.

Cut the pumpkin into large chunks, removing the skin. Peel the sweet potato & also cut into chunks. Halve the baby tomatoes, and crush the garlic cloves the the flat side of your knife.

Drizzle the veg w/ olive oil, season w/ salt & pepper to taste, and pop into the oven. Roast until veg is soft enough to insert a knife in easily, without being mushy. Around 35 mins or so.

Remove from oven & cool.

When cool enough to handle, dice the veg, and mix together w/ 3 tablespoons of the cooked quinoa (if using).

Mix everything together with your hands. You can now put the mix in the fridge, to be used as & when you need it, or you can cook up some patties now, for eating, or for later use (at work etc).

Take 2 table spoons of the mix, and form into a pattie. It will be pretty sticky!

Heat a little olive oil in a pan over medium heat, and pop in the pattie. Don't be alarmed if the pattie falls apart a bit, I just used a spatula to push it all back together again.

Cook over medium heat for 5 mins, then flip over & cook the other side.

To serve I topped w/ half an avocado, and a couple of poached eggs. Yummy!

Ricotta Hotcakes

And a big shout-out to Cam!

This is based on Bill Granger's recipe for his famous ricotta hotcakes. I must admit I am not a Bill Granger fan. On the whole I find his recipes don't work. I have made several attempts at different things of his, and they have almost never turned out. And I don't think I am the only one to think so: a colleague of mine went to a bookshop looking to buy one of Bill's books, and was told me the bookseller that "We don't stock his books, his recipes don't work" !!! On the other hand I do know a few big fans of his . . . maybe you can let me know what you think?

That said, these ricotta hotcakes are always a winner. Given my trepidation when it comes to eggwhites, I have always been very happy at how these consistently turn out well.

Ricotta Hotcakes

1+1/3 cup ricotta; 3/4 cup milk; 4 eggs, separated; 1 cup plain flour; 1 tsp baking powder; pinch salt.

Mix the ricotta, milk & 

yolks together in a bowl.

Sift the flour, baking powder 

& salt into a bowl. 

Add the ricotta mix slowly to the flour 

mix and stir until just combined.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold half of the eggwhites through 

the batter w/ a metal spoon.

Mix the last half of the 

eggwhites through the batch.

Ladle or pour (it is a thick batter, so it doesn't pour well: I recommend ladling!) into a very warm frying pan that has had a small knob of butter melted in it. Keep the heat on medium.

Cook for 2-4 minutes depending on how effective your frying pan is. Once the underside is cooked, carefully flip it over. The top side will still be quite raw so you will need to flip it carefully, and cook for a further 3 minutes. 

Only do one at a time! Keep this one warm in the oven and continue with the rest of the batter until all done.

This mixture should yield about 4 large hotcakes.

I served these with yogurt from Harris Farm, and a warm berry compote: take a heap of frozen berries, put in an oven dish & put into an oven @ 160'. After 10 minutes, put in a tablespoon or so of brown sugar & mix it through the berries. Cook for a further 10 minutes (or I just keep it cooking until all the hotcakes are done).

Wine Match!

Serve with champagne & guava juice for a gorgeous, special brunch.

Bacon & Egg Muffins (note: No Mc!)

Hello All!

(well, all 9 of you; have I told you how totally thrilled I am to have followers?)

Apologies for the recent lack of blogs: blame my job for that. And certain thoughts about my boss that probably shouldn't be published on the internet.

So it was my gorgeous God-Daughter's 1st birthday party today. At her as-gorgeous Mother's request, I made some savoury muffins (and some sweet ones: mango & rapsberry) to refelct the brunch-ish nature of the party.

I googled, and it was surprisingly hard to find what I was after, as a 'Bacon & Egg Muffin' search yields allot of things maccas-esque, or involving English Muffins.
I did finally stubble onto a recipe, but I adapted it significantly, so I am happy to claim it as my own.

And, well, they were a HUGE success. They were so easy to make, and just delicious. We had them cold, but they would obviously be delicious warm too.

Thus:

Anth's Bacon & Egg Muffins

6 eggs
12 short rashers bacon
big handful parsley
140ml cream
80 ml milk
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/3 cup crumbled feta (or same quant of goats cheese, or 1/2 cup grated cheddar, pick you fave!)
2 teaspoons seed mustard
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
canola spray (for greasing muffin tray)

Preheat oven to 180'

Combine eggs, cream, milk, and mustard in a bowl, and whisk to combine. Add parsley, parmesan & feta, stir to combine.

Spray a 12-hole muffin tray with the Canola Oil spray.

Put a rasher of bacon into each hole, like you would a patty case (it may spring out, don't worry, once you pour the egg mix on it'll hold tight).

Pour the egg mix into each hole until almost full.

Add 1 half of cherry tomato to each one, and pop into the oven for 20-25 mins.

That's it!

Please let me know if you make them / how they turn out / improvement suggestions!

A.
xx

(the bits sticking up the sides in this pic are the bacon)