Spring mornings are so full of freshness, shards of sparkling sunshine dance on the windows & there’s a sense of “newy newness” in the air. After the dreary drudge of a cold Winter, Spring brings a very welcome & refreshing change. Outside, bursts of beautiful blossoms are emerging from their buds, swathes of leaves suddenly appearing as if overnight & birds are belting out their latest songs, as they flit & flutter amongst the trees. It’s as if we’ve awoken from a deep slumber, like a fairytale Princess in an enchanted castle. I do appreciate not all mornings are fresh coffee & fairytale fabulousness, however this airy light breakfast can brighten even the dullest of days.
As you probably know by now, mornings are my favourite time, perfect for baking, caking & for whipping up a wonderfully easy breakfast à deux – French Toast! Known as Pain Perdu by our French cousins, it means “lost bread” or bread that would otherwise be discarded & is a delightful way to turn lost bread into loveliness. This is my take on the classic French Toast – delicately crispy outside, fluffy inside & thoroughly delicious, accompanied by a pile of fresh berries & warm orange syrup for dipping. There are days when I cook a savoury version of this too, but more about that later!
Everyone has their own level of cooking confidence & this is a really easy recipe for both beginners & seasoned cooks. There is a little pre-cooking prep, but it’s all done by hand & definitely no fancy equipment is needed – well, apart from a tea strainer (that’s as fancy as it gets). Are you ready to bake it happen? Hands washed, aprons on & here we go!
What you need:
4 Large Free Range Eggs
4 Slices Thick Cut Bread (a couple of days old is best), cut into quarters
Half a teaspoon Vanilla Extract (the proper stuff, not “essence”)
100g Salted Butter
4 Medium Oranges or 3 Oranges & 2 Mandarins (whatever you’ve got)
Half a Lemon
1 generous Tablespoon Golden Syrup
Handful of Fresh Raspberries & Blueberries (washed)
Handful of Fresh Strawberries (washed)
What to do:
First, let’s make the orange syrup for dipping. Cut the oranges in half & using a fork, squish out the juice from each orange half into a small saucepan (don’t worry about pips & pith, we’ll deal with that shortly). Repeat with the half lemon. Keep the leftover peels for the composter (they make great soil).
Next, add the syrup & then gently heat the sauce on the stove, carefully stirring until the syrup has melted into the juice.
Get two ramekins or small cups & a tea-strainer, then slowly pour the liquid into the strainer over each cup. This removes any pith & pips that fell into the pan – pop them with the peels for composting. Leave to one side to cool.
Now to prep the fruit! After washing your raspberries & blueberries, pop them onto a dry cloth or kitchen paper, pick up the corners & give them a little shake. This removes the excess water without bashing your berries too much. Share them between a couple of small dishes.
Wash & dry the strawberries the same way, then remove the leaves & stalk (hulling). I like to get a drinking straw for this process – push the straw up through the pointy end of the strawberry & the stalk & leaves will pop out like a mini tree from the top. Again, these can go in the composter. Slice the strawberries into quarters & add to the other berries. Although I’ve used berries here, you can use whatever fruit you like – tinned peaches, pears, apricots, pineapple, bananas, grapes, they all work fabulously.
Next is the egg mixture for the bread. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl with the vanilla extract & whisk by hand until fluffy & foamy. Keep the whisk at the side when done, you’ll need it again.
Place a frying pan on a medium-high heat & add a quarter of the butter to melt. Take the first two slices of bread quarters & dip each one in the egg mixture, then place in the pan immediately.
After about a minute, give the pan a little shake to loosen them, then turn them over (they should be nicely golden underneath). Add another quarter of the butter to the pan & give everything another little shake, so the butter gets all around the toast.
Cook for a further minute, flip it over & if it’s golden, then it’s ready (if you like it a little more cooked, give it a few more seconds until you’re happy with it). Tip onto a plate & set aside.
Return the pan to the heat, add another quarter of the butter & before dipping the next lot of bread, just give the egg mixture a quick whisk to fluff it up, then repeat the steps above.
Pop your French toast on a serving plate, with the dishes of orange juice dip & fresh fruit – et voilà, it’s ready to eat!
If you prefer your toast a bit sweeter, add your own twist by dusting with a little powdered icing sugar or cinnamon before serving. That’s it, tuck in while it’s still warm! If you want to fancy up your French toast, try using day old croissants or even fruit bread & swap out the syrup for warm chocolate sauce (a very easy dessert for after dinner sweetness).
And for those who like their syrup a little extra zingy, try adding about a teaspoonful of grated fresh ginger to the juice before heating – perfect for adding a little spice to your syrup. This also makes great shots to brighten your morning – try adding the juice of two extra oranges, a whole lemon instead of half & when cooled, pour into little glasses (it freezes well too, so you can make it in advance in ice cube trays).
Fancy a savoury slice instead of sweet? Leave out the vanilla & add a pinch of sea salt & black pepper to the egg mixture, then fry in olive oil instead of butter.
This works really well with seeded bread too, adding a little extra crunch to each bite. I like to serve this version with a quick homemade brown sauce for dipping – stir a good splash or two of Balsamic vinegar into 4 tablespoons of tomato ketchup, add a pinch of pepper & that’s it!
However you like it, whether it’s a birthday, holiday or just a Tuesday, this delicious delicacy is a fabulously fragrant treat anytime! Stay hungry! Aimee 😉 x
so I don’t have to do much apart from put them on a plate. Then there are perfectly plump pancakes. I’m not talking about the delicately thin, elegant crêpes we usually eat on Pancake Day though. Breakfast pancakes are duvet-like delicacies – substantially thick, warming & with a fluffy filling. What they shouldn’t be is fiddly, time-consuming & boring! Now I’m not saying you need to be standing around the stove, flipping fluffy pancakes for all you’re worth at stupid o’clock (as if I would suggest such a thing!). The best way to get your pancake fix without the faff is to make a batch in advance & keep some ready made in the fridge (or freezer if you really want to be organised).
Heat up a large skillet or frying pan on a medium heat – your pan needs to be nice & hot before you start cooking your pancakes.
Remove each pancake, one at a time & lay on the plate with a strip of greaseproof paper in between each one to separate them.
If you’re serving them immediately, cover the plate with an upside-down mixing bowl to keep them warm & transfer to the table. If not, leave them to cool & wrap a couple at a time in clingfilm, then put them in the fridge or freezer. You can put them in an airtight container too, just keep them separated with the greaseproof paper strips, then serve when you want some. To reheat your pancakes, simply pop a couple in the toaster for about 30 seconds to warm through & that’s breakfast prepared!
These fabulous fluffed up pancakes don’t have to be dull either! They are perfect with an array of fresh fruit, beautiful berries or just a squeeze of fresh lemon juice & a drizzle of golden syrup. If I have a couple of punnets of fresh berries going spare, I’ll put them in a saucepan with some golden syrup & simmer gently until they become soft & squishy, making a warm fruit sauce to pour on top. These soft little flatcakes also taste scrumptious with scrambled eggs – great if you fancy something a bit more exciting than cereal (which is obviously for midnight snacks).
to serve them is to splodge spoonfuls of apricot jam in between the layers with whipped cream, top with a couple of fresh raspberries, then drizzle with pureed peaches – open a tin of peaches, chuck them in the blender, whizz up with a squeeze of lemon juice & pour into a serving jug! If you don’t want to use cream, maybe use strawberry or raspberry ice cream instead. These sumptuous stacks of sweetness look impressive & are really quick to assemble (especially if you have a few pancakes already made). There would have been pictures, but they never last long enough!
technically hob-less, which doesn’t help when we fancy a fry up. It’s the simple stuff you miss when you don’t have a working hob, like cooking a proper breakfast. Even a basic boiled egg has become a rarity, which isn’t good when it’s boiled egg & soldiers season! All the stress of this project has taken it’s toll (obviously made worse with the hob issues), so I’ve had to get even more creative in the kitchen (I’ve been baking plenty of bread & taking my stress out on the dough!).
couldn’t even fry an egg, she suggested baking eggs on a tray in the oven, a bit like a hot plate & it works really well (obviously, because Mums are always right). So this Monday morning, I decided to start the day with a “bake up” instead of a “fry up”! I defrosted a few frozen rashers of smoked bacon, laid them out on a baking tray (no oil required) & put them in the oven to crisp up. Several sizzling minutes later, the bronzed bacon rashers had given up their oil onto the tray, ready to plop some eggs 
into. Now I didn’t want runaway random shaped eggs & I don’t have any fancy cooking rings like those you see on TV shows (or the budget!), so I used a couple of stainless steel pastry/cookie cutters instead with the flat side down. They work perfectly! As I like my eggs cooked through (yolk should be runny, but not the white thank you very much!), halfway through cooking just after they turned white, I spoon a little hot bacon fat over them. The rings keep it in place, making sure the tops get cooked nicely & you don’t have to flip your eggs half way through (risking a burst yolk in the tray). Obviously, you can use whatever shape you like – dinosaur, star or flower, as long as they’re ovenproof! Another bonus to cooking 
this way is that you don’t need to stand watching pans, you just chuck it all in the oven! When I put the eggs in, I also like to place a dinky dish of baked beans in the oven too, along with a couple of croissants (a bit like posh beans on toast). So in about fifteen minutes, we had an effortless breakfast bake up & minimal washing up afterwards – bonus!
add a little more Balsamic if you think it needs it. That’s all you need to make luscious, lovely sauce, ready to drizzle on a bacon butty! Squeeze some into a small cup or dish with a spoon, so everyone can help themselves to a splodge. I’ve not bought brown sauce since & just keep a good supply of tomato ketchup handy. There are other ways to enhance the flavour, just have a play with different ingredients using the ketchup as a base.
So who had breakfast this morning? No, “just a coffee” won’t do. I mean food, whether it’s porridge, a bacon butty or a boiled egg, some kind of sustenance to keep you going. A bit of toast maybe? Or did you grab something sweet at your local shop or a flat pack snack from the petrol station on your way to work? Oh dear, you really do need something a bit perkier than forecourt fayre, especially if you’re going to stop your stomach doing dragon impressions at your desk (which is never a good look)!
This morning, after I had been chocolatiering all week, I really couldn’t face 
Once cooked, it may look slightly risen on top – don’t worry, this will go down as it cools. Place the dish on a wire rack & while it’s still warm, run a knife around the edge of your oaty bake. Leave the whole thing to cool for about five minutes (remember, jam is like molten lava & will melt your mouth, so be patient – go & wash up or something while you wait). When cool, the jam becomes a thick, gooey & ever so luscious layer of fruitiness, so it is worth the wait.
After it has cooled, run a knife around the edge again to loosen the slice & tip very carefully onto a chopping board (it will still be quite soft). Cut into even sized slices & it’s ready to eat! If you’re not comfortable with the tipping out method, just cut it in the dish & use a spatula to lift them out individually. I get 16 good sized slices from one lasasgne dish, so there are plenty for everyone.
If you’re taking them on a picnic, why not add a few ripe raspberries to the jam layer & drizzle swirls of melted white chocolate over the cooled slices. They make a nice alternative to a dessert & you don’t need plates or spoons, just a napkin (you all know how much I adore washing up!). These will make you very popular though, so I advise that you keep a small stash for yourself in the back of the cupboard!