There is nothing quite like brunch to get the weekend started, loaded with your favourite dishes. The nations breakfast-lunch hybrid offers the best guilt free opportunity to stack bacon, eggs and sweet pancakes all on one plate. Take a sneaky peek at our round-up of sweet, savoury and salty brunch recipes to kick start your weekend, plus a little remix of your usual go-to recipes to shake things up. No one said you couldn’t bend the rules!
Breakfast Tacos
Makes 4 tacos.
Ingredients: 4 bacon rashers, 2 sliced spring onions (white and green parts separated), 1 tbsp olive oil, 4 large eggs, 60g grated cheese, 1 avocado (diced), 4 tortillas (or wraps), 2 tbsp chopped coriander (optional), salt and pepper to taste.
Method:
- Pan fry the bacon until crispy. Alternatively place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees and bake until crispy (around 18-20 minutes).
- Heat oil in a medium pan and sautee the white of the onions for 1 minute.
- Whisk together eggs in a bowl and pour into the pan. Use a spatula to cook the scrambled eggs until soft and cooked through.
- Assemble the tacos, by adding portions of the scrambled egg, topped with the green part of the spring onions, crumble over the bacon and add the diced avocado.
- Sprinkle with cheese and coriander (optional) and season to taste.
Top Twist: Add a couple drops of hot sauce for an added kick and a Mexican twist.
French Toast
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 6 large eggs, 350ml milk, 1.5 tsp of ground sweet cinnamon, 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract, 8 slices of thick white bread, 4 tbsp unsalted butter. Yogurt, berries, bananas and syrup or honey to serve.
Method:
- In a bowl whisk together eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla.
- Place 2 slices of bread in the egg mixture and let is soak for a couple of minutes. Then flip and soak for another minute. Ensuring both sides of the bread are fully soaked.
- Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a frying pan, add the soaked bread and cook until golden brown (around 2-3 minutes per side). Once cooked transfer to a wire rack.
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all 8 slices of toast are cooked.
- Stack up the French Toast and serve with berries, banana, yogurt and syrup.
Top Twist: For ultimate decadence sprinkle over chocolate chips and a little powdered sugar too.
Pear, Bacon & Blue Cheese Tart
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients: 4 bacon rashers (cut into ½ inch pieces, 2 medium onions, ½ tsp pepper, 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (thawed), 1 pear (thinly sliced), 2 oz blue cheese of your choice.
Method:
- Preheat oven to 200 c and line a baking tray with baking or greaseproof paper.
- Pan fry the bacon on medium to high heat until crisp (around 6-8 minutes). Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper.
- In the same pan, remove any excess bacon drippings leaving just 2 tablespoons in the pan.
- Add onions, cover and cook for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and then cook for a further 12 minutes, add a splash of water if necessary to help deglaze the pan. Once the onions are cooked stir in the pepper.
- Lay the pastry flat on the lined baking tray and spread the onion mixture on top, leaving ½ inch boarder all around the edges.
- Top with the pear slices and bacon, and crumble over the blue cheese. Bake until golden and crisp along the edges (around 20-25 minutes).
Top Tip: If not a fan of blue cheese, replace with a cheese of your choice and add a little salt to taste to the onions to give the same salty hit as the blue cheese.
Runny Jammy Egg Toasts
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients: 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 shallot (finely chopped), ½ tsp fresh thyme (plus more for sprinkling), salt and pepper, 4 large eggs, 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp whole grain mustard, 1 tbsp chopped parsley (plus more for sprinkling), 4 thick slices of bread, mayonnaise.
Method:
- In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, shallot, thyme, and ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Mix and let it marinate.
- In a saucepan, add water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a rapid simmer and add the eggs (in their shells) and simmer for 6 minutes.
- After 6 minutes transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice white to stop them cooking. Drain and peel the eggs.
- Stir oil, mustard and parsley into the shallot mixture. Spread mayo on to the slices of bread and arrange the coarsely chopped eggs on top. Spoon the shallot and mustard vignette over the top and sprinkle with more thyme and parsley. Season with pepper to taste.
Top Twist: Add slices of avocado to the bread before layering on the chopped eggs. Delicious.
For more tried and tested recipes:
How To: Make Homemade Ice Cream