The Food Diaries

Corn fritters with avocado salsa

This is inspired (taken from) Peter Gordon’s Providores cafe/restaurant in Marylebone, London. A fabulous place to waste away the weekend - moving from late morning coffee (courtesy of Monmouth Coffee), to corn fritters, to wine, to dessert, etc. Don’t be put off by the savoury mix of flavours - this is a great and classic brunch dish.

In a food processor place 525g fresh (or canned) corn kernels, 1 small red onion chopped, 2 eggs, 15g chopped coriander leaves or chives, 125 g flour, 1tsp baking powder, some salt and some pepper. Pulse till combined (but ensure you can still see bits of corn).

Heat up a pan with 1 tbs vegetable oil. Drop two tbs corn batter at a time into the pan (I like to use an ice cream scoop). Keep them well spaced from each other. Turn over after a minute or so (till golden on each side). Transfer to a warm oven while you finish up all the batter.

Serve with an avocado salsa made by mixing together 2 ripe avocados, diced, 1 quartered, deseeded and chopped tomato, 2 tbs lemon or lime juice, a dash of Tabasco (optional), some sea salt and pepper.

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Montreal bagels from St.Viateur

St. Viateur bagels (named after the street in Montreal where this bakery first opened in 1957) are hands down the best bagels in the world (and I’m not interested in hearing arguments to the contrary). Briefly boiled then baked in a wood-burning oven - these bagels are particularly dense and chewy and are at their best when toasted (unless of course you can’t wait till you get home and eat them still warm from the oven). Definitely worth a detour of any length.

I like them best as follows: a toasted sesame bagel, spread with good quality cream cheese and a dash of pepper. If you like you can add a few slices of smoked salmon and a squeeze of lemon. Or if you want to go all out - add a couple slices of red onions and some chopped capers.

Mexican breakfast - corn tortilla with poached eggs

Here’s a simple way to make Mexican-style eggs without all the bother of Huevos Rancheros (who needs so many dishes to clean on a weekend morning?). Poach a couple of eggs (I love these little silicon poach pods). Warm 3 small corn tortillas (in the microwave or in a frying pan for a crispier finish). Overlap the tortillas on a large plate, spread a little Adobo sauce (Puree a can of Chipotle chillies in adobo sauce - this keeps well in the fridge), top with your eggs, a sprinkling of salt, pepper, lime juice and some snipped chives.

Poached eggs made easy

I love poached eggs, but have always considered them a luxury breakfast option (too much fuss before noon), restricting myself to ordering them in hotels. I know this should be a super easy thing to prepare at home, but the number of tips required to get it right (swirling water, vinegar in the water, etc.) just seemed daunting. Plus, have attempted them on a number of occasions and always managed to produce a soupy egg mixture (not at all appealing!).

I have since discovered these little silicon pods at Lakeland and have produced perfectly poached eggs everytime since (the proof is in the photos above).

Scrambled eggs on Finnish rye crispbread

Recipe:

In a small pan add the following:

- 1 whole egg

- 2 egg whites

- 2 tbs grated cheddar

Stir constantly over medium heat till just set.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve on Finnish rye crispbreads

Serves 1.