I ask what she's having (as you know, this is an everyday occurrence for us). Very unusual that Siân replies straight away with a pic of her breakfast, I'm blown over with excitement. As I'm analysing the breakfast items, like I am checking them off on a list...mushroom -yes, bacon - yes, beans - yes, egg - yes and toast. I do love a food picture, but I especially love a cooked breakfast in a photo. Our name is to do with a subconscious obsession with the Full English.
It's the following weekend, Father's Day. As usual I'm finding out what she's having for breakfast. A pic appears on my whatsapp of scrambled egg (nice touch), a large flat field mushroom, sausage and hashbrown. She rustled it up from bits she had in her freezer (she's good like that). Well today we've literally gone for the full monty, as for once I've pre-prepared this event. A cooked breakfast is a weekend treat, a cooked breakfast on Father's Day is even more special.
Oven goes on to around 180c. Any frozen goods, waffles for kids, hash browns. Recently I've discovered these hash brown waffles, half way house between a potato waffle and hash brown, genius.
I start off lightly browning off my big fat sausages from the butcher. They're lovely, meaty and well seasoned, hardly any fat comes out. They're call "directors", I'd usually go for a Cumberland or Lincolnshire until recently, I've found these to be better. As I'm chatting to him yesterday I ask what ingredients he uses in this variety. He wouldn't tell me the exact recipe but informs me they use a little honey. Hence the lovely colour they go and the subtle sweetness brings our the other flavours. After 15 mins or so I transfer to the oven for a final colouring.
Next I cut the rind off the bacon, smoked from the butcher also, I tend to buy a stack at a time, keeps well in the fridge and doesn't shrivel when grilled. I delicately line up my rashers on the grill ready to go.
I wash the same pan I cooked sausages in, a knob of butter goes in until it bubbles, 2 tomatoes that I've cut in half go in cut side down, and a handful of baby button mushrooms . A little shake of the pan, a flip of the tomatoes, they'll be nicely caramelised where their natural sugars have come out. These now go into a dish ready for the black pudding to join them in the oven for a few minutes. Lightly brown the pudding now in the pan, literally a minute or two just to colour.
A small pan of beans are gently bubbling away on the stove awaiting a ladle.
Lastly the eggs, a small amount of groundnut oil in a large non stick pan. Get pan hot, in they go. I like them to bubble to whites go frilly. We all like them over-easy. The yolk flipped over. A few minutes for me, so yolk is wobbly, when you cut through with a knife a trail stream out onto the other items marrying everything together.
So that's it, the wonderful thing that is the full English, sets you up for the day. Every mouthful an excitment to taste buds. I like to have balance in my fry up. The sausages and bacon not necessarily to be the star of the show. I equally like the carb element, whether it be hashbrowns, sautées. And the mushrooms, have to have the mushrooms! A good breakfast has all the items in my opinion, cook them well and you cannot go wrong.
Anne
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