Cheesy French toast bread pudding

The inspiration for this dish came from an old cookbook I stole from my Mum, "Take Three Cooks" by Nanette Newman, Emma Forbes and Sarah Standing. The original recipe is for a marmalade bread pudding, but they suggest the use of cheese for a savoury variation. Since my boyfriend is a huge fan of French toast, I thought I'd give it a go.

It's pretty easy to make, and would definitely pose a good alternative to traditional eggy bread if you were serving brunch to a crowd. The glorious combination of bubbling golden cheese and rich custard-soaked bread is incredibly good - comfort food at its best.

After...

The recipe doesn't call for any fancy ingredients - simply sliced bread, eggs, milk, cheese and butter. If you want to snazz it up, you could add some slices of ham between the slices of bread or spread one side of the bread triangles with mustard to give it an extra kick.

Ingredients (serves 2 - or one hungry boy. Double the recipe to feed a larger group)

4 slices of white bread (the original recipes suggests removing the crusts - I didn't bother)
25g spreadable butter
300ml milk
2 eggs, beaten
75g cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Butter each slice of bread (on both sides if you're feeling especially decadent - I was lazy and just did one) and cut into triangles (two or four, again depending on how lazy you want to be when it comes to stacking them!). Layer the bread into the base of a greased ovenproof dish, topping each slice with cheese.

Before (not so pretty!)

Heat the milk in a pan until hot but not quite boiling. Pour the milk over your eggs, whisking as you pour. Season with salt and pepper, then pour the custard mixture over your bread and leave to soak for 10-15 minutes (or - more laziness - miss this step!).

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for around 25 minutes (increase this to 30-40 if you have doubled the recipe) until your cheese is golden and bubbly and the custard is set. Serve piping hot.

Delicious baked eggs at Coco di Mama

Coco di Mama is a new chain of Italian cafes which have been popping up all over London. Serving up a great selection of pastas at lunchtime, as well as some excellent Italian-style coffee, they are also the source of my new favourite breakfast treat.

Mmmmmm....

The baked eggs florentine is simply incredible: closer to a crustless quiche than what I would traditionally think of as 'baked eggs', the rich, buttery egg custard, shot through with tender spinach and topped with a glossy brown gruyere crust, is mind-blowingly good.

And despite tasting pretty decadent (and being big enough to keep you full right through to lunch), it's healthier than you would think - according to the sign, it contains a mere 267 calories. I'm quickly developing a Coco di Mama habit - I've been at least 3 times a week since I made my discovery - and I definitely recommend checking them out!

 

Best breakfast ever in Monterey, California

I recently spent 10 days in California, driving down the coast (in a convertible nonetheless!) from San Francisco to Laguna. We stopped in lots of places along the way, but one of my favourites was Monterey. Situated on a beautiful stretch of coastline just North of Big Sur and the famous 17-Mile Drive, this picturesque town boasts a charming street of converted canneries (the "Cannery Row" of John Steinbeck fame), some lovely coastal walks, a large population of local sea lions, and a famous aquarium (which we didn't get around to visiting...).

 

 

It was also the location of one of the best meals of my trip: our breakfast at First Awakenings featured the lightest, fluffiest pancake I have ever eaten in my life, setting me up for a lifetime of disappointment back in the UK!

 

Free refills of coffee...yes please! (cue caffeine shakes)

 

It took me a while to choose from the selection of pancakes on offer (raspberry-coconut-granola was particularly tempting), but I ended up shunning the more traditional options (blueberry, or - dare I say it - plain) for the very breakfasty-sounding "Fresh Apple Cinnamon and Oatmeal" pancake. I was slightly worried that the oats would make this too heavy, but they were sprinkled on top (rather than incorporated into the batter), and - lightly toasted - brought a lovely nutty flavour to the dish.

 

 

The incredibly airy pancake was packed with little cubes of sweet apple (perfectly cooked, neither too hard nor too soggy), and the dish was completed with a sprinkling of oat flakes, a dusting of powdered sugar, and the traditional American pancake accompaniment - a scoop of whipped butter. I had a tentative taste, in the hope that it may have been ice-cream, but was sadly disappointed. Still, I maintain - this was the best pancake I've ever had, and if you ever pass through Monterey, you have to go here!

 

 

The savoury options were pretty impressive too: my boyfriend went for the "Caps, Etc" - a dish of sautéed mushroom caps tops with a bubbling layer of melted cheese, served alongside fried eggs, toasted English muffin, and a very generous portion of home-made hash-browns. Delicious.

 

 

After our breakfast we went for a stroll along the bay, and said hello to some of the local sea lions, who were lounging on the protected beach below the coastal path. And then, sadly, it was time to go - heading off down the 101 to Santa Barbara.

 

 

 

 

Breakfast at the Riding House Cafe

I visited The Riding House Cafe for a 9am breakfast one Saturday morning, getting together quickly with a friend before we both had to rush off - my friend, for a busy day of shopping and socialising; myself, to catch a train. The area - just North of Oxford Circus - is usually buzzing, but was uncharacteristically quiet at this early(ish) hour, and we had no trouble getting a table.

The Riding House Cafe sports a style I can only describe as gentlemen's club chic, all distressed leather and dark wooden panelling - but with huge windows letting in plenty of light the overall effect is far from dreary, and it's a lovely place to catch up over a meal or drinks.

The cafe has a good breakfast menu, offering classic savoury dishes (eggs Benedict/Florentine/Royale; bacon and avacado sarnies; kedgeree) alongside a selection of sweets and bakery items (buttermilk pancakes; mini Danishes) and a decent variety of healthier options (home-made muesli; chilled grapefruit). There are also one or two more unusual dishes: Eggs Hussard, served with ox heart tomato, ham, spinach, and bordelaise* and hollandaise sauces sounded particularly intriguing, while Omelette Arnold Bennett** - sadly only available Monday to Friday - has been on my to-try list for a while.

My friend went for the traditional smoked salmon and scrambled egg combo, which was apparently very good. Meanwhile, I opted for the strawberry and pear parfait. Presented prettily in a glass tumbler, this tasty (but healthy) treat featured juicy chunks of poached pear layered with thick Greek yoghurt, sweet slivers of strawberry, and crunchy home-made granola. Delicious.

Afterwards, we popped across the road to Kaffeine to grab a coffee to see us on our way, and by 10.30 I was on board a train at Kings Cross - a very efficient breakfast catch-up!

*A tangy red wine sauce more commonly served with meat dishes
**Originally invented for the author Arnold Bennett at the Savoy Hotel, this open-faced smoked haddock omelette is topped with bechamel and cheese and finished off under the grill -  see recipe here to try at home.

 

More delicious brunch at Workshop Coffee Co

I've written about Workshop Coffee Co before, but my last brunch there was so good I just had to share...

 Grilled asparagus with smoked salmon, poached egg, truffled marscapone and corn bread - oh my!

With a wide assortment of tempting dishes on the menu - brioche french toast with poached rhubarb and orange marscapone, sweetcorn fritters with halloumi and spinach, and toasted banana bread with date and orange jam, to name just a few - it was pretty hard to choose. However, after some intense consideration my friend opted for the grilled asparagus with smoked salmon, poached egg, truffled marscapone and corn bread, while I went for the braised beans with salted ricotta, lemon, mint and truffled marscapone.

So many delicious dishes to choose from... 

Aside from being visually very appealing - the cheerful pinks and oranges of the salmon and cornbread contrasting prettily with the bright green asparagus - my friend's dish was incredibly good: the wonderful melding of fresh flavours and varied textures (crumbling cornbread, smooth marscapone, runny egg yolk and snappy asparagus) making it a bit more special than the usual salmon and eggs brunch option....

My braised beans - something which had caught my eye on my first visit - were equally good. The generous portion of tender beans, stewed in a rich and tangy tomato sauce, was served on a thick wedge of delicious sourdough and topped with a crumbling of salty ricotta. The scoop of creamy marscapone - which oozed seductively into the beans - and a scattering of fresh salad leaves were the perfect finishing touches.

I'll have to come back one lunchtime for the burger - a guy at the neighbouring table ordered this, and my friend and I both struggled to tear our eyes from his plate. Soft, shiny brioche bun, fat burger patty (oozing heavenly meaty juices...) and a pile of chunky golden brown wedges...Not quite as healthy as our brunch options, but certainly as tempting!

Coffee at Kaffeine

After breakfasting at The Riding House Cafe with a friend, I couldn't resist nipping across the road to Kaffeine on my way home.

An Antipodean coffeeshop, in the spirit of Workshop Coffee Co, Kaffeine serves up excellent coffee alongside a tempting weekly-changing menu of light bites and tasty baked treats (tragically there were no Afghan biscuits on the day of my visit, but if you ever get a chance to try them, do - these rich crumbly chocolate cookies are one of my all-time favourites!).

The coffee was - predictably - excellent, although the portions are very small (something I always struggle with, having grown up on Starbucks venti lattes!). The food looked great too, and I'll definitely be heading back for lunch one day to check out the tempting array of salads and foccacias.

A laid-back brunch at Osteria Dell'Arte in Clapham

The other weekend I cycled down to Clapham for a long overdue catch-up with my original "brunch buddy". She used to live just down the road from me in Angel, but since she upped sticks and moved South London, our brunching has become (tragically) less frequent, and it was lovely to get together again.

We're both big fans of Bread Etcetera (unlimited bread to toast at your table, what more could you want?) but unfortunately 11.30am on a Saturday is not the best time to visit, and the queue was already snaking out of the door when we got there. Instead, we crossed the road to another great brunch spot - the Osteria Dell'Arte.

Bright and airy inside, with high ceilings, a glass roof, and - impressively - a large tree, you can almost imagine you're eating outside (although without the icy temperatures and intermittent drizzle of a British winter). White walls and colourful arty accents complete the fresh, zesty vibe.

The breakfast menu - despite the Italian make-over - offers a fairly classic selection of brunch-time favourites, from smoked salmon scrambled eggs to omelette. I went for the All'Inglese (aka the full English), while my friend opted for the Uovo Benedict.

The full English wasn't the largest I've had - in fact it was positively diminuitive in comparison to some of the behemoth breakfasts I've had - but despite my inital disappointment it was still delicious, and actually did fill me up (my eyes are often bigger than my belly!)

A neat stack of bacon, mushrooms, grilled tomato, sausage and beans were topped with a perfectly fried egg: everything was good, but the spicy Italian sausage and the home-made baked beans were particularly delicious. The large squeezy bottle of Sainsbury's own brand ketchup was a homely touch - no fancy home-made ketchup here! - and despite being a total Heinz snob (if you can actually call someone who smothers everything in ketchup a snob) it was actually pretty tasty!

My friend's Eggs Benedict was also good, with plenty of ham and a generous drizzling of golden hollandaise. Along with our food we had couple of teas (and a nice long chat) before going for a wander around Clapham (which ended up with us both accidentally buying uneccesary accessories from a cute little boutique around the corner...oops!).

To conclude, Osteria Dell'Arte is a lovely spot: next time you're shivering away in the queue for Bread Etcetera, maybe you should pop across the road instead!

Brunch at the Breakfast Club, Soho

The other weekend some friends and I decided to fight off the January blues with a nice girly brunch at the Breakfast Club in Soho. While I've been to the Hoxton branch more times than I can count, and have checked out the diminuitive Angel cafe too, this was my first visit to the flag-ship venue in Soho and I was interested to see what it would be like.

 

The apple cinnamon french toast is crazy-good

Upon arrival, the four of us were (somewhat unsurprisingly) greeted with a long, long queue. We stood in the cold, breath steaming, and wondered whether we should maybe try somewhere else. In the end, we stayed, and while it did take almost 45 minutes to get to the front  - the venue is small and the line didn't move particularly quickly - we were happy enough catching up and anticipating what we were going to have for brunch. The free shots of hot chocolate (brought out on a tray by a lovely waiter) definitely sweetened the wait too!

The Soho branch is much smaller than its Hoxton sibling, and while it sports the same colourfully eclectic decor, its cosy, comfortable vibe is more reminiscent of the Angel venue (making it the perfect place for a nice homely breakfast on a cold day). After our wait, we knew what we wanted, and quickly got stuck into ordering our food.

Two of our party went for the apple and cinnamon french toast. Light and fluffy, with just the right amount of egginess, this is seriously good. Topped with a generous heap of caramel-drenched apples and served with a big squeezy bottle of maple syrup, it's definitely worth trying if you've got a sweet tooth.

However, on this occasion I was in the mood for something a little more savoury. While there are a few interesting Mexican-style dishes on the Breakfast Club menu ("huevos al benny", "el butty" and the breakfast burrito are three dishes I've yet to try), I was pretty disappointed with the huevos rancheros I had on my last visit (too disappointed to even blog about it - soggy tortilla under too much sour cream and guacamole was not the best hangover cure!) so I went back to my tried-and-tested favourite, the "Half Monty". 

With sausage, bacon, beans, grilled tomato, eggs and toast, it has everything you could want from a breakfast...Well, almost - I ordered some mushrooms on the side too! As ever, this was immensely satisfying, although I think I may get fried eggs next time, as my scramble was a little dry...

My other friend went for the slightly maverick "Veggie All American" breakfast.We wondered just how huge this would be (the pancake dishes at the Breakfast Club are notoriously large, and a team effort is usually required to make a dent in the pancakes and bacon combo), but it was actually not too intimidating. Two modestly-sized pancakes were paired with home-fried potatoes, a veggie sausage, mushrooms, and eggs. It was quite a savoury selection for a pancake-based dish, but apparently very good.

Selfishly, we lingered over our coffees...although we did feel pretty guilty looking out onto the queue outside, which if anything got longer over the course of our meal! While it was nice to try somewhere new, I still prefer the Hoxton branch (for the faster-moving queues, if nothing else) and will probably head back there next time. If you're in Soho though, and don't mind queuing, it's definitely worth a try!

Brunch in Notting Hill: 202

Everyone always raves about Notting Hill, but I've never really understood its appeal: from the chaos and crowds of Notting Hill Carnival (someone invariably gets their phone nicked and the tube ride home is a nightmare...) to the tourist trap that is Portobello Market, it's always failed to live up to my expectations.

However, last weekend, venturing west-ways to meet a friend for brunch, I saw a side to Notting Hill which caused me to reconsider. My cycle there (passing through St James' Park, Green Park, and Hyde Park) was beautiful even in the January drizzle, and our walk from Notting Hill Gate to the cafe - passing from quiet mansion-lined streets to the fashionable boutiques and stylish eateries of Westbourne Grove - was lovely.

We had been intending to go to Granger & Co, but, passing by the window, were drawn into 202 instead. In this stylish Nicole Farhi venue, diners share the ground floor with a collection of books and home-ware, while the basement - glimpsed en route to the toilets - is home to a chic clothing boutique.

We were there to eat, not shop, so we side-stepped the tempting retail displays and seated ourselves at a table for two in a bright spot near the back of the restaurant. The breakfast menu was pretty comprehensive, ranging from sweet (porridge with caramelised banana, golden raisins & honey; buttermilk & ricotta pancakes with fruit compote) to savoury (kedgeree with poached eggs; sweet potato, pepper, chorizo and pancetta hash), and featuring brunch favourites such as french toast with bacon and eggs Benedict.

I went for the full English breakfast, which consisted of a slice of crisp buttered sourdough, topped with fried eggs and accompanied by a tangle of crispy bacon, roasted vine tomatoes, a juicy over-sized mushroom, and a fantastic sausauge. I don't normally like sausages (and would in fact have swapped it for extra bacon, had the waiter not given his personal guarantee of its tastiness!) but it turned out to be the highlight of my meal: plump and meaty, with a satisfyingly crisp skin, and a pleasant hint of spice.

I love this tetsubin teapot...

My friend opted for the scrambled eggs on toast with wild smoked salmon. A vivid sunshine yellow, the eggs were served slightly runny (in the French fashion), alongside a helping of coral pink salmon and another slice of that delicious sourdough toast.

 

Shop while you eat

To drink, we ordered tea from the extensive selection on the menu (which offered everything from fancy hibiscus and lemon verbena to the more down-to-earth 'builders' English Breakfast). This arrived in beautiful cast-iron tetsubin teapots...now on my wish list for my own tea-set!

All-in-all, it was a lovely breakfast - and while we didn't buy anything, it was nice to have a browse on our way out. Having been converted to the joys of Notting Hill, I'll be coming back this way soon (hopefully on a slightly sunnier day) to try out Granger & Co...

Brunch at the Bluebird Cafe

One of my friends recently made the move from East to West, giving me a good excuse to tear myself from my NE London comfort zone and head to Chelsea to try something new. On this occasion, we decided to go to the cafe at Bluebird. In addition to the cafe, this stylish establishment boasts a restaurant, bar, courtyard, bakery, and shop - everything you could possibly need wrapped up into one handy package!

It was another of those crisp, sunny autumn days we seem to have had so many of this year, and as my friend happened to have spent the night in Angel, we decided to cycle over to Kings Road together. Cycling is actually one of the fastest ways to get to Chelsea from Angel - on a decent bike you can do it in around 40 minutes (add on ten or so if you're wobbling your way there on a heavy Boris bike!)

The nicest route cuts down to Embankment, and continues along the Thames (with a brief diversion around Westminster) all the way to ChelseaBridge Road, where you can turn back 'in-land' towards Sloane Square. It's definitely a great way to build up an appetite and get some vitamin D on the way - far preferable to a stinky ride on the underground any day!

Arriving slightly windblown after our cycle, we joined our friend in the cafe and placed our orders (just in time for the 11.30 breakfast cut-off). I went for soft-boiled eggs and - inspired by my Modern Pantry experience - asked for some marmite to spread on my soldiers. Yum.

My friends both went for salmon-y options - eggs royale and salmon with scrambled eggs - both of which looked delicious. As a change from my usual English breakfast I ordered a pot of jasmine tea, which was very refreshing, and (while I'm not sure if there is any truth behind this perception) felt healthier than my usual cuppa.

http://www.bluebird-restaurant.co.uk/uploads/assets/menus/43485_bluebird_cafe_menu_november_2012.pdf

Annoyingly I forgot to take any photos of the food, but did manage to take a few of the venue to make up for it! It really was a very pleasant spot for brunch - light and airy, with plenty of cute, quirky details (arty light installations, a wall of pretty painted plates). The sunny courtyard area is lovely too - I'd love to come back for drinks in the summer (although if alcohol is involved I'll probably have to leave my bike at home!)

After our meal, we made our way down to the food market outside Partridges (I've been before following a trip to Tom's Kitchen, and it's one of my favourites). I'd been trying to save money for the Christmas season with a no-clothes-shopping ban, but unfortunately there are a ridiculous number of lovely boutiques on Kings Road and I ended up buying some (in my defence, heavily discounted!) work trousers in the LK Bennet outlet shop. It's definitely a much more pleasant shopping experience than Central London...

Once we'd managed to drag ourselves away from the shops, we wandered around the market, snacking on free tasters (my favourite was a cube of bread dipped in heady truffle-infused honey) before picking  up some dessert at one of the lovely cake stands. I was very impressed with my enoooormous meringue, which had the gorgeously chewy interior which is the mark of a truly good meringue. And if I hadn't been on my bike, I definitely would have taken home a few of these beautiful mini-cupcakes:

Apparently Pierce Brosnan was there at the same time as us, but we didn't see him - probably because I am the world's worst celebrity spotter (I'm still kicking myself over the time I didn't notice James McAvoy sitting literally next to me at Smiths of Smithfields...). Despite this failure, it was a lovely day, and it was great to go somewhere totally different from my usual Angel/Shoreditch/Soho haunts: to all my fellow 'Easties', I definitely recommend getting on your bike and getting over here!