Blueberry and Almond Breakfast Bake

I grew up surrounded by an abundance of wild blueberries, so much so that they were very much taken for granted . . . not those big grape sized ones that we get in the grocery stores over here, but those delicious tasty little pea sized morsels that you can only get from spending back breaking hours in the hot sun to acquire.



Along about the first week of August the ice cream buckets would appear on the kitchen counter, and we kids knew it was blueberry picking time . . . a time we both dreaded and revered all at once. We would spend hours in the blueberry bush, choosing and picking the dainty delicious berries and filling those ice cream buckets, the time only made longer according to how many actually made it into the buckets and how many made it into our tummies!



The warm summer sun and humming insects helping us to feel all cosy and, well . . . part of a family, all co-erced into partaking of this glorious labour! Co-erced by rose coloured memories and the anticipation of pieces of warm, fresh blueberrie pie, the lucious blue juice dripping onto the plate, mingling with runny rivelets of melting fresh vanilla ice cream . . . beautiful puffy lemon coloured muffins studded with those gorgeous purple berries and sprinkled with crusty sugar crumbles on top . . .



. . . light as a cloud buttermilk pancakes bursting full of the sweet lucious beauties, stacked three high, a golden pat of butter melting and gilding the edges, doused in beautifully sweet real maple syrup, the perfect foil . . . we knew as children that the more berries we picked the more of these delights we'd be able to savor over the long winter ahead.



Tired and hot at the end of the day, our fingers stained blue, with blue lips and teeth, sitting around the kitchen table with big bowls of tasty berries sprinkled with sugar and covered in cream. Berrys still warm from the sun, cream cold from the fridge, smiles on all the berry stained faces, knowing we had once again secured this little taste of summer for the winter ahead . . .



Oh how I missed them when I first moved over here to the UK. They were not readily available at all . . . what I wouldn't given at that time for a fresh blueberry pie. When you could find them at all, a premium price was paid for them . . . one that we could only afford as a very rare treat. Thankfully that is no longer the case, and whilst we can't get the lovely wild ones I grew up with, the larger cultivated ones are quite common in the shops now, although they can still be a bit pricey from time to time.



This past autumn we planted some blueberry bushes so that next year, with any luck, we will have our very own tasty source of the little beauties in our garden. Lots of little jewels to make delicious things such as this Blueberry and Almond Breakfast Bake . . . kind of like a baked French Toast . . .



Enticing, heartwarming and a beauty to behold. This pleases me on lots of levels. Eggy and lightly sweetened with a crisp and sweet sugared almond topping. Delicious!



*Blueberry and Almond Breakfast Bake*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

You need to plan ahead with this as it needs to be refrigerated overnight. The hardest thing about it will be waiting for it to come out of the oven as it smells fabulous while it is baking!

1 9 inch whole wheat baguette, cut into 1 inch cubes
(about 4 ounces)
250ml of 2% milk (1 cup)
6 large free range eggs
125ml of pure maple syrup (1/2 cup)
pinch salt (optional)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 heaped mug of fresh blueberries (about 1 cup)
a handful of flaked almonds
2 TBS demerara sugar (turbinado)
Maple syrup for pouring (optional)

Spray a 7 by 10 inch baking dish with some nonstick cooking spray. Arrange the bread cubes in the dish. Dust with the cinnamon. Whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla, maple syrup and pinch of salt (if using.) Pour this mixture evenly over top of the bread cubes, making sure the liquid saturates the bread evenly. Scatter the blueberries over top. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and turbinado sugar. cover with plastic cling film and then refrigerate overnight.

In the morning take it out of the fridge about half an hour before you want to bake it.

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Uncover the dish and then bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the eggs are set and the casserole is lightly browned on top. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes before cutting into quarters to serve. Serve hot with or without more syrup for pouring.



In The Cottage today a delicious Tomato and Bean Soup!

New York - December Edition - On the Cheap

I'm a bit of a lucky cow really; I've just spent five days in New York, my third visit of the year. This time the focus was heavily on cheap and casual with a couple of blow-outs sprinkled here and there. We brunched more too; breakfast is entirely out of the question due to being an extremely lazy person, but 11am is a manageable time.

We attempted to go to well-known brunch spot on a Saturday morning and we were greeted with about 25 people milling about outside. Waiting times can be up to 2 hours so we sacked it off and headed instead for Diner, over the river in Williamsburg. In what looked like a disused train carriage the place was packed to the rafters with cool kids sipping on bloody marys. Within 10 minutes we were seated and a delicious dish of scrambled eggs with a biscuit (aka. a savoury scone) topped with pork gravy (aka. white sauce with bits of sausage in it) ($12) kept me going till dinnertime.


We didn't give up on Clinton Street Baking Company though and came back on a weekday, as several people had proclaimed theirs to be The Best pancakes in New York. We patiently waited outside for half an hour, while my still-damp hair turned crispy with frost. We were seated snugly inside and a mountain of sugar-cured bacon, eggs with fried green tomatoes and cheesy grits ($13) warmed me up. The show stopper was indeed the wild Maine blueberry pancakes, served with a warm maple butter ($12). Sweet mother of God these were good, and worth the freezing wait we endured. Warm and fluffy inside, slightly crisp edges, punctuated with blueberries within and a mound of them on top, the maple butter drenching into the pancakes was... just... uuuunnngggg. I have no words. I need a moment alone with this memory.



Seemingly my beloved can exist on merely two meals a day - the horror - so one evening I went foraging for a snack on my own. Just a block away I came across a branch of Xi'an Famous Foods, heartily recommended by many. On St Marks Place, it was tiny; two benches faced the wall, which was plastered with the laminated menu and pictures of the dishes. As I was merely snacking, I went for Chang-an Spicy Tofu ($2) and Liang Pi Cold Skin Noodles ($4.50). Within 5 minutes I was out of there, clutching my takeaway bag.

It was pretty huge for my supposed snack and goddamn it was delicious. Slippery soft, delicate tofu was bathed in a savoury, sour broth tinged with ginger and garlic and with a slick of fiery red chilli oil. Cold skin noodles (here's an interesting Wikipedia article on how they're made) made your lips go numb with Sichuan peppercorns, while the soft pliable noodles stained all and sundry with the dressing they were doused in. I absolutely honked of garlic afterwards but I immediately wanted to go back to try everything else with another serving of tofu on the side. Alas, I ran out of time.



Later that evening, we hit Corner Bistro, reputedly New York's best burger. Famed for its queues, we arrived late and got lucky; seated in 5 minutes. The burger, loosely packed and cooked as requested, came with rashers of crispy bacon and perhaps a touch more raw onion in a huge hoop than I'd have liked, but was really very good. Pickles on the side and fries that were just like McDonalds' - which is a good thing - made me a fan. At $8-ish for the Bistro burger it was insanely good value. Value aside though, Minetta Tavern's effort pips it to the post for me.



Revelation of the trip goes to Otafuku, purveyors of takoyaki. Takoyaki are balls of batter studded with cooked octopus. I'll admit it doesn't sound particularly appealing, but when I went there to yet again another hole-in-the-wall place with barely standing room for more than 3 people and no seating, I was transfixed by a huge metal pan with spherical molds, takoyaki cooking merrily inside. You'll have the excuse the photo. I am resolutely right handed and trying to wield chopsticks and take a picture while supressing the urge to stuff them in my gob was just too much.

These reminded me of a Japanese version of Jose's ham croquetas. Crisp on the outside and light and moussey inside, these are drizzled with takoyaki sauce (whatever that might be), mayonnaise and topped with a dusting of seaweed and shavings of dried bonito. $5 for 5 I think, and after I'd finished, I only wanted more and more.



Often regarded as one of the best makers of ramen, Ippudo has a legendary reputation for enormous queues and long waiting times, all for a bowl of noodles in broth. People get seriously passionate about ramen, and while I'm only just delving into this world I am fully in love with the stuff. Which might explain why I was outside Ippudo on a Tuesday morning at 10:45am, 7th in the queue, waiting for the 11am opening time. Once inside, the space reminds me of a Busaba Eathai. Seated communally, the din is incredible. Every time someone walks in, all the staff shout a greeting in Japanese to the mostly young Asian crowd. I was in and out in 30 minutes and by the time I left, pop music was pumping and the poor hapless sod opposite me was still trying to shout business down his mobile phone, with laptop out.

The lunch deal includes any ramen plus a rice with topping and side salad for merely $3 extra. I chose the grilled eel with rice, a surprisingly generous portion. The fish was soft and tender, the rice well cooked.

The curious side of me wanted to choose their 'special' which included Parmesan cheese but I knew I'd cry if I didn't like it, so I stuck to Akamaru Modern ($14). The Tonkotsu broth is topped with miso paste, pork chashu (which is simmered pork belly, unlike the Chinese char siu), scallions and fragrant garlic oil. A soy marinated soft boiled egg (nitamago) as an extra ($2) completed the bowl. The broth was deeply porky with a hint of sweetness from the reddish miso being stirred in. This was a seriously satisfying bowl, though I'd have liked the ramen noodles a bit thicker, a bit springier. Can we have an Ippudo in London please?



New York is famous for their bagels and one morning - fine, fine, afternoon - we headed up to David's Bagels. As we joined the queue we were greeted with a stunning array of bagel types so it only made sense to go for the Everything bagel. Studded with poppy seeds, sesame, onion flavourings and the like, it was served warm filled with lox and cream cheese ($8.50). It was stunning, really, like no other bagel I've had. Soft but not pappy, it held the filling well and was a far cry from those hard dry things we get in London. Pastrami and pickle-filled bagel ($6) was equally good. I suspect it's not even the best ever, but then I don't know much about them; we were nearby, hungry and it made me happy.

273 First Avenue (1st Ave. between E 15th St. & E 16th St.)

Since my first visit when I went to Torrisi Italian Specialities, things have changed and they have opened Parm, a more casual sandwich shop next door, devoting the main place to a more restaurant-like environment. I propped myself up at the bar and had an eggplant parm, served in a sweet semolina roll. I was still reeling from my ramen brunch, otherwise I'd have gone fully for the hero, a far larger affair. With slices of soft, juicy aubergine coated in gooey cheese, tomatoey sauce and sandwiched with basil leaves, the roll was perhaps a little oversweet to my liking but otherwise it was excellent, particularly for an aubergine obsessive. The Boy, a New York resident, has been addicted to the meatball parm for many weeks now and expressed disbelief at my choice. I am beginning to wonder about it myself. At $8 its not a cheap every day lunch but it makes a happy lunch.



So there ends the cheap eats. Are you still with me?

Cranberry Swirl Breakfast Cake

If you are like me you always get in more than you need for Christmas food. I can never calculate it just right. I always end up with far more veg than I really need, lots of leftover turkey, stuffing and ham . . . and more mincemeat and cranberry sauce than I could ever realistically use.



I suppose that it is my "better to have too much, than not to have enough" mentality that does it. I'm sure I am not alone in that way of thinking.



It does give me a great excuse and reason to come up with ways to use the leftovers after the holidays though, which is something I really enjoy!



I do so love to invent new ways to use ordinary ingredients in extraordinary ways. It's like a game to me . . . some people enjoy doing Sudoko . . . I enjoy creating new recipes.



Like this delicious cranberry swirled breakfast cake, which I threw together to help use up some of the leftover cranberry sauce . . .



Dense and rich, with a delightful swirl of cranberry running through the middle, and a layer of crunchy toasted walnuts on the bottom. Top that with a delicious almond sugar glaze and you have something that is quite, quite scrummy . . . if I don't say so myself!



You could also use mincemeat as the swirl layer if you wanted to, or even your favourite type of fruity jam . . . which would be equally as delicious . . . but today I used cranberry sauce, and it was quite simply . . . wonderful!



*Cranberry Swirl Breakfast Cake*makes 1 9-inch cake
Printable Recipe

This is a beautiful cake to make for a special breakfast or brunch. Dense and rich with a ribbon of cranberry throughout, drizzled with an almond glaze. Delicious!

5 ounces of butter, softened (1/2 cup)
7 ounces white sugar (1 cup)
2 large free range eggs
1 tsp baking powder
8 ounces of plain flour (2 cups)
1/2 tsp salt
250ml of sour cream (1 cup)
1 tsp almond extract
8 ounces of whole berry cranberry sauce (1 cup)
2 ounces chopped toasted walnuts (1/3 cup)

For the Glaze:
4.5 ounces icing sugar (1 cup)
3 TBS milk
1/2 tsp almond extract

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter and flour a 9-inch tube pan, tapping out any excess flour. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir together the milk and almond extract. Stir in the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk mixture, mixing only just to combine.

Spoon 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Top with 1/2 of the cranberry sauce, taking care not to let it touch the sides of the pan. Swirl it into the batter using a round bladed knife. Top with a further 1/3 of the batter. Repeat layering in the remainder of the cranberry sauce, again swirling it in with a round bladed knife. Top with the remainder of the batter, Smoothing it over all. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over all.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until firm to the touch and the top springs back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 to 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over the warm cake and serve warm.



Over in The Cottage today I'm cooking a Festive Spiced Ham!

Holiday Danish

I confess, it's the weekend and I've been playing with Mincemeat again . . . an activity that I freely indulge myself in at this particular time of year!



I was surfing the web yesterday and I came across a recipe here for Easy Blackberry Cheese Danish. It looked really delicious and I printed it out.



Then I got to thinking . . . and we all know what happens then.



As scrummy as the idea of blackberries sounded . . . mincemeat sounded even better to me, and even more seasonal!



I mean . . . this is the festive time of year is it not??? The store shelves are stocked with a bazillion jars of mincemeat, in all sorts of scrummy flavours, just waiting for us to partake, right???



And so I did what any mincemeat obsessed person would do . . . I created a Holiday Danish that would be perfect for any holiday breakfast or brunch.



Flakey croissant dough . . . rich and creamy cheese filling . . . spicy and sweet mincemeat . . . baked until golden brown and then drizzled with a creamy sweet icing drizzle.



Oh my . . . wicked but OH SO GOOD!!!
Nom! Nom! I rest my case.



*Holiday Danish*
Serves 8Printable Recipe

Another cheat recipe which used refrigerator croissant dough. Flakey and delicious with a filling of mincemeat and cream cheese!

1 (250g) tube of Jus-Rol Croissant dough (in North America use Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough)
250g of full fat cream cheese (8 ounces)
3.5 ounces caster sugar (1/2 cup)
3 TBS sifted plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 of a (411g) jar of prepared mincemeat (1 cup)
demerara sugar (turbinado)

To ice:
2 ounces sifted icing sugar (1/2 cup)
2 TBS heavy cream
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Lightly butter. Set aside for now.

Whisk together the cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla in a small bowl. Set aside.

Pop open your croissant dough. Unroll, leaving the croissants in rectangles and separating the dough into 3 rectangles. Lay the rectangles out onto the prepared baking sheet as a larger rectangle, long sides touching each other. It should almost cover the baking sheet. Press all the perforations and edges together, sealing all holes. Cut 1/2 inch diagonal strips up each long side of the dough. Spoon the cream cheese filling down the centre of the dough, spreading it out to about 3 inches in width. Top with the minemeat, spreading it carefully over top. Fold the 1/2 inch wide strips over top of the filling, alternating from side to side so that you have somewhat of a braided pattern. Tuck in edges as best as you can. Sprinkle with some demerara sugar.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the filling is set and the croissant dough is golden brown in colour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the baking sheet and proceeding.

Once cooled, remove to a serving platter. Whisk together the icing ingredients and drizzle over the danish. Cut into slices to serve.

Note - over here in the UK, you can get the Jus-Rol croissant dough at ASDA. Stock up! It comes in ever so handy!



Over in The Cottage today there's a bone warming Corn Chowder brewing.

Let the Mincemeat Fest Begin . . . Mincemeat Rolls

Do you know what time of year it is? The Holidays are almost upon us. The shop shelves are filled with mincemeat pies, stollen, and Christmas Cakes. Holiday chocolate selection boxes and every ingredient you could possibly use to make your own from scratch holiday goodies.



I love mincemeat and every year I try to come up with new ways to use it in my Holiday Baking. I have a great recipe for making your own, which you can find here. It's nice to have lots of it ready to use in a variety of ways!

In the past I have come up with:



Christmas Morning Dougnut Muffins



Fruity Chocolate Fondant Puds




Baked Holiday Custards



Open Mince Pies



Traditional Mince Pies



Holiday Split Seconds



Mincemeat and Marzipan Teabread



Mincemeat and Apple Jalousie



Spicy Cranberry, Almond and Mincemeat Eve's Pudding

This year is no different. The Mincemeat fest has already begun. Today I baked some lovely Mincemeat Rolls.

They were quick and easy and quite, quite delicious.



Each mouthful was fruity and buttery and spicey scrummy.



All you need is a jar of mincemeat (or your own homemade stuff) and a tin of refrigerated Croissant Rolls. (Crescent Rolls)



You can have a deliciously different and welcome Holiday Breakfast or Brunch bread sitting on the table for your family in less than 20 minutes, counting the time it takes to open the tin and roll them up.



It seriously is very easy and they are seriously quite lovely. Well, so long as you like mincemeat that is . . . and as you can clearly tell . . . WE DO!!

Oh sure . . . you could make your own Crescent Rolls from scratch . . . but this is about INSTANT Gratification baby, or darned close to it!



*Mincemeat Rolls*
Makes 6
Printable Recipe

Fluffy buttery cresent rolls filled with tasty mincemeat, baked and then dusted with icing sugar and served warm. A delicious holiday breakfast addition!

1 (250g) tin of refrigerated croissant rolls (Jus-Roll. They come in a tin you crack open and unroll, separate, and then roll
up into croissants. There are six in the tin. You will find them in the chiller cabinet at the store. In North America you could
use Pillsbury Cresent Rolls)
6 heaped dessertspoons of jarred or homemade fruited mincemeat
Icing sugar to dust



Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.

Crack open the tin of rolls and separate them into 6 triangles. Spread each triangle with a heaped dessertspoon of mincmeat, leaving the edges free. Roll up from the wide edge to the point. Place onto the baking sheet and curve gently to form a crescent.

Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool somewhat before dusting with icing sugar and serving. (Be careful as the sweet filling will be very hot when fresh out of the oven. I let mine cool to lukewarm before serving and eating.)



Cooking in The Cottage today, a delicious Steak with a Mushroom and Stilton Sauce.