Sunshine brunch

With his sunny, relaxed approach to cooking, Australian restaurateur and food writer Bill Granger is famed for the legendary breakfasts he served at his first restaurant, bills, in Sydney. Here, he shares some of his favourite dishes that are sure to start your day with the glow it needs during our coldest months

Baked green eggs with roast tomato and chilli salsa

Baked eggs are the organised entertainer’s dream. (I always think I’m going to be ‘the organised entertainer’ but I can never quite be that person. If there’s ever a chance that I’m being organised, I get overenthusiastic and add something else into the equation, causing chaos.) What you need here is an oven tray with lots of little baking dishes. You can even fill the dishes and keep them in the fridge overnight, ready to bake the next day.

SERVES 4

PREPARATION TIME 25 minutes COOKING TIME about 50 minutes

500g Swiss chard

4tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2tsp cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground, or ground cardamom

2tsp ground coriander

2tsp each of cumin and fennel seeds 200ml double cream

Juice ½ lemon

8 eggs

4 heaped tbsp soured cream Sweet smoked paprika, to sprinkle Sourdough toast, to serve

FOR THE ROAST TOMATO

AND CHILLI SALSA

2 large Roma (plum) tomatoes 1 large red chilli

2tbsp olive oil

1tsp sweet smoked paprika

1 To make the salsa, using tongs, hold the tomatoes and chilli directly over a gas flame, or cook over a hot barbecue or under a hot grill, for 5-10min, turning frequently until blackened. Remove from the heat and put in an airtight container. Leave for 5min, then peel away the charred skins and any stalks.

2 Halve the tomatoes, discard the seeds and chop the flesh. Finely chop the chilli and add to the tomato with the oil and sweet smoked paprika. Set aside until ready to serve.

3 Shred the chard leaves and set aside; finely slice the stalks.

4 Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, add the chard stalks, garlic and spices and cook for 10min, stirring frequently, until the stalks are tender. Add the shredded leaves to the pan with 2-3tbsp water and cook for 5-8min, until the leaves are wilted and soft. Increase the heat, pour in the cream and lemon juice and simmer for 3min to reduce the cream. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

5 Preheat the oven to 200˚C (180°C fan) mark 6. Spoon the chard mixture into

4 x 250-300ml ovenproof dishes. Make 2 holes in the mixture of each dish and crack an egg into each hole. Cover with foil and bake for 12-15min, or until the whites are set and the yolks runny.

6 Add a spoonful of soured cream and roast tomato and chilli salsa to each dish. Sprinkle with smoked paprika and serve with sourdough toast.