Carina Contini serves breakfast while Rose Murray Brown tastes dry German riesling
Lazy Sundays with a hearty breakfast roasted in the oven are a lovely way to recover from the week
Do we want the clocks to go back or do we want time to go faster forward so we can get through this purgatory as quickly as possible?
It feels like we’re wishing our lives away. While we should be making the most of every moment we get, that extra hour in bed is always a treat. Especially for the children with long autumn days at school. Dark when we wake and dark when we return home. The clocks going back is a bonus. It calls for Sunday brunch instead of breakfast and lunch tomorrow. As a hospitality family we do love a long lie, especially on a Sunday.
I used to feel guilty not getting up but now that we’re working even more nights the need for sleep has never felt more necessary. Maybe it’s age, I don’t know. Don’t tell my mother but sometimes Victor and I get up after my 18- year- old who’s in halls at university. I think it may have even got us some brownie points from my boy.
When Victor and I were first married, pre children, we used to have fry up Sundays.
It’s a great skill, I’m saying so modestly, to cook a good breakfast. Getting the timing right for all the different elements can result in a sacrificial offering if you don’t pay attention.
For me, the easiest way to start is ditching the frying pans and start using the oven.
A fry- up doesn’t have to be a greasy spoon, actually it’s even better if it’s roasted. Two large baking sheets covered with parchment will also save on the scrubbing up and the washing the cooker down afterwards. The sausages usually take the longest so they may be best on a tray on their own and in the oven 5 or 10 minutes earlier.
Then the black pudding, haggis, tomato, bacon and square sausage ( yes it’s essential) all on the other tray and in the oven. I roast in a hot oven, around 200C for about 15- 20 minutes, depending on the shape and size of the ingredients.
Carla, my number one daughter, won’t eat a fry up without a tin of beans. I like it plain. I don’t even like sauce. No ketchup or HP.
Au natural for me is the way to go. The fried eggs sunny side up is all the juicy sauce from the soft runny egg that I need.
For the eggs yes, poached are delicious, but that can be another challenge so frying the eggs slowly in extra virgin olive oil finishes the dish and gives the plate its name.
Here’s to fry- ups and lazy Sundays; we’ll all may need them to recover from what’s ahead.
Hash browns
The Scots among us will love a potato scone with their fry- up, but for a little indulgence, our American cousins’ hash browns ( with a little HP sauce on the side) are a treat and a half. Serves 4
400- 500g of floury mashing potatoes
1 onion
1 egg seasoning olive oil to fry
Coarsely grate the potatoes and the onions and leave in a colander in the sink for about 5 minutes covered with some kitchen towel.
Squeeze any remaining water and transfer to a bowl and add the egg and season with salt and pepper.
Heat a frying pan with a little oil and add a spoonful of the mixture at a time.
Fry until golden and turn over. Cook for a further 3 or 4 minutes until golden. Transfer to a ceramic dish a leave in a moderate oven at 160C- 180C until the rest of your fry up is ready.
Homemade baked beans
This is a cheat’s recipe. We use dried haricot beans that we soak overnight at The Scottish Cafe for our all- day brunch that we serve every day ( not just Sundays) but the flavours in the sauce are the same.
Serves 4
1 tin Cannellini beans, rinsed 300ml passata
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp extra- virgin olive oil 2 tsp smoked paprika Worcester sauce to taste
Heat the garlic in the oil until soft, don’t let it burn.
Add the passata and simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
Add the beans and paprika. Rinse the beans tin out with a little water and add that too.
Simmer for about 20 minutes until the tomato is cooked and the beans are lovely and soft.
Finish with a splash of Worcester sauce to taste.
Apple, cinnamon and pecan muffins
Brunch isn’t brunch with a basket of hot toast with lashings of butter and a few sweet offerings like muffins are always a winner.
Makes 12
150g plain flour
1 flat tsp baking powder generous pinch of salt
1 free range egg ( beaten yolk and white)
40g caster sugar
110ml full fat milk
50g melted butter
100g apples, skin removed, cored and grated
1 tsp ground cinnamon
25g toasted pecans, roughly chopped Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate pan.
Add the apples and pecans to the wet ingredients and then very quickly fold in the dry ingredients. Mix very lightly. It should look lumpy.
Pour into 12 small muffin cases and bake Gas Mark 6/ 200C for 25 minutes until well risen and golden.