FESTIVE BRUNCH

Dan Doherty’s late-morning dishes for the holidays

Brunch is a great dish to serve over the holidays as it combines two meals in one, so you get away with less cooking after all the time spent in the kitchen on the big day. Here, I’m giving you two different approaches to Christmas brunch – carry on the indulgence with a cheesy croque madame, or take a break from all the richness and traditional offerings with my spiced shakshuka flatbread.

Croque madame traybake

This is an indulgent way to use up any leftover Christmas ham and cheese.

SERVES 3 PREP 10 mins COOK 30 mins EASY

For the white sauce 300ml milk

1/2 onion, roughly chopped 2 cloves

1 bay leaf

20g butter

20g plain flour

1 tbsp English mustard For the sandwiches knob of soft butter 6 medium-sized slices bread, preferably sourdough

6 slices cooked smoked ham 6 slices gruyère or any other hard, melty cheese you have

3 eggs handful parmesan, finely grated 1 To make the sauce, heat the milk in a saucepan with the onion, cloves and bay leaf. When boiling, turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 30 mins, then strain.

2 Melt the butter in another pan and add the flour. Cook for 4-5 mins until sandy. Gradually whisk in the milk, then cook over a medium heat, stirring, until you have a thick sauce. Stir in the mustard and season. Set aside to cool. Can be made up to two days ahead.

3 Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Butter a baking tray large enough to fit 3 slices of bread, then butter and toast the bread, and make 3 sandwiches with 2 slices of ham and cheese in each. Spread the white sauce on top, and make a small well in the sauce on each sandwich. Crack the eggs into the wells, then scatter over the parmesan. Bake for 20 mins or until the whites are just set.

GOOD TO KNOW calcium

PER SERVING 871 kcals • fat 40g • saturates 22g • carbs 74g • sugars 10g • fibre 4g • protein 52g • salt 4.8g