One of my favourite takeaways from Gosford Park (which, if you haven't seen it, is just about the best autumn/winter transitional whodunit ever), is when American movie producer, ruffler of feathers and vegetarian Morris Weissman is told that an Englishman is never waited on at breakfast. Ignoring the fact that at chez Gosford there's an entire sideboard groaning beneath a breakfast the servants and cooks have obviously made, reducing the need of conversation, manners and the wait for tea sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.
It's a social rule I've wholeheartedly embraced when rustling up food for the strays, late-stayers and probably default new housemates that always seem to emerge at breakfast: I'll cook what I want and you can pile it on your plate, or not. This stance also happens to come in pretty handy when preparing vegan food, as no-one realises until halfway through their strategic attack on your brunch buffet that it's all meat, dairy and egg free. Chin chin to that.
The three recipes here could easily work on their own, I just think any breakfast you're going to bother turning on the oven for should always veer into the OTT territory. Add sausages, avocados, grilled herby mushrooms, juice, tea, coffee and toast, and of course, don't forget the condiments.
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Homemade baked beans
Uneven, rich and filling, these beans get better by the day. By using passata for the tomato sauce in these beans, you get the feel of food that's been simmering away for hours on a stove, without any 4am starts.
Makes four portions
*Ingredients *
1 white onion, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, chopped small
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
800g (2 tins) cannellini beans, drained
2 sprigs rosemary
300ml tomato passata
Sweat the onion and garlic in a pan with the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Leave them on a low heat for around five minutes, making sure none of the onion or garlic burns. Add in the two tins of beans, stir, and then the rosemary. Check the seasoning, and add in a little more oil if it needs to be richer, and allow to cook gently for another 10 minutes or so. Then add in the tomato passata and leave to simmer for another five minutes. The passata will give a far richer consistency than chopped tomatoes, but if you can't find it, then use tinned tomatoes instead and leave the beans for longer to reduce. **
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Bubble and squeak in the pan
Crushed new potatoes stop this bubble and squeak from tasting anything like the lurid green patties you find in your local greasy spoon, while the paprika adds a round of heat against the cabbage and greens.
Makes four portions
*Ingredients *
750g new potatoes, washed, but skins left on
1 white onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Handful of shredded leeks, cabbage, kale or any other substantial greens you can get your hands on
1tsp paprika
Get the potatoes on to boil, and then start sweating the onion and garlic in a small frying pan with plenty of vegetable oil. Keep the heat down low- these onions are going to get a lot of frying action over the next few minutes and won't tastes nearly as nice burnt. Add in the shredded greens, mixing them in with the onions and garlic, and sprinkle over the paprika. Continue to fry gently until you potatoes are ready for mashing.
Drain the potatoes, and crush them lightly with a potato masher- it doesn't have to be mash-consistency, and this tastes amazing with some of the potatoes left whole- they just need to be able to form a wedge in the pan. Ensure the greens and onions are spread evenly over the base of your frying pan, then begin to pack in the potatoes, tasting the mixture and adding more oil and salt and pepper as you go.
Turn up the heat a little and cook for another five minutes, until the edges of the bubble start to crisp and the oil fizzes beside the potato at the side of the pan. Now turn off the heat, grab a flat plate that's bigger than your frying pan, and place it over the pan. Flip the entire bubble and squeak onto the plate, then slide it back into your a pan. You might need a spatula to get all the sticky bits of onion and green off the bottom of the frying pan- but don't worry, it doesn't have to be neat, and in fact the squeak in the name is said to come from the little charred bits that make bubble taste so great. Heat for another three to five minutes so it's hot the whole way through, and serve straight from the pan.
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Spinach, spring onion and chilli tofu scramble with Sriracha sauce
It's easy to turn your nose up at tofu, and yes, it can be pretty tasteless on its own. The trick is to just add the flavours you want it to take on, and for breakfast, just treat it like a couple of eggs. With the help of plenty of spice and colours, and you can transform that carton of wobbly protein into something way more palatable.
One other thing- it wasn't until testing this recipe and making far too much that I discovered tofu scramble actually keeps really well in the fridge overnight. Unlike scrambled egg, this guy can totally handle a re-heat in the frying pan the following morning.
Makes four portions
*Ingredients *
Vegetable oil
1 white onion, chopped
2 spring onions, sliced down small
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 chilli, chopped with seeds left in (unless you really can't handle it)
1 tsp turmeric
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 tsp Sriracha sauce
Salt and pepper
300g silken firm tofu
Handful of coriander, chopped
Heat the oil in a frying pan with the onion for a few minutes, then add in the spring onions, chilli flakes, turmeric, spinach, Sriracha sauce and salt and pepper, and mix in so all the flavours can combine. Allow to sweat for a few minutes so the spinach reduces and you can smell all the spices.
Now add in the tofu and combine with the spices. It will break down so there's no need to over-mix it, but just fry for another few minutes until it's heated the whole way through. Finally, sprinkle over the coriander, season the tofu to taste, and serve straight away.
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
The Lunch You Can Make To Eat All Week When All Your Pots And Pans Are Dirty
**Follow Ava on Twitter **@Guacandroll@Guacandroll **or over on her blog **Guac And RollGuac And Roll
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.