Tuesday 16 September 2008

Sunday Brunch




Weekdays for breakfast are a steady affair of toast and jam or a bagel (cinnamon and raisin) dunked in wholegrain strawberry yogurt.


Anyone spot the Dr on the TV

Weekends are a bit more luxurious, usually croissants, butter and jam, after a few weeks I need to have some US style pancakes and maple syrup, occasionally with streaky bacon and sometime with blueberries. That brings back memories of when I went to NY in '99, one of the things I really wanted to do was order a stack of blueberry pancakes and syrup in a traditional diner. We were staying in New Jersey and I can remember walking a few miles thought some back streets before I stumbled across a diner. With it been America it really was a stack and the chef wouldn’t serve it without butter. I think my fondness for pancakes goes back even further some 20 years when some family friends came over from Canada and brought back some pancake mix and maple syrup.

If I ever feel like I have had too many croissants and pancakes in a row I like to bring out my waffle machine (DeLonghi WR30). I don’t think you can beat the combination of waffles with crunchy streaky bacon covered in maple syrup with some quality coffee. This combo is probably more famous on pancakes. I have in the past opted for the healthy waffle option of Greek yogurt with mango and pineapple. I am sure it works just as good with assorted berries. On a weekend I normally opt for coffee via my Bialetti stovetop espresso coffee maker, however this weekend for a change I opted shockingly for some instant espresso. As a big fan of fairtrade coffee and specifically the Percol brand. I noticed the other week in Waitrose that they had started doing an instant espresso powder. I normally opt for milk in my coffee but I thought I would give this a whirl, for when I needed a quick hit of caffeine. It is very good stuff, it’s a got a hazelnut aroma and taste that makes its very drinkable.

The waffle recipe I used was by Ed Baines on the UKTVfood website
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/517482

On Wikipedia it states proper Belgian Waffles are super light because they use yeast in the batter instead of baking powder. Next time I will have to try it with yeast. Apparently the traditional topping is icing sugar, whipped cream and chocolate spread. If that is the traditional topping, then for sake of this blog I will have to try that as well and report back to you my findings.

3 comments:

DJ said...

Big D,

Bacon with maple syrup is just wrong. You are getting too Americanised and it's starting to worry me.

You can't beat a good full English

droach75 said...

Its the perfect marriage,,,Sweet and salty,,sounds bizarre but it works. It has to be crisp streaky bacon as well. I was a bit scpetical the first time I tried it. Call it unpatriotic, but I Loooove maple syrup

Don't get me wrong, there is a place for a Full English, like after a big night on the ale. Its the perfect cure for any hangovers.

Do ever have a Full english at home or only when your are out?

bosco said...

jeez Daz! your heart must be off like the clappers.
stick a cous cous recipe in their just to make me feel better will you.
ta.