eating!
PS Let me know how you’re enjoying these recipes by emailing [email protected]. If I’m busy, someone else will read your email, but rest assured that I’ll get to hear what you have to say. Have fun!
Chris Walford Pertwood Organic Cereals, Hindon, Wiltshire
‘Given my previous anxieties about food security and quality, and my love of real food, it is a privilege to be part of something which is rooted in traditional artisan skills and sustainable practices.’
Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.
Scientific studies have found that breakfast-eaters apparently have fewer accidents, achieve higher levels of success in work and better exam results, earn more money and generally enjoy better health than those who skip breakfast.
But day after day, week after week, even those who make sure they eat this wonder-meal rely on exactly the same food each morning. Too groggy to start getting fancy in the kitchen, we shovel the same tried and tested formula into our mouths and run out the door. No other meal gets this little attention. If you had the very same sandwich every day for lunch, you’d soon get bored. So why put up with the same old breakfast?
The key to sorting out this sorry state of affairs is planning. Don’t leave it to the morning rush to make decisions about what grub to munch. Make a decision the night before and get the things you need together. Better still, some breakfast recipes can to be cooked up in batches and frozen, so you only need to plan them now and then – so long as you remember to take them out the freezer the night before.
Start your day with a twist of lemon juice in a mug of warm water. You’re welcome to go for a cup of tea or coffee after that, but try the lemon water for a week and you’ll be hooked. The warm, diluted juice wakes up your kidneys and liver, ready to cleanse your blood for the rest of the day – which means better skin, better digestion and a clearer head. Just what the doctor ordered.
And get a bunch of proper measuring spoons. The spoons in your kitchen drawer are almost certainly different measures from the standard 5ml for a teaspoon or 15ml for a tablespoon used in recipes. If you want to get accurate results, measuring spoons are great and they’ll cost you less than a fiver.
with Creamy Blackberry and Barley Malt Sauce
Despite its name, buckwheat has nothing to do with wheat, but is a gluten-free grain that was originally from the icy wastelands of Siberia. Popular in Eastern Europe, the flour can be successfully used in cakes, puddings and pastries. It has a stronger, nuttier, earthier flavour than wheat, making it a lovely partner to this sweet malt syrup topping.
True blintzes are always made out of buckwheat flour, as they originally come from Russia. They’re thicker than Pancake Day pancakes and much smaller in diameter. They’re also chewier and tastier. A cross between pancakes and crumpets, blintzes are the dumplings of the pancake world.
Blackberries are delicious and powerfully good for you, as they’re full of vitamin C and antioxidants. They’ve also got lots of vitamin E in them, courtesy of the little blackberry seeds. Organic blackberries have the added benefit of not having been sprayed with pesticides – unlike non-organic soft fruit, which is usually covered in the stuff. And it’s generally agreed that organic summer berries like these taste a lot more intense, and are sweeter too, than their non-organic counterparts.
There are loads of wild blackberries in some areas of the UK, so if there seem to be tons in your area this autumn, just waiting to be picked, then get picking. Watch out for the prickles and make sure that you only pick those growing away from roads, so they’re not high in pollutants from car fumes. And don’t pick them in an area specifically high in special wild birds, as they’ll want to eat them, too. Soak the freshly picked blackberries in a deep bowl of salt water for an hour or so, by which time any grubs and bugs will have risen to the surface, then rinse the berries well in fresh water.
If blackberries are out of season when you make these blintzes, use a preserved summer fruit, like Biona’s blueberries in a jar.
They’re stored in syrup, so simply squash the entire contents of the jar into the yogurt, but skip the malt syrup and lemon so that the sauce isn’t too sweet.
This is a breakfast treat to give you zing all day long.
BUCKWHEAT BLINTZES
with Creamy Blackberry and Barley Malt Sauce
TO SERVE 5 PEOPLE WITH 2 PANCAKES EACH:
100g buckwheat flour
¼ of a nutmeg, grated
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
150ml semi-skimmed or soy milk
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
FOR THE SAUCE:
100g punnet of blackberries, squashed with a fork
250g goat’s yogurt
Juice of ½ a lemon
2 tablespoons barley malt syrup
Mix the flour, spices and baking powder in a big mixing bowl, then make a hollow in the middle. With a wooden spoon, mix in the egg and then the milk, slowly and a bit at a time, to make a thick batter.
Put the squashed berries in separate bowl and add the yogurt, lemon juice and malt syrup, mixing well to make a sauce. Leave it to one side so the juices can mingle.
Heat half the oil in a frying pan, then drop the batter in, one rounded tablespoon at a time for each blintz. Spread the blob out a bit with the back of the metal spoon so that each blintz is about 6–7cm wide. Add the rest of the oil after you’ve fried about half the blintzes. Fry for 1–2 minutes until brown, then turn each one over to cook the other side for a few more minutes.
Serve immediately, drizzled in the blackberry sauce.
PARSES PARSLEY POTATOES ‘N’ EGGS
Let’s widen the palette of flavours that your breakfast can include. Why not add some chilli and fragrant spices to kick-start your day this morning? In many countries all over the world, people get busy with strong flavours first thing. On a visit to New Mexico, I was regularly asked by waitresses in breakfast diners ‘do you want that with red, green or Christmas?’ – meaning, red chilli salsa, green chilli salsa, or both. Wakey, wakey!
The inspiration for this poached