Recipes for devilled mushrooms and baked eggs on toast

At home, our usual breakfast, with a litre of strong coffee, is toast with avec (sic, and with homage to the late Terry Pratchett).

I would recite so many avecs that the coffee would get cold. Avec soft cheese and home-made marmalade; avec pbj (Tom, not me, although I have been known to spread peanut butter on toast and top it with ripe banana); avec Gjetost, the Norwegian cheese which melts caramelly on to hot toast; avec sobrasada.

Eggs can be fried, poached, scrambled or baked (Image: Frances Bissell)

Ah! Sobrasada! This Mallorquin delicacy, finely shredded seasoned pork infused with pimentón has taken years to reach the High Street, although it has long been available from Spanish food specialists, such as Brindisa and Basco.

I assume it has not yet had a starring role on telly, unlike 'nduja. Much nicer than 'nduja, I always look out for sobrasada in the Lidl Iberian promotion. The Superette in Swain's Lane has the excellent Senorio de Montanera brand and M & S stock Noel.

The classic English toast topping is marmelade (Image: Frances Bissell)

Somerset Maugham said that anyone who came to this country from abroad and who wanted three first-class meals a day should order three breakfasts. When I first came across this quotation many years ago, I surmised that the French and Italians, for example, do not indulge in a British-style breakfast because they are supremely confident that they will get a good lunch.

Miss Piggy's Guide to Life (1981) makes exactly this point: "Continental breakfasts are very sparse, usually just a pot of coffee or tea and a teensy roll...My advice is to go right to lunch without stopping".

Not everyone is partial to breakfast and may feel as Bertie Wooster does; "I don't as a general thing become what you might call breakfast-conscious till I've had my morning tea and rather thought things over a bit" (Thank You, Jeeves, 1934).

Frances bakes her eggs with tomatoes, herbs and cream spooned on top (Image: Creative Commons)

My husband, Tom’s, view is not very different. His adventurous taste in food does not, on the whole, extend to the breakfast table when we travel. A cup of hot, strong coffee, and then another one, accompanied by toast, or warm pastry, is all he requires.

"No, I do not want to try a Turkish breakfast", he said, when we were in Istanbul. I enjoyed the salty, white cheese, olives, peppers, tomatoes and radishes as he ate his croissant dipped in coffee.

Papaya sprinkled with calamansi juice was my regular breakfast when I was guest cook in the Philippines. In Bangkok, before I went down to the kitchen, I would choose a mixed platter of fruit, followed by a bowl of congee, enlivened with chillies, as I also like hot, spicy food for breakfast.

When I cooked in Sri Lanka, I would order hoppas and white potato curry, a piece of pineapple and a glass of mango juice for breakfast. At this point, Tom and I almost had to breakfast in separate rooms, or at least eat behind the newspaper.

Jam on toast perhaps with peanut butter American style (Image: Creative Commons)

At home during August, I'll reach for the frying pan and extend the repertoire beyond toast with avec. A single egg omelette, placed on a warm tortilla, first spread with cream cheese, scattered with chopped chives or spring onions, sprinkled with chilli sauce and then rolled up is the breakfast I devised when we were travelling in California.

Perfect for the road, but equally good in the back garden. Using the same ingredients, migas is fried tortilla strips and scrambled eggs; delicious at any time of day, perfect, for example, for a casual supper or lunch. As is the recipe for mushrooms on toast. For this, use whichever fresh mushrooms you can find; a mixture is especially tasty, as well as looking good. Oyster mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms work well, and if you can find chanterelles, you will have a feast.

With the frying pan still on duty, you might consider thick slices of tomatoes, dipped in cornmeal and fried in olive oil, eaten on their own or with grilled ciabatta.

Or eggs on top of some chopped, seasoned tomatoes and gently baked; an omelette filled with tomatoes or scrambled eggs and chopped tomatoes. My favourite 'scramble' is  the Spanish 'revuelta', eggs beaten with a spoonful or two of extra virgin olive oil, slowly stirred and cooked to a rich creaminess, before being piled on to toast avec sobrasada.

With all these Iberian flavours,  fresh crisp fino or a well-chilled cava would be the perfect accompaniments, should these breakfast dishes linger on into brunch or lunch.

Chanterelle mushrooms (Image: Frances Bissell)

Devilled mushrooms (serves 4 to 6)

750 g mushrooms, sliced

50 g butter

salt

pepper

1 scant teaspoon smoked pimentón

Splash of fino or dry oloroso sherry

Method:

Heat the butter in a large frying pan. Add the mushrooms and seasoning. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, adding the sherry after a couple of minutes. When cooked, spoon the mushrooms onto well buttered toast.

Eggs can be baked with a range of ingredients (Image: Creative Commons)

Baked eggs (serves 2)

Small nut of butter or extra virgin olive oil

2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped. Peeled too, if you can be bothered

Half a dozen basil or tarragon leaves, chopped

Salt

Pepper

2 large eggs

2 or 3 teaspoons of cream per ramekin or extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Lightly grease two ovenproof ramekins and in them put the tomatoes. Add the herbs and seasoning and on top, crack the egg. Spoon the cream or oil over it. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 C, gas mark 4 until the egg white is just set, about 7 or 8 minutes.                

If you do not want to use the oven, place the ramekins on a rack in a pan with an inch or so of water, cover with a lid and steam. You will need to blot off excess water from condensation before serving them.

© Frances Bissell 2024. All rights reserved.