The beauty of brunch

How good are weekend breakfasts? After a long lie in on a Saturday there is nothing better than a slap up meal with eggs, fancy bread, coffee.. mmm....

Today's breakfast was amazing.  I went over to a friends house for brunch today and was presented with a buffet of salad, eggs, cheese, ham, croissants, tea, coffee, followed by a decadent white chocolate and raspberry cake with cream.  Eating cake for breakfast may seem extremely bold but hey it was after 12 pm, so i guess it was technically afternoon tea!  If i had the recipe for the cake at my fingertips i would give it to you but, alas,  i don't.  Sorry. Trust me it was georgeous :)

I usually make eggs and toast for my own weekend brunch.  Eggs are amazing: cheap, yummy and you can do so much with them: boiled, fried, poached, scrambled, baked.... the list is endless.  Recently a friend taught me how to poach eggs and i swear it has changed my life!  A few weeks ago i went on a poaching bender, i think i must have poached upwards of 6 eggs in one week.  I just couldn't stop.  Its slightly addictive.  Looking at the white swirl around the yolk in the saucepan is mesmerising.

How to Poach an Egg
1. To a saucepan of water add some salt and vinegar.
2. Bring the water to the boil
3. Crack 1 or 2 eggs into the water
4. Immediately bring the water down to a gentle simmer.
5.the white of the egg will swirl around the yolk
6. Allow the eggs to cook for 5 or 6 minutes.

Sometimes i use the poached eggs to make a cheats version of eggs benedict.  Instead of english muffins, i use mccambridges brown bread and instead of hollandaise sauce i use creme fresh seasoned with salt, pepper and chives.

Ger's Eggs Benedict

Ingredients

2 slices of brown soda bread
2 poached eggs
2 rashers or slices of smoked salmon
2 tbsp of creme fresh
seasoning and chives

Method
1. butter the brown bread
2. season the creme fresh with chives and a little salt and pepper
3. fry or grill the rashers if you are using them.
4. layer rashers, poached egg and creme fresh on the brown bread

Serve with very strong tea.