My perfect brunch

This is my perfect lazy Saturday (or Sunday!) brunch. 

Lightly toasted bread smeared with butter.  Crisp salty bacon.  Sweet cherry tomatoes.  Deep earthy mushrooms.  And golden yolked eggs.  Oh, and a big mug of hot chocolate.

How to create my perfect brunch

For me, creating the perfect brunch is about excellent ingredients and careful planning of how and when you cook each item.

Firstly, turn you oven onto a low heat and pop in two plates to warm.

In one, large cast iron frying pan I start off the bacon first.  Meanwhile, I chopped my mushrooms and cut the cherry tomatoes in half. 

Once the bacon starts to crisp, I add the mushrooms and let them start to cook.  When the bacon is to cooked to your taste, remove and place in the oven.

Move the mushrooms to one side of the pan, drizzle a little olive oil onto the other side of the pan and add the cherry tomatoes – they should sizzle and spit.  Season both the mushrooms and cherry tomatoes with salt and pepper.

Heat another smaller frying pan and add some oil – this will be your egg pan.  As you crack in your eggs and start to fry them, instruct your boyfriend to pop some bread into the toast.

Just before your eggs are ready, remove the warmed plates and bacon from the oven.  Butter your toast, divide the bacon between your plates, slide the fried eggs onto the toast, and spoon over some mushrooms and tomatoes.

Eat!

My ingredients:

• Polish Black Bread from Barbakan Deli in Manchester
• Back Bacon from Sue at Little Heath Farm
• Organic Eggs from Abbey Leys Farm
• Goats Butter
• Vine Cherry Tomatoes
• Chestnut Mushrooms

Trevor and “his girls”

I couldn’t resist posting this picture I took today of Trevor and “his girls” – one of which will be our girl for Christmas.  He’s very handsome and keen to keep a watchful eye over his girls, who were all making a peculiar peeping sound today – I guess it must be the sound girl turkeys make.

Trevor and

As I left with a bag of braising steak (tomorrow evening I am attempting a beef stew and dumplings for friends who are coming over for dinner) and a savoy cabbage I spotted this lovely kitty enjoying a snooze in the sun snuggled into the straw bales – a perfect cat flat.

snoozing kitty

Little Heath Farm :: part 2 ::

Yesterday we took a trip to Little Heath Farm in search of a delicious cut of pork for our lunch today.  We don’t normally do the whole Sunday Lunch thing, but every so often it seems like a nice thing to do.  Today is one of those days, and we are working on the crackling as I write this post!

We’d bought our pork, some of their own grown potatoes (gently roasting in goose fat), and a couple of apples from a local orchard, and were on our way back to the car when two small piggy faces appeared from behind the barn.  On further investigation, we discovered two young pigs rooting around on a patch of scrubby grass, clearly on the wrong side of their fence. 

Sue came out of the farm house with a big smile and a wave, and we pointed out the escapees.  Sue and her husband have managed to keep them in their field for the past four days without them finding a hole in the hedge, which is a record.  Recently they were found on their way down the lane towards the local pub and beyond the road – eek!  Sue has grave concerns for the local golf course should the pigs venture further…

As we left, having ordered our Christmas turkey – Trevor (the big daddy turkey) and “his girls” are housed in a barn looking towards the farm shop – Sue was seen disappearing behind the barn with a stick in hand.  We have bought all our pork and beef from Little Heath Farm for over a year now, and have never before seen the pigs that their raise and who end up in our sausages.  It was a truly special occasion to see the happy pigs that Sue and her family breed, care for, and eventually slaughter.

Little Heath Farm Shop :: Dunham Massey ::