Big Brunch Tomato Eggs

Confession time. Everyday for the past 4 days, since turning a year older, i have been eating chocolate for breakfast. Slowly and happily, i have been working my way through the bounty of delicious confectionary given to me by thoughtful friends and family. A slab of chocolate in one hand, a cookery book in the other, i have been immersed in food heaven. I'm choosing not to mention about the week of birthday celebrations involving copious amounts of food and cake.

 

The downside to all this indulgence is that i have stopped exercising and have not so much as glanced at the bowl of fruit sitting in the kitchen.

Time to reign it in. Instead of a slab of chocolate, i kick started the day with a less sugar loaded meal, a plate of these Big Brunch Tomato Eggs and a pomegrante and ginger beer drink. 

Whilst i have thoroughly enjoyed all the chocolate and good food, my body was very grateful to receive a hefty dose of vitamins and minerals this morning.

Recipe - Big Brunch Tomato Eggs by Donal Skehan http://www.donalskehan.com/2010/05/big-brunch-tomato-eggs/

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

A good handful of spinach, roughly chopped

A small handful of basil, roughly chopped

4 large free range eggs

A little grated Parmesan cheese to serve

A generous pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Method

In a large frying pan heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic slowly for 7-10 minutes until soft but not coloured.

Add the chopped tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Stir through the basil and spinach until it has wilted.

With the back of a spoon make four wells in the sauce and then crack the eggs in. Make sure the wells are deep enough for the eggs to sit in, otherwise they will spread around the tomato mixture.

Cook the eggs in the sauce until the white is cooked through and the yolk is still soft. Place a lid on top to speed up the process.

Season with sea salt and black pepper and a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

In the spirit of healthy eating, i ate these without anything to accompany them. However, these would be great with some potato waffles or toast.

Enjoy!

Weekend breakfast ritual

One of the things i look forward to on the weekends, besides having a lie in, is eating eggs on toast for breakfast. I invariably go for scrambled eggs on toast for easiness but also love eggs fried or poached. This weekend i thought i'd go 'Hole in the Bread Eggs' style, seen on Donal Skehans' blog at: http://www.donalskehan.com/2011/05/hole-in-the-bread-eggs-with-sweet-chilli-sauce/.

My work colleague Cara kindly gave me some eggs from her 3 chickens, Eggwina, Camilla and Henrietta who are fed on organic chicken feed and blueberries. Their eggs have a lovely flavour and vividly bright yellow yolks.

Besides being a fun way to serve eggs, this seems to be a less messy way of making them. They are a cross between fried and poached eggs, though avoid these if you dont like or are unable to eat your eggs runny.

When it comes to the eggs on toast breakfast ritual, I always have to have some green tea to go with it and all consumed whilst still in my PJs.

Do you have a favourite breakfast ritual?