Onion and cheese tarts with walnuts

Ingredients:

8 shallots

pinch of sugar

knob of butter

puff pastry

blue cheese (we used roquefort)

walnuts

salad

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees
• Peel and halve the shallots and cook in butter for around 10 minutes until soft, adding the sugar after about 5 minutes
• Line the individual dips of a muffin/yorkshire pudding tray with baking paper. Cut it into circles beforehand so that each circle is around twice the size of each circle of the tin
• Spoon the onion mixture onto each circle of baking paper, pressing down so that it fills the dip
• Cut the puff pastry into circles a little wider than the tray circles
• Carefully place the pastry over each mound of onion mixture, tucking the edges in so that none of the onion mixture is visible. Make sure that the pastry is tucked inside the baking paper layer
• Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes until the pastry is risen slightly and crisp
• Very carefully invert the tarts onto warm plates. Top with slivers of blue cheese and scatter with walnuts
• Serve with a green salad dressed with balsamic vinegar

Cheese and onion bread pudding

This is a savoury version of bread and butter pudding. We’ve seen it done in various ways but didn’t follow a recipe and just made up the quantities as we went along, according to what we thought it needed.

You could use whatever cheese you have to hand. It would also be very nice with some chopped ham or mushrooms added between the layers of bread.

Ingredients:
6-8 small slices of bread (we used tiger bread)
2 large eggs
Milk (approx 50ml)
1 tbl sp crème fraiche (optional)
Parmesan, gruyere and cheddar, grated (a handful of each)
5-6 spring onions, sliced
A handful of chopped spinach
Pepper
Butter

• Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees.
• Butter the oven dish you are using to bake it in.
• Beat the eggs with the milk and the creme fraiche (if using). Season with black pepper and add about 1/3 of the cheese. Stir well.
• Layer half of the slices of bread on the bottom of the baking dish so that each slice slightly overlaps the next one.
• Scatter the chopped spring onions and spinach on top of the layer of bread, followed by about 1/3 of the grated cheese.
• Layer the remaining slices of bread on top, again ensuring that they overlap slightly.
• Pour over the beaten egg/milk/cheese mixture, making sure that you evenly distribute it across the slices of bread.
• Scatter the remaining cheese on top before baking it in the oven for approx 30 minutes.
• We served it with a plain green salad.

Hangover breakfast

Quite disgusting to look at but a perfect all in one breakfast if you're feling a little delicate.

Ingredients (serves 2):

3 eggs

1 small white onion, sliced

1 medium sized cooked potato, cut into slices (prick it with a fork and blast in the microwave for 5 minutes or so first if you don't have any cooked potato leftovers)

4 rashers of streaky bacon

a handful of grated cheddar (or sliced if you can't be bothered to grate)

black pepper

butter or olive oil

tomato ketchup (optional)

pot of tea (necessary)

• Butter or oil a non stick pan before placing it on the heat. Once hot, place the onion and potato slices in one layer to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook for approximately 3 minutes and then turn over for another 3 minutes
• Meanwhile, beat the eggs and season with black pepper
• Pour the eggs on top of the potato and onion mixture and swirl the pan slightly to ensure the egg mixture covers the bottom of the pan
• Pre heat the grill to a medium heat
• After a couple of minutes sprinkle the grated cheese on top and then place the bacon rashers on top of the cheese (you can pre grill the bacon rashers for a couple of minutes first if you like them crispy)
• Place the pan under the grill until the bacon is cooked and the egg mixture is set
• Slide it on to a plate and add a good dollop of ketchup on the side

In our house a pot of tea would be necessary to gulp alongside it.