Steamfried Egg with Samphire and Smoked Tofu + Your Breakfast Ideas

I hope that title hasn’t freaked you out too much. Please stay! I know what you may be thinking, “I recognise the egg bit but what the devil is the rest doing in a breakfast?”

For the most part we will be quite normal here, thanks to you all: muffins, smoothies, porridge, pikelets, that kind of thing. But just indulge me a little with my  eggy, samphirey, tofu-y fixation. I  might even convince you to venture to your fishmonger, or nearest beach, to get some samphire and try this. Yes, you deduced correctly: Samphire is a marine plant. A  pretty one that tastes like asparagus to boot (or Wellington). And for today only, samphire isn’t just for fish. It’s my brekkie. And hopefully yours – someday…

Spicy Kale and Egg Breakfast

To paraphrase a certain UK MasterChef presenter, ‘breakfast doesn’t get much healthier than this’ (one has to say this in a very earnest, growling South London accent, with a cheeky, gleaming smile). Or much odder. I mean, kale? With eggs?

Easy All-In-One Breakfast – Baked Egg and Mushroom

You’re the best book I ever read

You’re the smartest thing I ever said

You’re breakfast in bed

You’re the fastest race I ever led

You’re the finest bride I’ll ever wed

You’re the skin I never wanna shed

You’re breakfast in bed

Excerpted from “Breakfast in Bed” by Train

How can I follow that? Well, I won’t even try. Luscious song, hypnotic beat, gorgeous, talented band. They inspired this lazy, easy breakfast. To be served to someone you love. That includes you. For a real treat, click on the link and listen while you dine.

Edamame, Apricot and Mint Couscous

It’s 5 a.m. and I’m sitting at a computer,  bare footed with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice at my elbow. Mr A and I have annoyingly been up for quite a while, surfing futiley through a gazillion TV channels, knowing that come 3 p.m. all we – and Miss R- will want to do is flop under a ceiling fan and have a wee siesta. But we will be too busy alligator spotting at the local nature preserve or burning up the plastic in a meat locker-cold mall for such simple pleasures. Yup, we are not at home in Edinburgh, but in fact visiting my family in Florida. And, despite the decided lack of zzzs, it is worth all of the crummy jet lag in the world.

Crispy and Sticky Pepper Black Tofu

By now regular (and cherished) readers will have got the message that I am a) animal-mad, b) a bit of a nutrition geek, c) have a thing for tofu. I am also rather fond of big flavours – clashing, bold, in-your-face tastes and aromas. Maybe it’s because my eyesight is a bit poor, and my hearing isn’t too far behind, but I can’t be doing with too many bland or one-note foods.

Although I do graze from the fruit bowl and pick through the nut jar, I truly have a hard time sitting down and eating, say,  a banana – I want it sliced and sprinkled with cardamom. I must be a latent sensationalist, and instead of kite-surfing or gambling I find my thrills with food. But not in a quantitative, all-you-can-eat kind of way (well, not usually); for me it’s about the sensuous meeting of taste, smell, texture, sight and even touch. Think of how much nicer it is to eat corn from a cob, dripping with real butter, than to chase the kernels around your plate with a fork. Or appreciating the pop and sizzle of a stir-fry –  the hot smell of ginger and garlic taking over your kitchen, your house.  Many a fully-booked Malaysian and Korean restaurant says that I am not alone in my love of big flavours. I suspect that you have such leanings too. 

Very Veggie Black Bean Chilli with Southern Cornbread

Like a lot of you, the past few weeks have been quite busy for me. During the summer months projects, commitments and even ideas are somehow allowed to drift along on a warm breeze of school holiday-enforced hiatus. But come September the metaphorical whip is well and truly cracked. Many of you are by now up to your eyes with summer-interrupted deadlines and the daily scurry between work, family and after-school activities – and all points in-between. Maybe like me you are also vowing to shoehorn in a little extra exercise, or add in a ‘self-improving’ evening class. Time is not elastic, but we do our best to strain at the laws of physics nonetheless. I participate, therefore I am.

My additional soupcon of activity this week was giving several nutrition workshops at the 22nd annual Scottish Conference of Cancer Support Groups (SCCSG). To be completely honest with you I was not wholeheartedly looking forward to it. I am used to my cosy number with the Maggies Centres: making food and discussing nutrition and cancer in the comfort of small groups. And my ‘target’ audience is clear: for the most part those going through treatment and their carers. The SCCSG audience was going to be hugely mixed and much larger and less intimate than my usual 6-8 person groups. And in a hotel conference space, not among the architectural nuances, squashy sofas and natural light of the Maggies’ Centres. You are right, I am spoiled.

But, as is often the case with my fears, they were completely misplaced. This truly amazing conference sees delegates from all over Scotland gathering annually to update their research knowledge, share ideas, discuss common concerns and generally share and discuss ideas for helping those affected by cancer. All of the groups provide a vital service that just isn’t possible within the confines of the NHS. Every single person I met volunteers their time and skills to help others. In other words, good people. Inspiring people. Selfless people. And they wanted to listen to me. Wow.

Lemony Courgette and Fine Bean Tagliatelle in Herbed Creme Fraiche

I hope you all had a fine weekend of doing not very much. Or at least doing something that you wanted to do. Weekends are often the time when busy folk do all the mundane things they didn’t have time to get to during the week – weed-pulling, bill paying, car tinkering,…hen house clearing (me). But, as a discerning and cultured person, I am sure that you are much more interesting than that. While I am cleaning the chicken coop or sniffing and squeezing melons at Lidl, I imagine that you are meeting friends at some smart gallery for a bone-china cup of tea and a peruse of the paintings. Or at least enjoying a good book in the garden.

These are things I enjoy as well, but sometimes a bit of scrubbing, buffing and straightening are fine, too. As it happens, Mr A was away in Portugal smacking a tiny white ball around, and as he is the main instigator/scheduler in casa foodtoglow, Miss R and I were left to our own devices. Did we get all dressed up and go to Harvey Nichols to exclaim at the price tags and nibble sushi? Did we put the top down on my cute little pistachio-coloured Figaro and drive down the coast, hair flying, stereo cranked? Did we heck. Despite visions of girlie bonding time the reality of this past weekend was a homework marathon for Miss R (I know – what’s the rush?) and me on my knees scrubbing floors. And, do you know what? It was good. Sad, I know, but sometimes it’s just what is needed.

So Summery Chickpea Salad

I love being away. Especially when it’s to familiar, yet massively exciting London with my family. But, boy do I love coming home. I bet you are the same. There is something about your own bed and bath that is quite primal. Safety and familiar-comforts ultimately trump the unknown – however much fun. But we really had a terrific time, despite some pre-travel nerves at arriving while the situation in London was still volatile. Well I was jittery, Mr A and Miss R were their usual breezy, up-for-it selves. And they of course were right. We had a ball.

Although the riots and the lead up to them were deeply worrying and unsettling, the London we experienced was universally uplifting and positive. Everyone we encountered was friendly, helpful and polite – from the harassed Tube station staff (I was the zillionth person to ask the same dumb question), the stall holders in every market we visited, to the alarmingly young and fresh-faced policemen and women we asked directions. Even when I just about took out an elderly lady with my oversized ‘new’ vintage bag, having spied yet another pop-up vintage market to blow my money in, she just smiled and said, ‘It’s awright, my love’.

We also have the same experience in Paris. It always surprises us that London, and Paris in particular, is perceived as being populated with surly, eye contact-avoiding citizens who would sooner spit on you than help you. A little effort with the language, a show of politeness, and a smile are all we have ever found necessary to get on in these famously bustling cities. Maybe we have just been lucky but I do think that a bit of the old ‘do unto others as you would be done by’ can’t hurt.

Cuban-style Tofu (or Beef) Picadillo

Any of you reading this who are not from Florida or Cuba may be asking yourself, ‘What the heck is picadillo? Isn’t that a sin or naughty habit of some sort? What are you on about?!’ Well the latter is ‘pecadillo’ which is Spanish for a trivial sin, perhaps best described as coveting your neighbour’s lawn mower rather than wife (that would be a proper sin, a ‘pecado’). The former is utterly delicious Cuban-Spanish beef hash – much nicer and eminently more digestible than a lawnmower. In an case, it is not sinful in the least and may just be a perfect weekday meal, using ingredients many of us already have in the cupboard and fridge. I know I have tofu in the title, because I like to encourage its use in traditionally meaty recipes, but as often as not we have it with lean organic beef mince. Really delish either way. Whenever I am stuck for something to make quickly (it does happen) this is my go-to, under 30 minute recipe. Take that, Jamie.

Brazilian-style Black Bean Salad

Today I have been busy preparing the lunch that will round off tomorrow’s nutrition session at the Edinburgh Maggie’s Centre. Although I really enjoy facilitating the sessions, I also love to prepare the food. I love the rhythm of trawling around the local shops, picking up and sniffing the produce (sometimes indulging in a sneaky squeeze), chatting to the merchants and shop assistants, and just generally taking my time getting the best of the day’s offerings. Sometimes I make do with just a supermarket (boring but expedient), but I also try and get to the lushly fronted greengrocers’ shops in nearby Stockbridge, stopping by Armstrong’s for immaculate, fresh fish for our dinner. As a special treat (or if I am under-budget)I head to Earthy Market in Newington for the most sumptuous whole foods displays in Edinburgh: baskets of amazing breads (seaweed sourdough is Miss R’s favourite), a Welsh dresser full of pulses, seeds and grains, shelves of every ingredient you can think of for the well-stocked pantry, and captivatingly gorgeous wooden crates of best-of-season fruits and vegetables from nearby Phantassie Organic Farm and other quality suppliers. But, if I am honest, I am also there for the cafe. Can’t recommend it highly enough (and neither can the reviewers). Not only is the daily-changing menu a testament to fine seasonal cafe fare, it is presented so lovingly and at a price that puts lesser-quality cafes and restaurants to shame. Please go if you live even vaguely nearby. You can also buy top-notch local vegetables, herbs and decorative plants to plant your own personal oasis of useful beauty. If you go on my recommendation, tell them food to glow  sent you.