The post A soothing sip for colds and flu appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

The post Roasted squash with pancetta and sage. appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

Roasted Winter Veg with fennel, puy lentils & goats cheese

A warming, winter salad with the sweetness of roasted vegetables and the distinctive flavour of goats cheese. The addition of puy lentils brings a deepness to the flavour. I tend to make up a big batch that will last a couple of lunches. Wholesome and comforting.

Ingredients
1 bulb of fennel
2 large carrots
2 large parnips
100g of puy lentils
50g of cubed goats cheese (I used a hard goats cheese but soft will work perfectly if you prefer)
Handful of coriander
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
A quarter of lemon to serve

Method
Preheat your oven to 200oc/gas 6
Thoroughly wash your vegetables (I like to leave the skins on my root veg but peel if you prefer) and cut into even chunks.
Rub the veg in good glug of olive oil, spread out on a baking tray and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.
Roast in the oven for about 40 mins or until soft, golden and cooked through.
Place your lentils in a bowl, top with veg, goats cheese, a handful of coriander and a squeeze of lemon.

The post Roasted Winter Veg with fennel, puy lentils & goats cheese appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

At this time of year my go-to breakfast is porridge, usually with a honey and a sprinkling of seeds on top. But when I fancy a change I like to make up a big batch of whoesome Bircher Muesli.

There are lots of variations of Bircher, some made with milk, some with juice and some just with yogurt. I prefer to use a combination of juice and then add some yogurt in at the end – I found fruit yogurt works especially well, and you can pretty much use whatever flavour you like best.

The best part of the this recipe is that you can make it the night before and leave the oats & liquid to work their magic overnight. The next day all you need to do is chose you toppings and you have a deliciously satisfying breakfast – and less prep on the days means more time in bed!

I’m especially chuffed that this recipe featured in the Simple Things magazine a few months ago.

Ready for some autumnal breakfast loveliness? Ok, here you go!

Ingredients
300g of porridge oats
300ml apple juice
3 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons of raisins
2 tablespoons of chopped hazelnuts
200ml of either natural yogurt or good quality fruit yogurt (blueberry or raspberry works well)
1 grated apple
A teaspoon of honey to drizzle
A few roughly chopped hazelnuts as a garnish

How to

Put the porridge oats, chopped nuts, raisins and seeds in a large tupperware container, pour over the apple juice and mix all the ingredients together. Seal the container and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, stir in the yogurt and spoon into serving bowls. Top with grated apple, roughly chopped hazelnuts and a drizzle of honey to taste.

All photography © Heather Elizabeth Wilkinson 2013

The post Bircher Muesli appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

This post was inspired by a recent trip to Rye in East Sussex. The weather that day was absolutely bitter – they type of cold that really gets into your bones, so a hot mug of tea and a decent piece of cake are pretty much essential. I stopped in a lovely little cafe but I was in such a rush to get the train back that I didn’t pay much attention to the name – whoops!

Anyway, when I got home I had a urge to bake an enormous batch of rock cakes, loaded with cinnamon and stuffed full of juicy sultanas. Just the thing to accompany a bit of weekend crafting.

I followed this recipe by the fabulous Dan Lepard, with my own addition of three teaspoons of cinnamon and 175g of sultanas. I didn’t go for the chocolate drizzle – just didn’t seem right on a rock cake!

All photography © Heather Elizabeth Wilkinson 2013

 

The post Cinnamon rock cakes appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

The snow is falling heavily in Brighton today. It’s the kind of day when you want to be snuggled up warm and cosy at home with a hot drink, a warm blanket and plenty of nice things to eat. Funnily enough, that is exactly what I plan to do!

I hope you’re warm wherever you are.

All photography © 2013 heather elizabeth wilkinson

The post Snow days appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

Oh I do love a bit of beetroot, with its delicious earthy taste. Leave me alone with a plateful and I’ll literally snaffle it up within seconds.  And as luck would have it it’s currently in season.

I’d never attempted to make it into soup before but this recipe from the Waitrose website looked tempting enough for me to give it a try.  I have adapted it slightly to suit my own taste though, using beef stock instead of the chicken or vegetable that the recipe suggests. Instead of the chive cream, at the time of serving I crumbled some goat’s cheese on top of the soup. I’ve seen some recipes using feta cheese too, which sounds nice, but I do prefer the strength of flavour of goat’s cheese.

As a small aside, I have a friend whose uncle (Uncle Gerald, to be precise) was obsessed with eating beetroot, getting through several jars a week. He carried on with this obsession for quite some time until his skin started to develop a rather dashing purple hue. I kid you not.

The post Beetroot and Goats Cheese Soup appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

I do really like granola but it tends to be marketed as a luxury breakfast cereal and this is usually reflected in the price – at around £5 a box/packet it really is stupidly expensive.

My breakfast of choice during the week is a hearty bowl of porridge, but I’m always on the look out for alternatives, especially for weekend breakfasts.
When I saw Vanesther blog this recipe for granola a few months ago I bookmarked it immediately, and this week I had a go at making some myself to enjoy this weekend.

Vanesther’s recipe is fantastic and it really is simple to make, taking less than 30mins to produce your own jar of luxury cereal. In fact, now that I’ve made my own I’m even more incensed that brands have the cheek to charge so much for it in the shops!

The only difference with my recipe was that I swapped the honey for maple syrup, but I used the quantities Vanesther specified and it worked a treat.

By the way, if you’ve not yet discovered Vanesther’s Bangers & Mash Chat blog then do check it out! Delicious recipes and stunning photographs – and all focused around feeding a family on a budget.

All photography © Heather Elizabeth Wilkinson 2012

The post Homemade Granola appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

I know my last post was a soup recipe, but the weather has been so ridiculously cold and snowy here in Sussex this week that I’ve been eating little else. Knowing that I’ve got a warm and satisfying lunch to look forward to is about the only thing that makes braving the arctic temperatures in the morning bearable.

I think this has to be one of the simplest soups I’ve ever made: quick to prepare, healthy and a really short list of ingredients. My kind of recipe.

You will need
A glug of olive oil
1 onion, chopped 
½ teaspoon of dried chill flakes or ½ fresh red chilli, deseeded.
1 tsp ground coriander
2 garlic cloves, crushed and sliced
750g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium chunks
1 pint of warm vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste.

1.) Warm the oil in a large pan, add your onions, garlic, chilli flakes and ground coriander and cook until soft.
2.) When your onions have softened, add your sweet potato and mix it in with the other ingredients. Leave it to cook in the pan for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
3.) Pour your warmed stock over the mixture, bring to the boil and then turn down to simmer for about 10/15 mins, or until the sweet potatoes soften.
4.) Blend your soup until smooth. Serve with fresh crusty bread (this soda bread is ideal). If you find the soup too spicy then add a dollop of crème fraiche.

All images © Heather Wilkinson 2012

The post Spicy sweet potato soup appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.

All images © Heather Wilkinson 2012


The temperature has really plummeted here this week. It’s the kind of cold weather that means you have to hop from foot to foot just to generate enough heat to stop your toes going numb. I basically live off soup when the weather’s like this, and I luckily had enough root veg to whip up a batch today. Soups of this nature can be a tad bland, so I add just a pinch of dried ginger to give it a subtle lift.


You will need

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 stick of celery, sliced
1 leek, sliced
150g potato, peeled and diced
150g swede, peeled and diced
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
½ tsp dried ground ginger
1 litre milk
Single cream


1.) Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and fry until soft.
2.) Add your garlic, carrot, leek and celery, stir it all together and continue to fry for about 5 minutes.
3.) Next, add your swede, potato, nutmeg and ginger, salt and pepper. Add the milk, bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer for 25 minutes, or until all the vegetables have softened.
4.) Add your soup mixture to a liquidiser and blend together until it is smooth. You can run it through a sieve if you want it extra smooth.
5.) Return the soup to a clean pan, add a little cream, mix and heat thoroughly. Serve with fresh crusty bread.

The post Cosy winter vegetable soup appeared first on Breakfast by the sea.