Asparagus with Smoked Bacon and Poached Eggs

For a seasonal blogger I probably should be excumunicated from the blogsphere for making a  Chinese style duck breast on  St Georges Day . Because as every British foodie will tell you the 23rd of April , St Georges Day is the traditional start of the British asparagus season . I adore asparagus &  clearly should have been enjoying some fat green stems .  My feeble excuse is a late arrival home

On St Georges Day  though I did make it to the market at lunchtime and the vegetables stall had plenty fo English asparagus barging the continental imports off the shelf. A further delay in eating the asparagus last night caused by  another late arrival home and a bottle of wine which made the prospect of boiling water a significant health and safety issue.

I have made asparagus roasted with parma ham before but British Asparagus definitely deserved some lovely smoked British Bacon grilled and served with a poached egg.

The lovely boyfreind really has the egg poaching nack down , using  to a drop of vinegar in the water and whisking the boiling water to a swirling whirlpool as you drop the egg in . The yolk oozes deliciously for dipping the spears in , perfectly complemented with sweet salty bacon. Simply delicious and counts as my five a day .

If you have managed to get hold of some Wild Garlic its delicious made into butter on asparagus

Prunes in blankets ( Prunes wrapped in bacon)

While my bofreind was tucking into his breakfast on Saturday , bacon, egg and black-pudding,  I was pondering what to do with any leftovers from the pack of bacon

In a blinding flash I remembered that my mum often cooks prunes wrapped in bacon and we had some prunes leftover from the Lamb slow cooked with prunes dish a few weeks back. The combination of  sweet & saltiness is delicious. So I made some  for Sunday brunch accompanied by skewers  of scallops and black pudding for good measure.

The wrapped prunes make a luxiourous brunch but also make excellent canapes hot or cold . 

Prunes in blankets

6 sprigs of rosemary
6 large prunes
3 rashers of smoked bacon

1. Cut each rasher of bacon in half
2. On each half place at one end a prune and a spring of rosemary
3. Roll the prune/rosemary into the bacon
4. Grill for approx 5 minutes turning halfway through

Scallop and Black Pudding Skewers

6 scallops
6 discs of black pudding ( roughly the same diameter as the scallops , 1/2cm thick  )
6 stems of woody rosemay

1. Season the scallop and black pudding with pepper brush with oil
2. Skewer scallops and blackpudding  through the centre with woody stalk of rosemary
3. Grill for 2 minutes
4. Serve with a spalsh of balsamic vinegar

Breakfasts … can you tell I am smitten…..

As has just been commented on by a freind of mine …… when can you tell a girl has a new squeeze in her life … when her flickr account fills up with pictures of breakfasts …..