Recipe | Scrambled eggs on hard dough bread, with bacon, fried plantain and baked beans

Sounds a bit full on doesn’t it?

Hard dough bread and plantain are known for their filling properties. If you are serving realistic portions without going overboard, this can be the perfect breakfast. I decided to be experimental when I realised that I had some plantains in the fridge that needed to be cooked that day. I could have fried them for dinner but I remembered that plaintains can be served any time of the day and if I were in my native St Lucia, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

You can get plaintains from most Indian fruit and veg shops. Some Off Licences or newsagents will even have plaintains displayed out front amongst other fruit and veg. Go for the yellow ones with brown areas if you want to be able to cook it straight away. It will look like an over ripe banana.

Hard dough bread is a product you used to only be able to buy at decent bakeries in ethnic areas. You can now pick it up an mainstream supermarkets. I regularly buy mine from a bakery that has been around since I was a little girl, Toms Bakery in Ridley Road market, Dalston. I’m fortunate enough to be able to go there on my lunch break at work. Failing that, the Rainbow Bakery on Kingsland Road is another favourite.

Ingredients and Method:

Bacon: I used streaky bacon rashers as the flavour and texture is better than normal, but it must be smoked!

Slice the plantain any way you want – long ways or into coins and deep fry in a wok (make sure the oil is hot enough – you can do this by frying a breadcrumb and checking how long it takes to brown). Once the plaintain has been fried, drain off oil by resting on a sheet or two of kitchen paper.

To make the perfect scrambled egg (for two)

• 3 eggs
• 1 heaped tbsp creme fraiche
• sprinkle of parsley
• dash of Knorr Aromat All Purpose Savoury Seasoning (or pinch of salt)
• knob of butter (into mixture)

Roughly stir mixture – no need to scramble as it spoils texture. Ensure however, that the egg, creme fraiche and butter is mixed through. Get the frying pan hot with a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Pour the mixture into the pan and use a silicon (preferably – if not then wooden is fine) spatula to keep lifting from the pan and making sure the rapidly cooking egg is moving around the pan. Don’t allow it to stick. It shouldn’t – this is why a mixture of oil and butter has been used – they both stop the egg from sticking and the butter adds to the taste.

Once cooked assemble in the following order:

1. Slice of hard dough bread lightly buttered
2. rasher or two of bacon
3. 2 or three slices of plaintain – side by side on top of the bacon
4. scrambled egg on top of plantain
5. Baked Beans on top of egg you don’t really need me to tell you how to cook beans do you?!

Perfect Sunday brunch!