Breakfast

On a serious note – if you are the cook it's really easy to be so intent on making sure everyone else is fed and watered that you forget to eat yourself. Is this ringing any bells? A cranky cook is not a good look – if you like the “chef du petit déjeuner” idea, effectively what you're doing is spreading the load – who knows it could be the best thing you've ever done. It's also about timing – if you know that friends and family are dropping in late morning and so you won't be serving lunch until mid to late afternoon then by eating breakfast you're not going to wreck your appetite and spoil your lunch later. Alcohol on an empty stomach is not good either – not to be confused with the cook's privilege of a glass of whatever is your pleasure – there is no bah humbug here!

There are heaps of traditional breakfasts - from the bacon butty, probably everyone's absolute favourite - to smoked salmon and scrambled egg - full English if you must - to the more exotic – kedgeree, or my personal favourite - a really posh seafood omelette - smoked salmon and cream cheese on toasted bagels, yada yada yada.

Back to the “chef du petit déjeunner” and “keep it simple”. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't enjoy a toasted sandwich so, how about a festive Croque Monsieur for the inaugural breakfast? The beauty of this idea is that it can be assembled and wrapped beforehand – either way it's not challenging and in reality doesn't require any technical ability. For the vegetarians you can adapt the Croque Monsieur omitting the ham – bingo!

I know that the Croque recipe was first mentioned in GOM: Chapter 9 Class day – no pressure but for ease of reference, here it is again :

Festive Croque Monsieur

4 slices of medium sliced wholemeal bread

2 tsp Dijon mustard

75g (3oz) Gruyere cheese (grated)

2 slices of ham

30g (1½oz) unsalted butter

Festive cutters of your choice

Serves 2

Preheat oven to 150fan/170c/Gas 3.

Spread ½ tsp of mustard over each slice of bread.

Spread half the cheese on two slices of bread followed by the ham, remaining cheese on top and sandwich together with the other two slices of bread. Cut out the festive shapes of your choice.

Heat the butter in a frying pan until foaming – fry your festive croque monsieur for 1-2 minutes on each side and then transfer to a baking tray and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

Serve with festive pickle or chutney of your choice – caramelised red onion chutney is delish.

There are other breakfast/brunch recipes mentioned in Break out the brunch – Part I and Part 2 if you want more alternatives.