I woke up craving potatoes and with stark memories of a certain special birthday last year.

This breakfast is so easy to create but it tastes really special.

There’s a nifty trick to making home fries or pan-fried potatoes and it’s this: chop your potatoes into 1/4 inch chunks and par-boil them in salty water until they can be penetrated with a knife but are still far from cooked through. It makes the frying process a hell of a lot easier and gives the potatoes a delicious fluffy interior while still achieving the amazing crunch of fries.

I decided, based on my cravings for recreating that birthday brunch, to make some harissa and I highly recommend giving it a go. I made it up as I went but I had heard harissa is basically comprised of tomatoes and paprika so I combined about 2 tablespoons tomato paste with two teaspoons smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon cumin and a dash or two of garlic salt.

All I needed was a touch with each bite to appreciate the flavours but I would love to experiment with a real harissa recipe sometime.

Sweet Potato and Chorizo Hash

Ingredients
[serves two]

• 2 sweet potatoes (or 1 of each sweet potato and Yukon gold potato), chopped into 1/4 inch chunks
• one medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp butter or olive oil
• 3 oz spanish chorizo, diced
• sea salt
• fresh pepper
• smoked paprika
• garlic salt
• 1 tbsp parsley, diced

Directions

• Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and add the potatoes. Boil until a fork can just penetrate them. Strain.
• Meanwhile heat 1 tbsp butter in a pan. Add onions and saute until soft and slightly brown, about five minutes. Remove and place in a small bowl.
• Re-heat the pan with the remaining butter and add the potatoes, pushing them down with the back of a spatula. Cook on one side until browned and sizzling, about 5-7 minutes.
• Turn potatoes over and cook other side for 5-7 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a separate pan, heat a little olive oil or butter and add the chorizo. Cook until slightly brown, about 6-8 minutes. Remove and set aside with the onions.
• Once the potatoes are cooked to your desired level of crispness, add the onions and chorizo and season with salt, pepper, paprika and garlic salt, or your choice of seasonings.

Serve immediately, perhaps with fried eggs and guacamole. Garnish with parsley.

Sometimes a sweet breakfast is all you crave but on lazy weekend mornings when there’s still some beer in the system from the night before, salty, savoury plates like this really hit the spot.

What’s your favourite savoury breakfast?

My go-to breakfasts when I don’t fancy oatmeal or granola/fruit/yoghurt (rare) consist of eggs of some kind or pancakes. I should really branch out, but it’s hard to deny this:

Try these vegan-friendly delights some morning. It’s worth noting that these are actually sweet enough without maple syrup poured on before serving – the banana in the batter makes for a perfectly sweet affair. We ate the second batch plain as can be.

Vegan Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
adapted from this recipe

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 1¼ cups almond milk
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons sodium-free baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• fresh fruit maple syrup for serving or adding to cooking batter

Directions

• In a large bowl, mash banana, then stir in milk and maple syrup.
• In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to banana mixture and stir until smooth.
• Pour small amounts of batter, followed by slices of banana onto a preheated non-stick, lightly oil-sprayed griddle or skillet and cook until tops bubble. Flip with a spatula and cook second side until golden brown, about 1 minute. Serve immediately.

Do you have a breakfast favourite other than your “standard” morning meal?
A full English when the ingredients are available is most definitely it. Otherwise, thursday morning pancake parties are where it’s at.

I’m having an experiment: traditional lasagne vs. healthy lasagne.

I should begin this post with a warning: this here is not a diet-friendly lasagne. This is a full-fat, cheese-laden, juicy as they come lasagne. And it’s blazin-delicious.

I used this recipe from Ina Garten from the Food Network which as you will see is basically Cheese Fest 2010:

Cor!!!

This is the ricotta, parmesan, parsley, egg, salt and pepper in pre-mix up mode. Beautious:

Crusty sourdough rolls, a big salad and some delicious red wine are about the only way I think you should enjoy lasagne. That and a mediterranean view, but I’ll take what I can.

Despite the cheese fest, this recipe actually does not have horrible nutritional value. I’m not saying you should eat it every week but still… However, because I like to conduct fun experiments, I will be trying out my own healthy version of this recipe soon and I’ll be sure to post it!

Do you enjoy full-fat versions of dishes like this or do you prefer to keep it healthy?
Sometimes I like to make healthy substitutes but since I generally eat healthily, I am also very happy making and eating mind-blowingly delicious full-fat calorific delights.