Breakfast Eggy Crumpets (for Dinner) from Jamie Oliver

Passing by some packages of crumpets in my local grocery store, I got to thinking about them. Yes I easily develop food obsessions. I like how spongy crumpets are and how much softer they are (even when toasted) to English muffins--soaking up the butter, jam or whatever you put on them so readily. I needed an excuse a reason to buy a package, and since our theme for I Heart Cooking Clubs is "Brit Bites"--celebrating British foods, crumpets seemed like a great choice to work with. Even better... I found this recipe for Breakfast Eggy Crumpets on Jamie Oliver's website. I love how he uses them here as a sort of french toast--soaking them in eggs and frying them up.

Now, Jamie recommends serving them with smoky bacon and brown sauce (see my note about brown sauce below the recipe). Since I am not having bacon in my house at the moment, I substituted some veggie sausage links. Now before anyone gets all up in arms about the bacon thing and telling me that it's dumb to have eggs with "fake" veggie sausage, etc., let me explain. I LOVE bacon and I LOVE sausages. In my own mind and humble opinion, sausages come in all kinds of variations, different meats, even meat alternatives and most of them taste pretty good to me and give satisfaction when a sausage craving hits. Bacon on the other hand is sacred--no matter what you do or say, veggie bacon or turkey bacon never really tastes like bacon so I have no real desire to eat them. Since I am limiting my meat intake lately for a variety of reasons, it is far better for me to have a box of veggie sausage links in my freezer, pulling out a few links when the occasional craving hits than a package of real bacon that is likely to seduce me with it's scent and have me devouring the package in a matter of hours days. So... a few veggie links, that although I concede are not nearly as good as rashers of thick bacon, still provide a nice meaty counterpoint to the sweet maple syrup. (Yes Natashya, it was Canadian maple syrup!) Whew! OK, I said my veggie sausage links piece. ;-)

Made with local eggs and served with the browned veggie sausages and a citrus fruit salad, tossed with some orange mint from my herb garden, these Breakfast Eggy Crumpets made an excellent breakfast-for-dinner plate of goodness.

Jamie says, "This cheeky little version of eggy bread is one of my favourite breakfasts - particularly if I’ve got a hangover! *Brown sauce is great with the eggs but maple syrup is fantastic with the smoky bacon, so take your pick. I got the idea of adding some chilli from a scrambled eggs dish I had in Italy – delicious."

Breakfast Eggy Crumpets
Jamie Oliver
(Makes 2 Servings)

2 large free-range or organic eggs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped
6 rashers good-quality smoked bacon (I used veggie sausages)
olive oil
4 round crumpets
brown sauce or maple syrup, to serve

Crack your eggs into a bowl and give them a little whisk with a small pinch of salt and pepper and most of the chopped chilli. Then heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and fry the bacon in a tiny amount of olive oil. Let it crisp up on both sides. Meanwhile, get your crumpets and really push them into the egg and chilli mixture. Turn them a few times – they’ll soak it up like a sponge. Push the golden bacon to one side and tilt the pan so the fat runs into the middle. Add the crumpets to the pan and fry them for a few minutes until golden, then turn them over and fry them on the other side.

Serve the eggy crumpets topped with the crispy bacon, with a dollop of brown sauce or a drizzle of maple syrup. To finish, you can sprinkle over any extra chopped chilli, if you’re a chilli freak like me. Perfect – heaven on a plate.

*Brown Sauce--I wasn't sure what exactly Brown Sauce is so I looked it up and found this fun article about it.


Notes/Results: Although I am not as effusive as Jamie, who calls this "heaven on a plate," it is pretty darn tasty. Like a lighter, chewy French Toast, the eggy crumpets are perfectly satisfying. I like the little bites of chili mixed in with the sweet syrup. The chilies, veggie sausage and tart and minty citrus salad keep the dish from being too sweet. A delicious dinner or breakfast, this dish made me very happy and I will make it again.



Check out what British food delights the other IHCC participants made by going to the post here and checking out the links.

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