It’s the typical uni scene. The weekend begins following a chaotic Friday night and you’re not entirely sure how you made it back to your own accommodation, and yet you’ve somehow managed to get yourself into bed, perhaps still clutching a wrapper from a kebab that you didn’t want, but knew deep down that you deserved after making it through another week without dropping out.
Saturday sunrise comes and goes whilst you’re still sleeping like a log, and by the time you bumble your way out of your room, the probability that it’s still an appropriate time for breakfast is looking low.
In fact, if you have made it out in time for lunch then that’s fairly commendable.
Nevertheless, there’s nothing that quite soothes a Saturday hangover like a cooked breakfast.
However, when frying your bacon, grilling your tomatoes and checking that your toast doesn’t turn to charcoal, it can so easily seem like way too much effort, and alas, you settle for an extra large bowl of Coco Pops straight from the cupboard.
But fear not, as the recipe that follows allows for a hearty cooked breakfast – with a slight twist – to be made in just 35 minutes, and only 10 of those involve you actually preparing the food.
The twist to this cooked breakfast is that everything gets baked together in one big dish.
The beauty of this is that not only do you avoid the hassle of handling multiple hot pans in your slumbersome state, but also means that there’s only one pot to wash up afterwards. Could this get any better? Yes it can.
Since the process of baking everything in one pan means considerably less oil is used – compared to if every element were fried separately – the baked version of the English breakfast is arguably a little bit kinder on your body, whilst still retaining all the flavour.
The ingredients for this one are basically anything you like in your cooked breakfast; your favourite sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon rashers, black pudding, etc. It’s arguably easier to make this recipe for three or four people, rather than just the one, as you can then fill the whole dish and earn title of the best flatmate ever in the process.
Therefore, you’ll want to use enough of all the ingredients so you know that there’ll be enough to go around for everyone.
To make the breakfast, start by preheating the oven to 200ºC or 180ºC fan. Then place your sausages and mushrooms in a large roasting pan, drizzle with oil, season as you wish and then cook for 10 minutes (turning them over after five).
After the 10 minutes, add the rest of your ingredients into the pan and bake for another 10 minutes; if after this either the mushrooms or tomatoes are still a little hard then it’s recommended that you continue to bake them until they are soft.
When you’re content with baking so far, it’s time to position all the ingredients so that there are six egg shaped spaces dotted around the pan. Then crack an egg into each space. Return to the oven for five to six minutes (or until the eggs are cooked to your liking).
While this final bake goes on, this would be the perfect time to slip some toast into the toaster and boil the kettle ready for a cup of tea to wash your brunch down.
Once the oven beeps, it’s time to serve and you’ll definitely want your cooked breakfast hot – because who likes cold mushrooms?
So grab some butter for your toast, splash some milk in your tea and call in your friends to impress them with your newfound culinary skills. And you never know, once you tell them how easy it is to make a baked cooked breakfast, perhaps they’ll be the one making it for you next time. Fingers crossed!
Image: WikiCommons: <Joadl>