Father's Day breakfast

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I don't know about the men in your life, but the one in mine loves a weekend breakfast.

I don't really know how it would differ on Father's Day, as this is what dear ole dad is getting. The same thing he has every weekend. Because he wants it!

Normally our weekend breakfast revolves around eggs on toast with stuff. I'm not overly excited about eggs, so I'll have one or none, but they're usually a feature in general. Ever since I figured out how to poach them properly, they have been requested with alarming regularity! I'm still not a pro 100% of the time, but they're pretty impressive usually.

We start with nice bread... often I'll get a loaf of sourdough or ciabatta from the bakery on Friday so it's ready for the weekend. When I'm not a million years pregnant, I'll bake one. When I'm in a hurry it's turkish bread.

Eggs are either poached or scrambled. Wanna know my secrets?

Scrambled eggs: must be scrambled with cream. No exceptions. And more salt than you think you need. Cooked very, very gently and taken off the heat before they're done, as they keep cooking anyway. If they're in separate little piles of egg, you've cooked it too long.

Sometimes I add chives, mixed herbs, tomato, fake bacon, cheese, or a mixture of these things. And pepper.

Poached eggs have to be fresh. A splash of vinegar, a pinch of salt. Boiled water brought back down to a serious simmer. Swirl the water with a spoon, crack an egg into a saucer and add one at a time. Remove with a slotted spoon and pick off the straggly bits.

Tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach on the side. Mushrooms fried in lots of butter, garlic, salt and cracked black pepper (shut up it's the weekend). Cherry tomatoes tossed in for a few minutes at the end, or halved tomatoes face down in the frying pan when you add the mushrooms. Spinach sat on top and everything taken off the heat while I tend to other things. Stir the spinach in when it wilts a bit from the steam.

Sometimes I like to add haloumi, if I have it. Avocado slices. feta scattered over the eggs with a sprinkle of lemon juice and rocket fresh from the garden. Kale with the mushrooms.

Juice, coffee for the man, a pot of tea for the mum.

And butter. Oh god, the butter. I'm so sorry.

Cinco de Mayo - Veggie fajitas and homemade salsa

First of all, whenever anybody says salsa, in my head I'm repeating the above scene... where George and Jerry are discussing salsa being the number one condiment in America... and Jerry saying "It's because people like to say 'salsa'!"... and I can't say salsa properly again after that.

It's easy for me to see how it did become the most popular condiment - I like a sauce to be spicy and flavoursome. I'm not about plain old ketchup, I'm the one sneaking back to the kitchen to doctor it up somehow. Salsa fits my bill perfectly. And all you have to do is throw things into a blender and voila! spicy salsa.

Mexican food is one of the easiest and best cuisines to eat if you're vegetarian, going veg, or just wanting to eat less meat. It's so adaptable, and its big, bold flavours satisfy any kind of appetite. I usually go for a cheesy enchilada or bean burrito, or even a crispy taco on Mexican nights around here, but it's hard to go past a spicy veggie-filled soft wrap with a dollop of sour cream and some SALSA!! on the side. Yum!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Fajita ingredients:
2 capsicums, one red, one green, sliced
1 onion, sliced
7-8 portobello or field mushrooms, sliced
juice of 2 limes or 1 lemon
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
2 chillies, sliced
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
tortillas, coriander and sour cream to serve.

Method:

1. Put the capsicum, onion, mushrooms, garlic and chillies in a bowl. Add lemon, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper and marinate at least 1 hour.

2. Fry over medium-high heat until veggies are soft and browned, about 8-10 minutes.

3. Serve on tortillas with optional extras.

Salsa ingredients
1 400g can diced tomatoes
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
1-2 red chillies or jalapenos, roughly chopped
juice of a lime
small handful chopped coriander
pinch of sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Pulse until desired consistency.

The Royal Wedding and Prince William's favourite Banana Flan

I, for one, love a wedding. The gowns, the flowers, the love, the food. Especially the food. I made sure my wedding featured a buffet, as the first thing guests complain about is teeny portions, or worse... a cocktail reception. Turns out I wasn't really hungry and hardly ate a thing, but people still rave about the food almost four years later - I must have done something right!

Veggie Dad and I ready to eat. My poor wind-tunnel hair.

I was even so excited about the royal engagement, I made Eton Mess a little while ago. It was worth every sinful, cream-covered bite.

I can barely even begin to imagine how amazing the food will be at the royal wedding tonight of Prince William to Catherine Middleton. I'm almost more interested about that than I am in the dress... almost.

After a bit of digging around, I found out what Prince William's favourite dessert was, and figured I'd see if I could replicate what was once created in princess Diana's Royal kitchen by royal chef Darren McGrady.

Mr McGrady's website says that in 1993 he moved to Kensington Palace as their private chef, and for the four years until Diana's death, he took control of the family's day-to-day menus and the preparation and catering of private and official lunch and dinner parties.

One firm favourite was this banana flan. Crumbly shortcrust base, sweet pastry cream and bananas topped with melted apricot jam.

You think YOU could resist? I couldn't...

Mr McGrady also (very generously, I thought) provided the recipe for the oficial wedding cake Prince William has chosen to go along with the traditional fruit cake - Chocolate Biscuit Cake.

I am totally going to be having my own royal tea party to mark the occasion... what will you be doing?

Royally delicious.

Banana Flan recipe here