Spring Time Toast Toppers

What puts a spring in your step more than a proper good lunch? Switch up your slice of toast with one of these three makeovers… which you trying first? 

Each topper serves - 4 slices
Time - 5-15 mins

Ingredients

Ricotta, Spring onion, chorizo & honey:

  • 250g ricotta
  • Juice & zest of 1/2 a lemon
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove crushed
  • 70g diced chorizo
  • 16 spring onions with darker green tops removed
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • Recommended bread: toasted seeded cob
  • OPTIONAL: chili flakes to finish

Whipped feta, caramelised leeks, pine nuts & watercress:

  • 200g feta crumbled
  • 50g natural yogurt
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 heaped tbsp butter
  • 2 leeks washed and sliced
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 50g toasted pine nuts
  • 30g watercress
  • Recommended bread: toasted sourdough

Mascarpone, blood orange, pistachio & maple:

  • 250g mascarpone
  • Juice & zest of 1/2 a lemon
  • 2 blood oranges peeled and sliced into segments
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • Handful pistachios roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp maple to drizzle

Method

Ricotta, spring onion, chorizo & honey:

  1. Start by mixing your ricotta, lemon juice, zest and a big pinch of salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside. Heat your oil in a medium, non-stick pan over a medium heat, add your garlic and allow to infuse the oil for a minute before adding your chorizo and frying for a further few mins.
  2. Add your Spring onion and fry for a couple of mins, coating all over in garlic and chorizo infused oil before removing from the heat. Spread toasted, seeded slices with ricotta, top with your spring onion and chorizo and finish with a drizzle of honey and sprinkle of chili flakes.

Whipped feta, caramelised leeks, pine nuts & watercress:

  1. Start by mixing your feta, yogurt, extra virgin olive oil and a big pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl with an electric hand whisk until smooth. Heat your butter in a medium pan over a medium heat, add your leeks and cook for a few mins until softened.
  2. Add your sugar and cook for a further few mins before seasoning with salt and pepper and removing from the heat. Spread your feta onto toasted sourdough slices, top with caramelized leeks and finish with a sprinkle of pine nuts and scattering of watercress.

Mascarpone, blood orange, pistachio & maple:

  1. Start by mixing mascarpone, lemon juice and zest in a small bowl and set aside. Pop your grill on and line a baking tray with baking paper before laying your blood orange slices in a single layer and sprinkling all over with cinnamon and sugar.
  2. Pop under the grill for 5 mins until caramelized. Spread each toasted brioche slice with your mascarpone, top with blood orange, a scattering of chopped pistachios and drizzle of maple.

Sunny Side Up Nests

The only way to have your eggs in the morning, in meringue form! Serve up pud sunny side up this weekend with our meringue nests with zingy, lemon curd centres.

Serves - 6-8 meringue nests
Time - 2.5 hours

Ingredients

For the nests:

  • 4 large egg whites
  • 250g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp white wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp cornflour

For the fillings:

  • 375ml whipping cream
  • 320g lemon curd

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C /160C Fan/gas 4 and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
  2. In a medium bowl beat your egg whites and a pinch of salt with an electric hand whisk until foamy and peaks hold their shape but are not stiff.
  3. Add your sugar 1 heaped tablespoon at a time until all is incorporated and you have stiff, glossy peaks. Carefully fold in your remaining meringue ingredients before gently spooning into a piping bag with a star nozzle. Pipe 6-8 flat disks onto a baking tray, ensuring there are gaps between them (these can vary from circular to oval to represent different egg shapes) . Carefully pipe a wall around the edge of each disk- these will be your nest walls and help to contain your fillings.
  4. Pop in the oven and turn it down to 150C/130C Fan/gas 2 before baking for 40 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave your meringues in for a further hour. Whilst you wait, whip your whipping cream in a medium bowl until stiffened.
  5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before filling with a little cream followed by a dollop of lemon curd in each. How do you like your eggs in the morning? We like ours in meringue form and sunny side up!