Anna Jones - A Modern Way to Eat

EACH MAKES 2 PIECES OF TOAST

· Mash an avocado with lemon, salt and pepper. Pile onto toasted sourdough, top with tomatoes, a little balsamic vinegar, a bit of basil and some olive oil.

· Mash an avocado with lemon juice and pile onto rye bread with a drizzle of honey.

· Mash an avocado with some lime juice, salt and pepper. Pile onto toasted bread and top with a good sprinkling of chopped, fresh red chilli.

· Mash an avocado with a little lemon juice. Pile onto hot buttered toast and top with a poached egg and some chilli sauce.

· Mash an avocado with a little lemon juice. Spread a toasted bagel with a fine slick of cream cheese and top with the mashed avo, generously grate over lemon zest and sprinkle with lots of black pepper.

· Mash an avocado with a little lime juice, salt and pepper and stir in a chopped spring onion, a teaspoon of toasted mustard seeds and some chopped coriander. Pile onto hot toast.

· Mash your avocado with a tiny bit of lemon juice. Top hot toast with a slick of coconut oil, the mashed avo and then some toasted almonds.

· Mash your avocado with a little lemon juice, pile onto toast, then top with a few thin slices of banana and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

· Mash a ripe avocado with a little lemon juice, pile onto toast, and top with chopped pistachios, some toasted sesame seeds and a little honey and cinnamon.

· Whiz some basil with a little olive oil. Mash an avocado with a little lemon juice and pile onto hot toast, crumble over some feta and pour over the basil oil.

Herbed Parisian scrambled eggs

Sometimes I need a reminder that something simple and classic is really, really good. In my imaginary life where I spend my days roaming around Paris flea markets this is what I would eat for breakfast. Classically, chervil is used in harmony of herbs too, but it’s not easy to find so I’ve left it out; however, if you come across some, buy it – it’s got such a piercingly delicate flavour and is great chucked into green salads. Basil and mint can be thrown into the mix here too.

A note on how to keep soft herbs: I use herbs a lot – their flavours are like nothing else, and each is so completely different from the others, I couldn’t cook without them. I appreciate that buying a lot of herbs for a little breakfast recipe feels extravagant. This is how I make herbs work harder for me. I buy a load once every week or so when they look good at the greengrocer, and I keep them like flowers, in glasses filled with a dash of cold water in the milk-bottle compartment of my fridge. This way they keep for a week or so. Every time I open the fridge I am met with a heady smell and a grassy green wall of herbs, which means they are appreciated and make their way into much more of my cooking.

SERVES 2

a little olive oil or butter

4 really good organic or free-range eggs

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

a few sprigs each of fresh parsley, tarragon and dill, leaves picked and roughly chopped

2 slices of good buttered toast (I like sourdough)

Everyone has their own way with eggs. This is how I scramble mine.

Heat a little oil or butter in a frying pan on a medium-low heat. Crack the eggs into a bowl, mix with a fork, season well, then pour into the hot pan and use a wooden spoon or a spatula to pull the eggs away from the sides of the pan, creating golden folds. Continue to do this until the eggs are how you like them. I like mine to just come together but keep a faint little bit of wobble.

Take the pan off the heat, taste, add more salt and pepper if necessary, and stir in the herbs. Pile on top of buttered toast.

MY MORNING FRUIT

To my mind there is no better way to start the day than with a bowl of in-season fruit. Here are the bowls I make as the seasons change. Some can be made in a batch for quick weekday breakfasts, others can be put together in a few minutes – try with the granola here.

SPRING

APPLES · PEARS · RHUBARB ·

RASPBERRIES · EARLY STRAWBERRIES

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QUICK RHUBARB COMPOTE

for 1 person

Take 4 stalks of rhubarb, chop small and

put in a pan with 4 tablespoons of good honey, a bit of vanilla, if you have it, and the juice of ½ an orange. Simmer for 15 minutes until soft through.

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SPRING FRUIT BOWL

for 1 person

Cut up 1 apple and 1 pear, squeeze over the juice of ½ a lime, mash a handful of raspberries with 1 teaspoon of honey and mix the two together.

SUMMER

STRAWBERRIES · CHERRIES · RASPBERRIES ·

PEACHES · APRICOTS ·

BLUEBERRIES · BLACKCURRANTS

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RED FRUIT SALAD

for 2 people

Cut up 10 strawberries and 10 cherries. Add a handful of raspberries and a handful of halved red grapes. Squeeze over the juice of ½ a lemon and if you like add a little honey. Optional: sprinkle with bashed coriander seeds.

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QUICK APRICOT COMPOTE

makes a small jar

Put 250g of apricots (stoned) into a pan with 2 tablespoons of runny honey and the juice of ½ an orange. Bring to a slow simmer on a medium heat and cook for 10 minutes until softened.

AUTUMN

APPLES · PEARS · PEACHES · NECTARINES ·

PLUMS · BLACKBERRIES

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HEDGEROW FRUIT BOWL

for 2 people

Put 1 chopped apple, 1 chopped pear and 2 chopped plums into a bowl with a handful of blackberries, tear in some mint and mix well.

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ROSEWATER PEACHES

for 1 person

Place 4 peach halves on a baking tray, drizzle with honey, scatter over vanilla and some pistachios and sprinkle over a tablespoon of rosewater. Bake for 30 minutes until soft through. Serve with yoghurt or goat’s cheese and some toast.

WINTER

APPLES · PEARS · WINTER CITRUS ·

CLEMENTINES · CRANBERRIES

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ORCHARD FRUIT BOWL

for 2 people

Chop up 3 ripe pears and add the seeds of ½ a pomegranate and 4 chopped-up dates. Squeeze over the juice of 1 lime and serve.

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QUICK SPICED CLEMENTINES

for 2 people

Slice up 4 clementines and lay on a plate, sprinkle with ½ a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and drizzle with honey.

A new eggs Benedict

I’m not sure I know anyone who doesn’t like eggs Benedict, in all its rich hollandaise glory. This is how I make mine. Roasted slices of sweet potato step in for muffins, and avocado and cashews whiz up creamily in seconds with a bit of tarragon to make a killer super-light hollandaise, creamy but not too rich. The sticky onions and spinach sandwich it all together.

I like to make my hollandaise this way, as I find a butter-laden sauce too much of a treat to start the day with (delicious though it is).

In order to get a creamy sauce I soak my cashew nuts in water overnight, but, if you forget, half an hour’s soaking will do. See here for more on soaking nuts.

For this recipe, you need to get your hands on large sweet potatoes so that they are wide enough to sit the poached egg on top.

SERVES 4

2 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into 1cm rounds

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

olive or rapeseed oil

2 medium red onions, peeled and finely sliced

6 handfuls of spinach, washed and any big stalks removed

4 organic or free-range eggs

FOR THE QUICK HOLLANDAISE

a small handful of cashew nuts, soaked in water (see above)

½ an avocado

a small bunch of fresh tarragon or dill, leaves picked