3 Sudden Breakfasts in a Row

Day 1 – Porridge Pancakes

My man likes a wee bit o’porridge for his breakfast and I don’t; I like its taste but not its texture.  It is a hard thing to do but the other day I managed to persuade him to make a double batch of porridge for me to experiment with – I had an idea (2 actually but I’m trying the other one later this afternoon).  What I had in mind was porridge pancakes – good idea as it turned out. 

½ cup/ freshly cooked porridge

1 tbsp flour mixed with ½ tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt

a little milk

~   Mix together the porridge and the dry ingredients.

~   Add enough milk to make a dropping consistency.

~   Dollop into a hot greased (bacon fat?) pan and cook, turning once, till crisp and golden on each side.

~   Serve with honey or maple syrup.

Don’t worry – any inherent goodness in the pancake is utterly offset by the butter, syrup, honey or whatever that you add to it.

Day 2 – Mangoes on Toast

We had a ripe mango laying about the place getting a bit anxious to be eaten so I made myself some toast, buttered it, topped with sliced mango, sprinkled with sugar and grilled till heated through.  With a dollop of cream cheese I found in the fridge this was even more delicious that I had anticipated.  Might do it again.

Day 3 (today) - Bacon Singin’ Hinnies

Why not pin this for later?

Singin’ Hinnies are a kind of pan baked scone like creature from Up North – they usually contain fruit and are often cooked in animal far, usually (oddly enough) lamb fat.  The sound of the fat melting on the griddle made a singing sound.  “Hinnie” is a Northumbrian term of endearment as, apparently, is “fatty”, “poopants” and “you big woofus”.
  

We often have them for breakfast, fruitless and cooked in olive oil, none of that namby pamby healthiness for us today though.  As you may know I have a supply of very nice bacon fat so it suddenly occurred to me to us some of it as the fat in my singin’ hinny dough.

225 g self raising flour OR plain flour and 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

a pinch or two of salt

50 g cold butter or margarine OR BACON FAT!

80 ml milk

~   Stir together the flour and salt and baking powder, if using.

~   Add the fat and “rub in” with your fingers until a breadcrumb texture is achieved. 

~   Add the milk and mix in, by hand is easiest, till you have a soft dough. 

~   Add a little more milk if too dry or a little more flour if too wet – you need a soft but not sticky dough. 

~   Lightly knead just a few times to bring the dough together.

~   Roll out to about 1 cm thick and cut into rounds or wedges (traditional hinny shape) or anything else you fancy.

~   Grease a frying pan which has a lid and heat on the stove. 

~   Lay the hinnies in the pan, turn down the heat and put on the lid.

~   Cook for a few minutes till the dough has risen and the bottom of the hinnies is golden.

~   Turn and cook without the lid (thus avoiding condensation dripping onto the hinnies and making them soggy) till cooked and golden on both sides.

~   Eat warm, split and buttered with whatever you fancy.

I took the liberty when making my Bacon Hinnies, of frying up one rasher of bacon till really crisp and crumbling it into the dough for lovely salty crunchy bits.

Genius Scone Recipe

Variations of this recipe can be used to make a surprising variety of things from traditional scones to cobblers, slumps, dumplings and doughnuts so I have written a book about it; The Secret Life of Scones.

Eating breakfast in our cockpit is a lovely way to start the day.  We watch the pelicans diving in their ungainly manner, our neighbour the turtle doing his thing and there are a couple of puffer fish who have lived under the boat for years.  I think they are married and, so far as we can tell they are still happy together – always kissing. 

For the past few days there have been some people camping in Hobie Cats (small catamarans) on the beach and sailing about the bay with their pretty sails up.

Hobie Cats

Non-Hobie Cat