American Style Pancakes with Smoked Bacon, Poached Ducks Egg and Hollandaise

A good breakfast should set you up for the day…….. It’s our hangover cure, our pre workout energy, or just something to kick start the metabolism. Sadly more often than not its a quick coffee and soggy toast. Bring back breakfast!

For the Hollandaise

• 125g butter
• 2 egg yolks
• ½ tsp white wine vinegar
• pinch salt
• splash ice cold water
• lemon juice
• cayenne pepper

1. Melt 125 g butter in a saucepan and skim any white floaty bits from surface. Keep the butter warm. Put 2 egg yolks, 1/2 tsp  white wine vinegar, a pinch of salt and a splash of ice-cold water in a glass bowl that will fit over a small pan. Whisk for a few minutes then put the bowl over a pan of just simmering water and whisk continuously until pale and thick, about 3-5 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the melted butter, bit by bit until it’s all mixed in  and you have a creamy hollandaise. (If it gets too thick, add a bit of water.) Season with a squeeze of lemon juice and a little cayenne pepper. Keep warm until needed.

For the pancakes

3 Large Eggs

140 g Plain Flour

1 Heaped tsp of Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

1. Separate the eggs. And sift the flour, a pinch of salt and the baking powder in to a bowl. Add in the milk and egg yolks and whisk until smooth.

2. Whist the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks.

3. Gently fold in to the egg whites making sure you dont knock out the air.

4. Heat a good non-stick pan and add a little sunflower oil.

5. Using a ladle drop in the mixture to the size of your liking. Fry on one side until you start to see the bubbles forming and flip over to finish on the other side.

I’m not going to tell you how to grill bacon so you can work that bit out yourself but for poaching the eggs get a nice deep pan and add in a good splash of white vinegar. Swirl it around to create a little whirlpool. and drop in your eggs for a couple of minutes.

Assemble the dish and dress with a little chopped chives.

Enjoy!