Eleanor says: “If there’s one thing that can make a hash brown (which is already an almost perfect food product) better, it’s cheese. And if you’re going to go to the effort of making yourself breakfast you might as well make it this recipe, because it has every component of an excellent brekkie except bacon, though you could easily add that when you bake the hash browns. Now there’s an idea… If you start seeing this on the brunch menu of every overpriced restaurant in London, you’ll know who to credit.”

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• extra virgin olive oil
• 4 frozen hash browns
• 30g cheddar or mozzarella, grated
• 1 egg
• salt and black pepper

To serve:

• crispy chilli oil
• ½ avocado, sliced
• small handful of fresh
• coriander, shredded
• juice of ¼ lime

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).

Add a little olive oil to a small ovenproof frying pan or baking dish and add the hash browns. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Take the pan/dish out of the oven and sprinkle over the cheese. Crack the egg into the middle of the hash browns and season with salt and pepper. Bake for another 5–10 minutes until the egg is cooked to your liking.

Top with a spoonful of crispy chilli oil, the sliced avocado, coriander and the lime juice.

Eleanor says: “If you’re going to make one recipe from this book, make it this one! Well, actually, make them all, but definitely include this one. It. Is. Divine. It may seem simple, and it most definitely is, but it is mighty. The crisp bounce of the gnocchi replaces the bread traditionally used in Spanish ‘pan con tomate’ and takes it from a light lunch to a more substantial meal. Good quality tomatoes are essential here, as well as generous seasoning, as that’s where most of the flavour comes from.”

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 good-quality large vine tomatoes
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• flaky sea salt
• extra virgin olive oil
• 150g gnocchi
• 5g fresh basil leaves, torn if large

Method

Start by grating your tomatoes onto your serving bowl or plate. Use the large hole of the grater and grate until you are left with the skin of the tomato, which you can discard. Add the garlic to the tomato and mix together. Season with salt and a good drizzle of olive oil.

Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat and add another good drizzle of olive oil to the pan. Add in the gnocchi and fry for 4–5 minutes until golden and crispy. Season with salt then spoon over the tomato mixture.

Scatter the basil over the top before serving.

Eleanor says: “All hail the sticky toffee pudding and its deep, rich, date-filled sponge and luscious, buttery caramel sauce. There’s a reason it seems to be everyone’s favourite pud. Despite it’s saccharine description, this manages not to be sickly thanks to the molasses flavour of dark brown sugar and a suggestion of spice from the black treacle. A scattering of salt at the end also helps balance the flavours. As with many recipes in this book, the easiest way to make this is to place your pan on the scales and weigh everything directly into the dish.”

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the batter:

• 25g Medjool dates, chopped into small pieces
• 25g boiling water
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• 20g dark brown sugar
• 10g black treacle
• 15g butter, softened
• 25g self-raising flour
• pinch of bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt

For the sauce:

• 15g butter
• 15g dark brown sugar
• 50g boiling water

To serve:

• flaky sea salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).

Place the dates in a small pie dish or cast-iron frying pan. Cover with the 25g boiling water and let sit for 20 minutes to soften slightly.

Once soft, add in the rest of the ingredients for the batter and mix everything together thoroughly. Flatten out the batter slightly then put the butter and sugar for the sauce on top of the batter – don’t mix them in. Gently pour over the 50g boiling water so that it sits on top of the batter.

Bake for 35 minutes, then leave to cool for 10 minutes before eating to allow the sauce to settle. Sprinkle with the flaky salt before eating.