EXTREME CUISINE: With lunch becoming a hunt for a sandwich and more dinners being eaten out, breakfast is the best time for some DIY, writes Haydn Shaughnessy
Breakfast is the time of day when most diets go by the board, involuntarily abandoned in the rush to work. Yet breakfast is also the only time of the day that many of us have complete control over what we eat. Snatched lunches and the continuing trend to eat out more gives control away (over what we eat but also over our health). At no other meal of the day are we so prone to the ready meal - the cereal packet. This is an aide memoire for those who want to think outside the box.
Oats
Oats have anti-inflammatory properties as well as lowering LDL cholesterol and being an intense source of essential minerals. Soak a bowl of oatflakes overnight in good quality water. You don't need to cook it. Dice an apple, add a bit of honey, sprinkle over some cracked flax seeds (they need just two seconds in a coffee grinder) or roasted sunflower seeds. To make a real meal out of it, put the soaked oats into a bowl, add freshly cracked flax seeds, a layer of quark (or unflavoured fromage frais), then add a fruit salad of mango, strawberry and melon. Mix, and enjoy.
Bread
This is a tip for the victims of bread. Toast the bread on both sides and then take a knife and carefully work it through the middle of the toast, opening up the yeasty inner bread. Now toast both of these inner parts. This is toast melba, developed in the 19th century by people suffering digestive acid. It can save you from an unpleasant morning. It comes out crisp and makes a perfect dipper.
Fruit salads
In our house we try once a week to pig out on fruit at the start of the day. Melon, apple, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries... maybe even a mango. Mango fans claim that besides being delicious and rich in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, mangos contain an enzyme with stomach-soothing properties similar to papain found in papayas. These comforting enzymes act as a digestive aid. They are also a good source of potassium, a badly needed mineral for most of us.
A fruit breakfast will leave you feeling hungry about an hour and a half later. Make sure you have a plan for what to eat at 11am.
I'm no great fan of juicing. I prefer to eat rather than drink fruit because I know it will be digested properly. How we digest juices is a mystery to me. Victoria Boutenko, author of Raw Family, writes that fruit juices are best combined with green vegetable juices. And she insists that the juice be blended so that the particles are small enough to digest even in the mouth.
Nuts and seeds
Another not so obvious option is to combine fruit with a selection of nuts and seeds. I always roast the nuts and seeds to get rid of yeasts and rancidity.
Most nuts and seeds are pre-shelled and lie around in a warehouse for weeks before being packed in clear plastic bags and then left to sit on a shelf for weeks in a shop usually under intense light. Not only will the fats in them go rancid, the exterior will build up its own baddies. It's insane to eat any food that's been treated this way without first roasting them. Always leave nuts/seeds to cool down after roasting.
Fish
I love kippers but I hate industrial dyes, with which kipper smokers customarily coat their fish these days. And the high salt content also makes me wary.
On the other hand, a good quality smoked salmon in an omelette or with a few asparagus tips and a boiled egg, does me fine.
Salmon, asparagus, egg. Combine a little milk with a couple of eggs and heat in a frying pan, add chopped parsley and just before the omelette is ready add a few strands of wild smoked. Wild salmon gives you protein and Omega 3 (farmed salmon is Omegaleted) but if you cook the salmon for too long you destroy the oil. Keep the cooking time well below one minute.
For boiled eggs and asparagus, boil an egg or two until they are hard. Shave the outer skin off your asparagus and simmer in a little water for five minutes or until tender. Crumble the egg onto a plate. Add asparagus, a little olive oil, and a turn of the black pepper mill. A little of the wild smoked salmon also helps.
Carrots
If I have to reach for the toaster a rye sourdough suits me far better than wheat. For a topping, spread a light cream cheese or cottage cheese onto toasted rye bread and add julienne strips of carrot with a few chives.
Soup
Barley miso makes a quick rich soup. It may not sound like breakfast but it is the most digestible meal I've ever eaten. The miso comes in handy jars from the health food shop and you need just a teaspoonful per person.
When you get up start soaking a bunch of your favourite herb in water along with a dash of fermented cider vinegar.
Boil a pan of water and into it place as much buckwheat noodle as you can eat. Buckwheat noodle cooks within seven minutes but needs a good wash to get rid of all the starch. Rinse it thoroughly in cold or boiled water.
Take a deep bowl and pour boiled water over a teaspoon full of organic barley miso. That gives you the basis for the soup. It will be rich and salty. No need to season. Once the buckwheat noodles are cooked tip them into the soup. Drain the herbs and add in as you eat, taking as much or as little as you like.
Breakfast, quick and under your own control.