Full English Breakfast
For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with British culture. When I was 13 I started saving my babysitting money in a mason jar with a British flag taped to it. I was determined to save enough for a trip to England. As you can imagine, I did not make it to England until much later in life but when I did, it was so fun and beautiful, even in the winter.
We went to London and Cambridge where we saw so much history on every street corner and drank a lot of tea and hot chocolate. We also had a full English Breakfast consisting of sausage, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, toast, fried tomatoes, and baked beans. Oh, technically a Full English Breakfast should include black pudding but I am American and wouldn’t even know where to find that here.
Here’s a delicious recipe for English Baked Beans. Other than that, simply cook your sausages, bacon, eggs, and toast to your liking. For frying tomatoes, it’s important to cut thick slices (I like large heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes) so they hold up in the heat. Fry them in a bit of olive oil over medium heat on the stove and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Last bit of advice: this meal is best served for smaller groups, at least for the eggs. You can batch cook the bacon, beans, toast, and sausage then ask your guests how they like their eggs and make each plate “to order” if you can so everything is as fresh as possible.
As they say in one of my favorite BBC shows, “do tuck in, old boy!”
xo Enjoy!
English Baked Beans
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 3-5 people
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon garlic powder (or 1 clove minced garlic)
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2½ Tablespoons tomato paste
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
Directions
1. Place the olive oil and garlic in a medium-sized pot and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes
2. Add the remainder of the ingredients except the beans and stir together
3. Mix in the beans then turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the sauce has thickened
4. Salt and pepper to taste and serve with sausage, eggs, bacon, fried tomatoes, and toast
Prep Note:
When you open a can of tomato paste and only need a couple of Tablespoons for the recipe, put the rest in a plastic freezer bag and divide it into Tablespoon-sized squares that you can easily break off and use for the next time. 🙂
