New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients 1 lb potatoes, 1 lb clams, 1 pint vegetable stock, 4 bay leaves, 1/2 tsp dill, 50ml double cream, 2 tbsp butter, 2 stalks celery, 1 white onion, 1 tbsp plain flour. Bread

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour

As part of the World Cup Food Challenge 2014, this recipe represents a traditional meal of America. If, like me, you're vegetarian then separating a portion to add sweetcorn to just before the clams go in makes this really easy dual-chowder! It's a lovely hearty soup, just the thing to comfort one on a cold day (please ignore the fact that it is June!) - especially if you serve it in a bread bowl!

1) Peel and slice the potatoes into inch cubes and set aside, peel the onion and dice it along with the celery.

2) Add half the butter to the pan and sautee the onion and celery until completely soft (about 10 minutes), then add the remainder of the butter along with the flour and whisk until a roux has formed.

3) Add the potatoes, bay leaves and vegetable stock to the pan and stir through. Once the potatoes are cooked, add the clams and dill and allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes.

4) Hollow out a bread bowl by cutting a circle into the top of the crust and scooping out the soft centre with your fingers. Stir the cream into the soup, season to taste with salt and black pepper, then ladle into the bread bowl.

Deep fried cauliflower with brie dip

Ingredients Cauliflower, breadcrumbs, 1 egg, brie, mustard, almond milk.

Preparation: 15 minutes

This recipe goes hand in hand with my deep fried brie with cauliflower dip - I tend to serve them side by side for anyone who doesn't like cauliflower. Because naturally, me being me, I refuse to accept that a person could deny themselves such luscious, creamy goodness!

1) To make the brie dip: Slice the rind from the brie and add to a milk pan along with the almond milk and mustard. Warm gently whilst whisking until melted and creamy. Set aside, reheating if necessary

2) To make the breaded cauliflower prepare the cauliflower by removing the leaves and slicing the stem to the base. Slice around the stem to release the florets.

3) Prepare two dishes - one with a beaten egg in it and one with the breadcrumbs. Dip the cauliflower into the egg, then roll into the breadcrumbs until coated - double dipping if necessary.

4) Bring a pan containing a couple of inches deep of vegetable oil to the boil (or turn on your deep fat frier) and fry the cauliflower until golden brown.

Spinach & nutmeg en cocotte

Ingredients Per two eggs: 100g spinach, 50g manchego, 1 clove garlic, nutmeg, black pepper, bread.

Serves: 1 person per egg Preparation: 15 minutes

Eggs en cocotte are essentially baked eggs with STUFF, which let's be honest is a scrumptious concept. When topping food with a poached egg, the yolk is the best part - a luscious creamy puddle of sauce - and the white is merely a boring flavourless shell so I like to take the opportunity to sex up the white of an egg, then put it back together again as above. Spinach, nutmeg, cheese, garlic... what is not to love?

1) Chop the spinach (or blitz it in a food processor) and sautee it in a pan along with the crushed garlic. Give it a good squeeze to make sure there is no excess spinachy juice, then grate in the manchego and season with black pepper and nutmeg.

2) Separate the egg white from the yolk and whisk the white lightly into the spinach mixture until just combined. Decant into ramekins and then add one yolk per ramekin.

3) Sit the ramekins in a baking tray filled with boiling water and bake in the oven at gas mark 5 for 8-10 minutes (until the white barely wobbles).

Serve with dippy bread and revel in the lusciousness!

Irish rarebit

Ingredients Bread, 200g Irish cheddar, 100ml Guinness, spring onions, butter, 1 tsp mustard, pepper, 50g breadcrumbs, 2 egg yolks.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Once upon a time, I believed that the best rarebit sauce was created with Newcastle Brown Ale and Lancashire cheese. Despite the booze and cheese being English, it was still a Welsh Rarebit in my book and bloody lovely it was too. And then, then I learned of Irish rarebit. Oh glorious Irish rarebit with your cheesey bread sauce and your tangy, stouty flavour. Bread on bread! GENIUS. This recipe is so 100% Irish* that I am considering my nationality - soda bread, Irish cheddar, Irish stout and even Irish butter. LUSCIOUS.

*erm... except for the spring onions and the mustard... shut up.

1) Slice the spring onions and add to the pan along with the stout and mustard. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat.

2) Grate in the cheese and whisk until amalgamated with the stout, then whisk in the two egg yolks and breadcrumbs and season with pepper and if necessary, another teaspoon of mustard.

3) The sauce should be thick, but pourable. Toast the bread on one side, then butter, allowing it to rest for a moment until the butter has melted before adding the cheese sauce. Grill until the top begins to colour and serve hot.

Roast garlic & avocado dip

Ingredients 1 avocado, 2 garlic cloves, bread (I baked olive loaf this morning).

Serves: 4 Preparation: 15 minutes

There are some things I prepare for lunch that are so quick and simple that I hesitate to call them a recipe, but this was just too luscious not to share. 2 ingredients and some good bread and you have the perfect lunch or quick supper or a fabulous dip.

1) Roast the garlic cloves in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Peel the skins off and add to a blender.

2) Slice the avocado in half and use a tablespoon to scoop it from the shell. If the avocado is ripe enough the stone will pop out with a spoon but another good method is to prick it with a knife and pull it out. Add the avocado to the blender and pulse thoroughly until the mixture is smooth, creamy and the garlic has become thoroughly amalgamated. Season to taste.

3) Spread onto the bread or use for dunking crudites and crackers.

Fine bean, pea & mozzarella scramble

Ingredients Egg (one per person and one for the pot!), fine beans, peas, butter, bread, mozzarella pearls.

Preparation: 5 minutes

I am blessed with a very low-maintenance child who will happily play in the kitchen whilst I bake bread or make cheese. However, some days he quite rightly wants a bit more attention and knocking together a quick veggie scramble is absolutely delicious, and gives me enough of a protein kick to fuel our post-lunch playtime. In this hot Summer weather, peas and fine beans give this a sweet, refreshing crunch which is perfect with the creamy mozzarella and egg.

1) Top and tail the beans and slice into sixths. Add equal parts of peas to the pan (about 1/2 cup per person) with a knob of butter and sizzle for 2 minutes.

2) Whisk the egg and pour into the pan, stirring constantly until it begins to take form. Stir in the mozzarella pearls (always use from room temperature, it has no business being in the fridge!) and serve with toast.

Garlic bread strata

Ingredients 4 slices garlic bread (Garlic, butter, parsley, bread) 1 egg, 1/4 cup double cream, parmigiano.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 20 minutes

What do you do with leftover garlic baguette? In this house, there is very rarely any left over I'll be honest, Scott Pilgrim isn't the only person addicted to it. But, when I was pregnant I had gestational diabetes and had to limit my carb intake. This meant where previously I could cane half a garlic baguette, I had to stick to one or two slices maximum. Hence... leftovers. This also works the morning after a night before when you NEED a good breakfast and all you have is the remnants of the buffet table.

1) Place the leftover garlic bread in an ovenproof dish.

2) Whisk the egg and double cream together and pour over the bread. Top with grated parmigiano and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees.

Summer berry pudding

Ingredients Blackberries, raspberries, pomegranate jewels, blueberries, sugar, bread

Preparation: 10 minutes (+4 hours)

A summer berry pudding is the kind of traditional English dessert that everyone knows how to make, but it's fallen somewhat out of fashion. Goodness knows why because it's so quick and simple to prepare and absolutely delicious. I prefer mine to look marbled with juice rather than saturated with it because it's prettier, but this is entirely your call.

1) Add the berries to a milk pan with a tablespoon of sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. Stir through for about 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and you are left with mostly intact berries, and a sweet fruit juice. Take off the heat and set aside.

2) Cut the crusts from slices of bread and dip into the juice from the pan. Then line your pudding bowl with bread, assembling a square piece at the bottom, triangles at the sides and a circle set aside for the top. Press the bread firmly together so that it forms a solid case. I like to line my timbale cases with cling film first to make it easier to slide the pudding out, but I've never had one stick yet so this is again, your call.

3) Slice the pomegranate in half and hold over a bowl, fruit side down. Bang sharply with a wooden spoon to release the jewels. Alternatively, if the pomegranate is very ripe, it's sometimes as quick to just break it in half and peel off the membrane.

4) Stir the pomegranate jewels into the pan of fruit and spoon into the bread cases, pressing down firmly. Add the circle of bread to the top, then close the cling film up and press a saucer onto the top of the pudding bowl. Refrigerate for 4 hours, then open the cling film, put back on the saucer and turn the pudding out.

Mushroom crostini

Ingredients Bread, mushrooms, vintage cheddar, 4 cloves garlic, 100g tomato passata, 30g basil, butter

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

I am allergic to mushrooms, so they feature very rarely in this blog. Recently I bought some to make The Husband a mushroom scramble, and then had some extra to use up - crostini is the perfect quick solution.

1) To make the tomato sauce, crush 4 cloves of garlic and tear the basil. Simmer on the stove for 15 minutes and set aside.

2) Finely chop the mushrooms and sautee in a little butter until soft.

3) Slice the bread and top with a layer of tomato sauce, mushrooms and a little grated cheddar. I used Isle of Mull cheddar - the stronger the better here!

Pancetta & Mushroom scramble

Ingredients 100g Pancetta, 3 eggs, 3 chestnut mushrooms, bread, butter

Serves: 2 Preparation: 10 minutes

I am allergic to mushrooms, so they very rarely feature in this blog. I do however cook them for my husband from time to time, and this is one of his favourite breakfasts.

1) Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk them. Season lightly with salt and black pepper and set aside. Good scrambled eggs should never be diluted with milk.

2) Finely slice the mushrooms and add to a pan along with the pancetta and a generous knob of butter. Stir through for 5 minutes on a low heat, then add the eggs.

3) Turn up the heat a little and continually stir the eggs to prevent them sticking to the bottom of the pan. Within about 5 minutes the eggs should be firm but not dry. Serve on toasted bread and eat immediately.

Veggie Scramble

Ingredients 4 eggs, 200g spinach, 4 baby plum tomatoes, 1 avocado, 50g gruyere, bread, salt, black pepper, butter

Serves: 2 preparation: 15 minutes

There's a reason that this blog is called Everything Goes With Toast - in my humble opinion, when it comes to quick snacks, there is little in this world better than gilding a piece of toast with beautiful cheeses, vegetables, fruits, jams... I don't think I'll ever exhaust the potential of a slice of toast.
This is one of my favourite lunches - a thick wedge of crunchy, seedy bread topped with meltingly soft - well seasoned eggs and the juicy, silky combination of tomato, avocado and spinach. Packed full of goodness, super quick to make and utterly irresistable.

1) Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk thoroughly. Season with salt and black pepper (I've discovered this amazing seaweed salt recently - soooo savoury) and set aside.

2) Pop the tomatoes off the vine and slice in half. Add to the pan with a knob of butter, the spinach and stir through until the spinach has just begun to wilt.

3) Halve the avocados and scoop the fruit from the shell, discarding the stone. Cut the avocado into chunks and add to the pan, along with the eggs and grated gruyere.

4) Stir constantly for 3-4 minutes until the eggs are cooked, then spoon the veggie scramble onto a slice of toast and serve immediately.

Since becoming pregnant, I have really enjoyed spreading hummus onto the toast before adding the eggs... but I can't guarantee that this will suit everyone's tastebuds! It's a good source of extra protein if nothing else!

Apple, Fennel & Mozzarella salad

Ingredients 1 Apple, mozzarella, 1 fennel bulb, pork loin, bread, balsamic vinegar, cucumber

Serves: 2 preparation: 10 minutes

First things first - do not even attempt this recipe if you have chilled mozzarella. I know that I say this every time, but mozzarella needs to be at room temperature - chilled mozzarella is rubbery and flavour impaired - room temperature mozzarella is yielding, meltingly perfect and tastes wonderful. This salad works really well with layers of seared pork medallion but I went for layers of lightly toasted bread being a vegetarian and it worked beautifully. The sweetness of the apple, the fragrance of the fennel... gorgeous. This also works really well with a good sharp goats cheese.

1) Remove the core from the apple and slice finely with a mandoline. Mine allows me to slice straight into matchsticks, but if yours does not - slice the slices into matchsticks! Repeat for the fennel and the cucumber and toss together in a bowl.

2) Layer in a circle mould with the cheese and meat/bread - packing the salad down quite tightly.

3) Serve with a drizzle of balsamic glaze

Roast peppers with lavender goats cheese

Ingredients 1 Bell pepper, lavender goats cheese, lavender vinaigrette, spinach, rocket, watercress

Serves: 2 preparation: 30 minutes

This recipe uses two of my recent lavender recipes - lavender goats cheese and lavender vinaigrette. It might sound like a whole lot of lavender... but you can never have too much. This is absolutely delicious, and such a lovely twist of the classic roast pepper and goats cheese combination.

1) Slice the tops from your bell peppers, remove the core and seeds, then slice between the membranes to leave 3 or 4 slices of pepper flesh. Discard the core, seeds and membranes. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

2) Top a slice of bread with the roast pepper, and add the lavender goats cheese balls. Roast in the oven for a further 5 minutes, then dress with the salad and eat hot.

Avocado egg mayonnaise

Ingredients 1 avocado, 2 eggs. Serving suggestion: bacon, spinach, read

Serves: 2 Preparation: 10 minutes

Being all pregnant and stuff, I cannot make my own mayonnaise as I'm not allowed unpasteurised, raw egg things. I know that I can buy pregnancy-friendly mayonnaise but it makes my soul die just a little bit. My solution was to puree some gorgeous creamy avocado instead. Oh so silky, oh so yummy and much better for you than mayonnaise as avocado is a Good Fat!
My darling hubby enjoyed this as part of his bacon sandwich.

1) Boil the eggs for 8 minutes, then remove the shells and cut into chunks

2) Halve the avocados and scoop the fruit from the shell, discarding the stone. Pulse in the blender until smooth, then season with salt and black pepper to taste.

3) Stir the eggs into the avocado and you're done!

Avocado & egg on toast

Ingredients     Rye bread, avocado, Rachel's Organic greek yoghurt, egg

Serves: 1 preparation: 5 minutes

This hardly counts as a recipe as it's so quick and simple but I've been getting so many requests for snacks recently and this is absolutely lush...

1) Halve the avocado around the stone, twisting one half to release it. Pop out the stone and scoop the flesh from the shell. Mash with a fork and a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt.

2) Spread onto toast (I prefer this with rye bread) and top with a griddled egg. 

Leek, pear & gruyere bread tart

Ingredients   6 slices of bread, 4 eggs, 2 pears, 1/2 leek, butter, gruyere, Rachel's Organic Greek Yoghurt.

Serves: 6 preparation: 20 minutes

Sometimes you need to make a tart in a hurry and don't have a 1 hour to fanny about chilling it and a further 10 minutes blind-baking it. Using a bread base is quick, fun and gives your tart a fun frilly appearance. This might be fast food - but the gorgeous combination of pear, gruyere and leek makes it impressive enough for company too.

1) Cut the crusts from your bread and roll them flat with a rolling pin. Press them into a tart case firmly with the edges overlapping a little.

2) Peel and core a pear and dice the flesh. Sizzle in a pan for 2-3 minutes with a little butter and the chopped leek. Layer onto the bread base.

3) Whisk the eggs with 2-3 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt and stir in a little grated gruyere, then pour over the bread base.

4) Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.

Roast grape & ricotta garlic bread

Ingredients Seedless red grapes, ricotta cheese, 100g butter, 3 cloves garlic, 50g parsley, baguette

Serves: 1 Preparation: 30 minutes


I adore garlic bread. Like Scott Pilgrim I could eat it for every meal - there is something so comforting about the crisp outer shell of bread filled with meltingly soft butter-drenched bread and the sharp aroma of roasting garlic. This recipe makes excellent party food - a slathering of ricotta and the heady fruit really is a fabulous companion to the garlic.


1) To make garlic bread, simply peel and crush the garlic cloves, finely chop the parsley and stir together. Using room temperature butter, cream it until it is at a pliable consistency and stir through the garlic and parsley.


2) Slice the garlic bread at intervals - do not cut all the way through the bread, go to just over half way


3) There are two methods for making garlic bread, each equally effective. The first is to form the garlic butter into a sausage shape, wrap it in cling-film and allow it to become hard in the fridge. Then slice it and use these discs of garlic butter to slide between the partially sliced baguette. The second is to literally just spread the soft garlic butter into the slits of the partially sliced baguette.


4) Bake the bread in the oven for 8 minutes, ensuring the "unsliced" base of the bread is at the bottom so the butter does not seep out! On a separate tray, roast the grapes.


5) Tear off or slice through the bread and spread with ricotta. Top with the grapes and serve.

Welsh rarebit

Ingredients   Bread, Newcastle Brown Ale, lancashire cheese, double cream, english mustard.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 10 minutes


This is a dish of division. The division between people who call it Welsh Rarebit or Welsh Rabbit. The division between people who use Cheddar and those who use Lancashire cheese. The division between people who use stout versus ale, sourdough bread versus seeded wholemeal... the list is endless! I have spent the majority of this week perfecting this recipe - I used different cheeses, different ales and stouts and I can confirm with absolute confidence that you will not find a better Welsh Rarebit sauce than that made with Newcastle Brown Ale and Lancashire cheese. Cheddar is too oily, too sharp tasting - the piquancy here comes from the mustard. I also prefer to serve this on seeded wholemeal bread, but watch out for my bacon bread recipe coming later today!


1) Reduce half a cup of ale in a milk pan, stir in a teaspoon of English mustard, a tablespoon of double cream and remove from the heat.


2) Grate the lancashire cheese into the pan and stir through until a completely smooth, elastic sort of fondue has formed.


3) Toast the bread on one side before spooning about 4 tablespoons of sauce, bit by bit onto the bread, allowing it to soak up the sauce as you spread it out.  When a layer of sauce about 1/3 of a centimetre high has settled on the bread, it's ready to grill.


4) I like to grill this until the cheese has begun to form a crisp brown layer, and run down the sides of the crust - this leaves a melting, soft centre of cheese but has a wonderful flavour on the top.

Boursin mushrooms

Ingredients 3 slices of bread, 200g chestnut mushrooms, 50g garlic and herb Boursin, pumpkin oil, butter

Serves: 1 preparation: 5 minutes


This recipe is The Boy's favourite breakfast - crispy melba toast topped with gooey, rich mushrooms - tangy with garlic and herb cheese and a nutty pumpkin oil finish. Being deathly allergic to mushrooms I can only promise that the sauce is magnificent, but magnificent it is.


1) Slice the crusts from the bread and press flat with a rolling pin. Toast lightly  and set aside.


2) Finely slice the mushrooms, then sautee in a frying pan for 3-4 minutes with a little butter and a drizzle of pumpkin oil. Finish by stirring through the boursin and serve, spooned onto the melba toast.

Chilli & egg tarts

Ingredients    1 slice bread, 1 egg, smoked chilli jam, butter

Serves: 1 preparation: 10 minutes


These tarts are so simple to make and so cute! For those of you with children, or for those occasions where you have lots of guests for breakfast they're a fun way of serving breakfast - the combination of egg and chili works so well for a saucy treat.


1) Rub a little butter onto a muffin tin and set aside.


2) Slice the crusts from the bread and discard, then flatten the bread with a rolling pin. Slice the bread in half and press one half into the muffin tin, then press the other half onto that layer and trim the top of the bread so that its level with the top of the tin, forming a case.


3) Add a teaspoon of smoked chili jam into each muffin tin.


4) Crack an egg over the top and then bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees, or until the egg has formed. Serve hot.