Clever Daddy

This week, as its Father’s day, I wanted to write a recipe for my Dad. Dads are pretty great, they can fix all kinds of things, hang pictures, know what the difference between a spanner and a screwdriver is, all the stuff that as a girl you don't really bother trying to remember. They are also good for scaring off any potential suitors, and I reckon from my experience Dads are a pretty good judge of character, if only I’d have listened at the time.

When I think about my Dad and memories of food bacon always springs to mind, well breakfast time in general. Dad would always be able to throw together a pretty decent breakfast for us when we went to stay. I also, for some bizarre reason, thought of Maccy d's. I think it's actually the old clever daddy advert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MRh_PQuqLI  that sparked the association because now I look back, I'm not sure that he ever actually took us there. However the powers of marketing are a good enough excuse for me to create a home made Mc.Muffin for my Dad.

Sausage or bacon was always a big question for me. I'm unsure why they make you choose. It’s like a mother being told there is only room for one of her children in the lifeboat. How do you decide? There should definitely be an option to have both. The lack of "Sausage, Bacon & Egg Mc.Muffin" on the menu is an epic fail in my eyes. If pushed though I’d go for bacon, or maybe sausage, no bacon… so I've put both in mine, because well, why not?

If you're not usually an fan of baking I really recommend you have a stab at making the muffins yourself. They're actually really simple to do and taste a lot better than the shop bought version. If you're lucky enough to have a nipper in the house you can always say they made them if you mess them up, which I'm sure you won't. Even so, shop bought is fine too. Who am I to judge anyway? Maybe don’t start making them at 10pm like I did though, not if you want a decent nights sleep.

So homemade or not give these a go on Sunday for a Father's Day brunch he’ll be made up (unless he is a veggie, if so then probably don’t make them). If anyone even thinks about topping theirs with a dollop of brown sauce rather than ketchup, I will be forced to withdraw the recipe, seriously…put the HP sauce down! Happy Fathers day Dad, and to all the Dads out there- enjoy!
 

The sausage, bacon & egg muffin.

Makes 6

(This recipe makes a batch of 6 muffins, they freezer really well if you don’t want to cook breakfast for 6, just slice them before freezing so you can toast them straight from frozen.)

6 good quality large sausages

6 rashes thick back bacon

6 eggs

6 slices cheese

small knob butter (optional)

ketchup, to serve

FOR THE MUFFINS

250g strong white bread flour

200-225ml lukewarm milk

10g sugar

25g butter or lard, melted

½ tsp salt

7g sachet fast action dried yeast

polenta, for dusting

1 In a food processor with a dough hook or mixing bowl combine all the muffin ingredients (apart from the polenta and milk.) Add the milk, with the machine running, you want a firm dough that’s not too sticky, but with no dry patches. You might not need all the milk, I used about 210ml. Knead by hand for 10 mins or by machine for 5-8 until the dough looks smooth, shiny and springs back when pressed.

2 Place into an oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour 30).  Remove and roll out on a lightly oiled surface until about 2cm thick. Cut out using a 6-7cm circle cutter and place on a tray lined with polenta. Dust the tops with polenta. You can re roll the trimmings too but these don’t look as good as the first roll.

3 Cover again with oiled cling film and leave to prove until doubled in size. About another hour or so. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan oven. Heat a large non stick frying pan on a medium high heat. Brown the muffins for a min or so on each side then put back on the tray, Bake for 12-14 mins, with a roasting tray of water on the bottom to create steam. Cool on a wire rack.

4 OR Open packet! Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins and shape into burger shapes. Dust in seasoned flour. Grill along with the bacon until crispy. Either fry your eggs or here is what I do to emulate that perfect weird round egg shape that Maccy’s have, grease a round ramekin, crack your egg inside. Season cover with cling film, then microwave on high for 45 seconds to 1 min (rotating the ramekin half way through) until cooked to your liking. You can do 3 at a time, they might need a bit longer though if more that one is in there.

5 Lightly toast muffins on each side under the grill and butter if you like. Put the  cheese slices on the base and grill for a few more seconds until starting to melt. Top with bacon, sausage patties and round egg. Admire, give to Dad, receive praise. Eat with ketchup and a cup of builders tea.