The meal: American breakfast
Much like an English fry-up, an American-diner breakfast tends to consist of cheap eggs and unhealthy trans fat-loaded meat. This home-made alternative uses quality ingredients and smart cooking techniques to help you achieve your gym goals and satisfy your taste buds.
The swap: White flour for wholemeal
‘Pancakes are normally loaded with blood sugar-spiking white flour that encourages fat storage,’ says Gray. ‘Wholemeal flour reduces these and provides an extra hit of gut-protecting fibre.’
The bonus: More energy, less inflammation
Bacon provides plenty of energy-boosting vitamin B12, while eggs are rich in joint-soothing omega 3 fatty acids.
The recipe: (Serves 2)
4 rashers of unsmoked back bacon / 4 free-range eggs / 30ml semi-skimmed milk / 320g Cumberland sausage meat /4 spring onions, finely chopped / 100ml rapeseed oil / Maple syrup to serve / Salt and pepper to taste.
For wholemeal pancake batter: 230g wholemeal flour / ½tsp salt / 50g caster sugar / ½tsp bicarbonate of soda / 1tbsp baking powder / 530ml semi-skimmed milk / 2 free-range eggs
To make
- Thoroughly mix the sausage meat and the chopped spring onions together and season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
- Divide the mixture equally into four and mould the pieces into round-shaped patties roughly 1cm high by 5cm wide.
- Place them in the fridge for 10–15 minutes before cooking.
- To make the pancakes, mix the ingredients for the batter together using a hand blender or whisk and pass them through a fine sieve.
- Heat a little of the oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat, then spoon about a quarter of the batter into the centre of the pan, creating a pancake roughly 1cm high and 5cm wide.
- Lightly fry the pancake until it’s golden brown on one side, then flip it over and repeat on the other side.
- Remove the pancake from the frying pan and place it on a plate. Repeat the process to make another three pancakes.
- Grill the bacon and the sausage patties under a medium heat, turning halfway through, until heated through.
- Whisk the eggs and the semi-skimmed milk together and season with a little salt and pepper.
- Place the egg mixture in a small, thick-bottomed saucepan and cook it over a medium heat, stirring until you have light, fluffy scrambled eggs.
- Spoon half of the egg on each plate, along with two rashers of grilled bacon, two sausage patties and two pancakes.
- Drizzle maple syrup over the pancakes and serve.
