Never too late for breakfast!

Since I moved to Tonbridge to be with my Woo I've met some lovely people.  Some of them were already her friends and others like the lovely Suzannah I met, oddly enough, through the Tonbridge Tweet Up (@tonbtweetup on twitter); a group of locals who meet once a month for a beer and a chat.

Suzannah has previously supplied us with a couple of lovely preserves which have had a well-deserved mention on here before.  Yesterday she dropped in on The Woo and gave her a huge pile of Winter Chanterelle mushrooms which she and her mycologist husband had foraged.  All I can say is that George certainly knows his mushrooms (and probably his onions!).

I was told to be creative.  Having recently enjoyed a lavish breakfast using locally produced bacon I decided on a breakfast/supper sort of thing.  So here's my bacon and eggs with mushrooms, tomatoes, black pudding and bubble and squeak - on toast.

In a pan I softened a finely chopped shallot with a little chopped garlic in a fair bit of butter (with a touch of olive oil to prevent it from burning).  To this was added a couple of teaspoons of sun dried tomato paste, a splash of vegetable stock and some seasoning.  In went the mushrooms for a long slow cook to enable all the juices to be sucked up by the chanterelles.

Whilst this was cooking I thinly sliced some streaky bacon rashers and pan fried them in just a touch of vegetable oil until they were crispy.  Set aside on some kitchen roll to drain.

A few cherry tomatoes on the vine were roasted for about 10 minutes in a hot oven.  They had been drizzled with a little olive oil and seasoned with a fair bit of salt, to bring out the flavour, and a touch of black pepper.

I sautéed some lovely chard in a little butter and half a clove of garlic and fried off a couple of large black pudding slices.

To serve...on a couple of slices of good bread, which were toasted and liberally buttered, I ladled out a good portion of the gently cooked mushrooms.  This was then topped with a poached egg, a healthy sprinkle of the crispy bacon and the roasted tomatoes.  The sautéed chard was served to the side on top of the black pudding and the whole dish was garnished with freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley.

I think it worked.  The chanterelles were deliciously earthy but, really, any dark mushroom such as chestnut or portobellini would work if you're not lucky enough to know a local foraging expert!

I hope I hit the spot with this one, S!