• box of chestnut mushrooms
• knob of butter
• tsp dried oregano
• slug of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
• half a teaspoon of smoked paprika
• salt and pepper

Wash and dry the mushrooms. Quarter them and fry in the butter and the oregano until almost cooked through. At the last minute season, add the Worcester sauce, stir in the crème fraîche and sprinkle over the paprika. Mix and serve at once on warm toast. Must try this with kidneys…

Serves 2.

• 400g tin of tomatoes
• 1 small onion
• butter and/or oil for frying
• some fresh chilli, chopped – I used some Ring of Fire chillis – zing!
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• salt and pepper
• tsp brown sugar
• Worcestershire sauce
• grated cheese
• 2 tortillas / flatbreads
• 2 eggs

Put the oven on a low heat.

In a pan, fry the onion and chilli in a little butter until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and fry briefly. Add the chopped tin of tomatoes, salt and pepper, sugar, a generous slug of Worcestershire sauce. Simmer over a low heat for half an hour.

Then quickly fry the flat-breads or tortilla wraps, and wrap in foil on plates in the oven to keep warm if needed. Fry the eggs, put a wrap on each plate, smother in sauce, pop an egg on each one and add grated cheese. Eat in bed.

Anyway, it turns out that they make a lot of pancakes in the Henley household, his wife being French, and here is their preferred recipe. Makes about 10-12 crêpes.

• 200g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• half litre of milk

Make a hollow in the flour and break the eggs into it. Add the salt too. Start pouring the milk in SLOWLY, beating the mixture from the middle as you go. Mix until there are no more lumps.

If you’ve got time (which you never will have, obviously), put the bowl in the fridge for an hour: not essential, but somehow makes the crepes taste even better.

Heat a TINY bit of oil in a frying pan (best put some on a bit of kitchen roll and just wipe it round the pan) and when it’s good and hot use a ladle to pour a small amount — usually half/three-quarters of a ladle-full — of mixture into the pan. Twiddle so the mixture covers the base of the pan.

When it’s cooked on one side (you can see from the surface; it kind of dries out) flip it over with a spatula or if you’re feeling daring, toss it. The secret: don’t use too much mixture in for each crepe: it should just barely cover the bottom of the pan, and make sure the pan is really hot. A too-thick crepe is no good at all.)

Suggested toppings: lemon juice and sugar, maple syrup, Nutella, strawberry jam. Yum.

I’m cracking open the Nutella, Jon!

For the granola, though… put the oven on at 230C. Well, the recipe said 230C but I think 200C might be better, depending on your oven. My first batch was a bit over-toasted (possibly because I used porridge oats rather than jumbo oats).

Mix 300g of oats with 100g each of almonds, desiccated coconut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and chopped pecans or walnuts – plus a generous teaspoon of cinnamon.

Mix 125ml warm water with 3 tablespoons of honey & golden syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or clarified butter.

Mix the oats with the syrupy gloop and spread out on baking sheet in the oven. Toast for 5 minutes, stir, put it back in for 5 more minutes and keep checking, stirring until it’s all dry and toasted.

Then put it all in a large, dry bowl and add 100g each of chopped dried apricots, sweetened dried cranberries, sultanas etc.

Allow to cool and store in an airtight container. Serve with milk or youghut and honey.

adapted from the book B&B by Hugo Woolley

Anyway, I had the yearning again today and, thanks to the combined wisdom of half a dozen different web pages, made my own version of what I now call Mollandaise Sauce – mock Hollandaise.

Serves 2.

• 2 English Muffins – only here we just call them muffins.
• 2 large free-range eggs
• teaspoon white wine vinegar
• teaspoon or more of Dijon mustard
• juice of half a lemon
• jar of mayonnaise
• 2 rashers of bacon (optional)

Lightly toast the muffins and grill the bacon if you are a carnivore.

Make a bain marie – put a bowl over a pan of boiling water and put several dollops of mayonnaise in the bowl. Stir as it heats up and slowly add a teaspoon or two of Dijon mustard, a few teaspoons of water and the same amount of lemon juice.

Poach 2 eggs in hot water with a splash of white wine vinegar. When cooked, remove the eggs with a slotted spoon, pat dry and place on a muffin. Spoon over the Mollandaise sauce. Add bacon. Enjoy!

Henry gave it 8 out of 10 – not quite as good as my eggy bread with bacon and maple syrup, but he did enjoy it. Me? I was almost there… back in the restaurant of the Heathman Hotel…

• 1 egg
• 1 thick slice of soft bread
• splash of full-fat milk
• pinch of cinnamon – more if you fancy
• maple syrup to taste
• knob of butter
• heart of gold

Beat an egg and cinnamon with a splash of milk – and a fork. Put the butter in a hot frying pan. Put the eggy mixture on a plate and soak each side of the bread in it. Put the bread in the pan and fry until a beautiful mottled brown colour. Eat immediately with maple syrup – bacon on top is perfect too!

- Smoked haddock (preferably undyed)
- milk
- Onions
- Turmeric
- Curry powder (such as Garam Masala)
- lemon juice
- Basmati rice
- eggs

Put the basmati rice on to cook, and chuck an egg in the pan, one for each person. Poach the haddock in some milk (or milky water).

Fry the onion with the turmeric and curry powder, adding the juice of at least one lemon when it’s really sizzling. This should smell great. When the rice and the haddock are cooked, add them to the frying pan, stirring as you go. Check seasoning, chop the eggs and add them, serve. Tastes great with George Watkins’ Mushroom Ketchup.