Brunch Ideas Lydia Papaphilippopoulos- Snape
Warwick Street Kitchen/Saint Kitchen
Great Stay At Home Brunch Ideas & Coffee Ideas
To listen to this special Corona Creative episode of our Birmingham based food podcast Breaking Bread with Warwick Street Kitchen & Saint Kitchen owner Lydia and hear her fantastic story & get some cracking brunch ideas. Press play on the player above, alternatively you can listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the list on this LINK
Corona Creative Series Brunch Ideas
Welcome to the first of our very special Corona Creative episodes. As well as our usual dive into the stories behind some of our favourite food & drink businesses, we are getting some useful hints and tips for you to try during the lockdown. This was an awesome chat that I enjoyed very much, Lydia is a unique and inspirational leader who gets the best from her team, which makes her two restaurants some of the brunch spots around. During the lockdown, Lydia is refusing to sulk or let her head drop. Instead, Lydia is using this time to develop and plan ready for when she can reopen.
Books Recommended
Setting The Table- Danny Meyer
Ego Is The Enemy- Ryan Holiday
7 Habits Of Highly Effective People- Stephen Covey
Grit- Angela Duckworth
Lock-down Coffee
One thing most of us are missing right now is a proper cup of coffee, Lydia shares her tips for getting a decent cup at home. Unlike a lot of the home-coffee tips Lydia isn’t snobby or pretentious about coffee at home which makes her advice more accessible than most.
Brunch Ideas From Home
It is impossible to think of Warwick Street Kitchen or Saint Kitchen without thinking about their amazing brunch. For this Corona Creative series, I wanted to get some recipes from the best, and Lydia’s two restaurants are definitely two best places to get brunch, Lydia has some Brunch ideas for you and has very kindly shared some recipes for you.
The Perfect Poached Egg
An integral part of brunch is the humble poached egg, simple in theory but a nightmare to perfect. There are a few important things that you need to poach the perfect egg.
Quality and freshness, the fresher the better, also a good quality free-range egg. We use cacklebean eggs, who are based in the Cotswolds and pride themselves on raising completely free-range hens with the right food; a happy hen equals a tasty egg.
Pan volume, you need a pan that is the right volume for the eggs, for four poached eggs you want to use a pan that can hold 2 litres of water.
Vinegar, you need to add white wine vinegar to the water before bringing to the boil, for the 2 litres of water you need to add 4tbsp of white wine vinegar. (do not add salt to the water as this may break the egg up)
Temperature, bring the pan of water and vinegar to a rolling boil and reduce the temperature of the pan to a simmer, about half temp on the hob.
Add eggs, crack the eggs straight into the water, you don’t need to worry about spinning the water or cracking the egg into something first as long as there is enough vinegar in the pan and the water is the right temperature
Cook, 2 minutes, stay with the eggs and check after the first minute or so with a slotted spoon just raising them out of the water gently, each egg is different in size and weight so cook times may vary, the eggs should have a nice wobble and the white should be set, remember the egg will keep on cooking once out of the water so always aim on the side of under as they will
firm up.
Strain, take eggs out of pan, place onto a towel and let them sit for 30 seconds, this will get rid of any excess water.
Enjoy!
Since we’ve taught you how to make the perfect poached egg, it only makes sense that we share some ideas on what to put them with. All of the following are great on toast with poached eggs. Enjoy and be sure to tag us (@Warwickstreetkitchen) in your food photos so we can see the results!
Baba Ganoush VG (Serves 2-4)
2 aubergines
Prick aubergines with a fork and then place directly on an open flame on top of a gas hob or under a grill on its highest setting until skins char and turn black and the flesh feels soft, turning every 5 minutes, this will take roughly 20 minutes. Once cool cut in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon into a blender.
1 clove garlic
1/2 lemon, juice fresh
1 tbsp tahini
25ml rapeseed or olive oil
Add remaining ingredients into a blender with the aubergine and blend to a paste or pulse briefly, if you want more texture.
Roughly chop the coriander, mix through and season to taste.
Ras el hanout hummus VG (serves 2-4)
400g chickpeas, drained and washed
1/2 lemon, juice
1tbsp tahini
1 tbsp ras el hanout
1 clove garlic
30ml rapeseed or olive oil
1tsp salt
Strain chickpeas off and wash, leave to drain off any excess water. Place all of the ingredients above into a food processor and blitz until smooth.
30ml water
If necessary adjust the consistency of hummus with extra water, taste and season
Muhammara VG (serves 2-4)
1 red pepper
2 vine tomatoes
1 red chilli
1 small red onion
1tbsp smoked paprika
3 cloves garlic
1tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
salt
pre-heat oven to 200c
Deseed and quarter peppers, cut tomatoes into four and rough chop the chilli. Take the skin off the onions and cut into six wedges, place whole garlic cloves and all other ingredients on
to a baking tray, drizzle with oil and cover with paprika and salt. Place into oven and roast for 15 minutes. Mix everything well and roast for another 15 minutes, making sure you are keeping eye on it, you are looking for the vegetables to char slightly around the edges.
Remove from the oven and leave too cool.
60g walnuts
Place walnuts in a frying pan over medium heat and toast until they start to colour.
1tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
3tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 small handful fresh coriander
salt
Place roasted vegetables, toasted walnuts, and remaining ingredients into a food processor and pulse, you want the texture to be quite chunky but brought together into a paste. Season
to taste.
This will keep well in an air-tight container in the fridge for about a week.
Smashed avocado with harissa VG (Serves 2)
Smashed avocado:
2 avocado, peeled & de-stoned
1/2 fresh lime, juiced
salt & pepper
Place avocado in a bowl with the lime juice and mash, season to taste.
Pre-heat oven to 200c
Harissa:
This will make slightly more than what is needed but will keep in the fridge for a week
2 red pepper
4 red chillies
Roast peppers and chillies off whole in the oven for 20 – 30 minutes, you are looking for the skins to char and start to blacken, leave to cool. Peel and deseed peppers, take the stalks off
the chillies and any skin that comes away (don’t worry too much about removing all the skin)
and place in a food processor.
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 clove garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
25 ml rapeseed or olive oil
1/2 fresh lime, juice and zest
1 small handful coriander
salt
Place the remaining ingredients in the food processor with the chillies and peppers and blitz until smooth, season to taste.
All photos used with thanks by @ritual_visuals & @Jenniferpeelphoto
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Warwick Street Kitchen
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If you enjoyed this episode of corona creative why not take a look back at our episodes with
Purnell’s Head Chef Luke Butcher
Breaking Bread Podcast- The Food Blog You Can Listen To
Absolutely brilliant episode – especially during the lock down and brilliant to have the recipes to try at home whilst we have time!
Love both Warwick Street and Saint Kitchen.
Lydia is such an inspiration. What a down to earth, honest and “real” business person.
Listening to the podcast has given me kick up the back side to pursue by passion for food and coffee. Ive wanted a career change for ages as this is where my heart is – my ideal job would be working in/owning somewhere like WS/S Kitchen. Lydia has made me think again and do something about it – this is the year!