Breakfast eggs and baked beans

I was thinking what to have for breakfast on a Sunday morning a week or so ago and thought I would like something a little different from kippers and scrambled eggs (not that I bought any kippers that weekend) or an omelette or any of the other usual breakfast dishes so I did a little research and came across this recipe published online by Rika Livingstone in Posh Journal.

What struck me was the simplicity of the recipe, not least because I had all the ingredients and there are only four of them – baked beans, egg, grated cheddar cheese, and hot sauce.  There is a fifth, optional, ingredient if you have it to hand – chives.

The addition of hot sauce in this dish makes it a slimmed down version of Huevos rancheros and the fact I have chosen a quasi-Mexican dish will come as a complete surprise especially to my friends Michelle and Joe and their daughters Olivia and Sophia who know all too well my trenchant views on Mexican food!  I have never been a fan of Mexican cooking and developed my robust opinion after walking through a Mexican market in San Antonio, Texas, decades ago, where most of the food being cooked seemed to be nothing but chicken gizzards and other unmentionable and inedible parts of the bird.  Having so said, I have modified my view slightly after nephew-in-law Paul introduced what seemed to me at least, a more modern approach to Mexican food when he managed a branch of Chiladas in Plano, Texas.

The sauce that Ms Livingstone mentions in her recipe is Louisiana Hot Sauce.  I am not sure if this brand is readily available here in the UK but by good fortune and after a rummage in my kitchen cupboard I came across a bottle of Alvin’s Hot Sauce which was given to me by Natalie and Paul after their return from a holiday in Trinidad and it is this sauce I used.

Whereas Louisiana Hot Sauce is made with cayenne peppers (and made in Louisiana USA) Alvin’s Hot Sauce is made with “Fresh Scotch Bonnet Peppers” as the label proudly states – along with the fact that it is Island made in Trinidad and Tobago.

However don’t despair if you can’t get hold of either brands mentioned above because one that is readily available, at least in Waitrose, is the Encona brand West Indian Original Hot Pepper Sauce.  If you are fussy about what type of peppers are used in your hot sauce Encona uses Scotch Bonnet peppers and Habanero peppers!  And if you wish to make your beans and egg more exotic you could use Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce from Thailand which is made with birds-eye/Thai chillies

What you’ll need for one, two, three, four or more people is:

• Heinz baked beans – 200gr/7oz per person
• 1 egg per person
• Hot sauce to taste
• 40gr/1.5oz grated cheese per person
• Chopped chives – optional

What you’ll need to do:

• Heat the oven to 180C/350F.
• Divide baked beans between individual oven-proof dishes  (I used a 10cm/4″ ramekin dish for one person).
• Stir in an amount of hot sauce into the beans.  NB add sparingly at first and check before adding more if required.
• Add grated cheese on top of the beans.
• Add egg to the centre of each dish and finish off by adding a little more cheese over the egg.
• Place dishes on a baking tray and cook in the oven for about 12 to 15 minutes depending on how you like your eggs – softer or more set.
• Remove from oven and sprinkle with fresh chopped chives and serve with toasted bread on the side if you wish.