Do you eat vegetables for breakfast? When I once suggested including mushrooms and tomatoes for weekend breakfasts as a way to boost vegetable intake, a nutrition scientist told me that cooking vegetables for breakfast was an unrealistic idea - people just wouldn't do it, she said. But not everyone agrees - trying to fit all your daily five serves of veg in at dinner time doesn't work either, Professor Caryl Anne Nowson. Professor of Nutriton and Ageing at Deakin University told me recently - we need to think about spreading vegetables across the rest of the day too.
No one's suggesting cooking veg in the early morning rush of weekdays, but on weekends when there's more time, tomatoes and/or mushrooms stewed in a little olive oil served on sourdough sounds pretty realistic to me, as does a poached egg on some wilted spinach, or wilted spinach mixed with ricotta and garlic on toast. Last week, when capsicums were cheap, I remembered an egg and vegetable dish I'd once eaten in Spain which I think makes a good breakfast too. It goes something like this.
You saute some tomatoes, capsicum, zuchini and garlic on the stove, and when they're they're soft and mushy, pour them into a shallow ovenproof dish. If you're serving four people, make four wells in the veggie mixture and crack a free range egg into each one. Bake in a moderate oven until the eggs are poached (15-20 mins) and serve with some cracked pepper on top, and good bread on the side.
I'm still trying to figure out why some vegetables seem to make better breakfast food than others - somehow broccoli and carrots at 8am lack the same appeal as mushrooms, tomatoes, leftover potatoes fried in olive oil - or even sweetcorn. Maybe this is a cultural thing and the cuisines of other countries have good ways of including other vegetables - I have a feeling that congee, the rice porridge that's common at breakfast in Asia sometimes comes with vegetables.
If you've got time to stuff a mushroom this weekend, try this easy dish that I've added to my repertoire of veggie breakfasts. It has a lots of flavour, makes a big breakfast if you if you serve the stuffed mushrooms with eggs and whole grain toast - and makes bacon redundant.
Stuffed breakfast mushrooms
You need 2 big (saucer-sized) mushrooms per person. Remove the stems, spray the mushroom cups with oil and bake in a moderate oven for a few minutes while you're mixing the stuffing.For four large mushrooms, you need 8 tblspns cottage cheese (or try ricotta), 2 garlic cloves, crushed, 6 tblspns pine nuts, 4-5 tablspns fresh breadcrumbs, freshly ground black pepper and a little salt if you want. Saute the chopped mushroom stems in olive oil with the garlic and pine nuts until the mushrooms are soft - a couple of minutes. add the mushroom mixture to the cottage cheese, breadcrumbs and basil, add pepper and salt. Pack into the mushroom cups and bake in a moderate oven until hot - 15-20 minutes.
If you use vegetables for weekend breakfasts, tell us what you cook.
你是否會把蔬菜當作早飯呢? 我過去經常在周末的時候以蘑菇和西紅柿作為早餐,以提高蔬菜類食物的吸入量。然而,一個營養師卻對我說,以蔬菜作為早餐是不現實的,人們根本不愿意這么做。 但納森教授卻不同意這一看法,她認為,在晚餐的時候吸入必須的5種蔬菜也是不可行的。 迪肯大學的營養學教授最近告訴我說,我們需要在正餐以外的時間吃蔬菜。
如果你也吃蔬菜做早餐,那告訴我們你煮的是什么吧!
在繁忙的工作日里,沒有人會在大清早弄蔬菜早餐,但在清閑的周末里,用橄欖油煮西紅柿和蘑菇,再配上酵母,這對我來說是完美而現實的,當然,我還可以把雞蛋混著菠菜煮,又或者在土司上放些伴有干酪和大蒜的菠菜。 上周的辣椒非常便宜,這讓我想起曾經在西班牙吃的一道雞蛋拌蔬菜,我覺得這也可以作為一頓豐盛的早餐。 這道菜是這樣做的:
先把西紅柿、辣椒、赤泥和大蒜炒成漿糊狀,然后就可以將其倒入一個淺碟子里。 如果你要弄4個人的份量,那就準備4份蔬菜,然后給每個人一個炒蛋。 把這些材料放到烤爐里烤,直到雞蛋被煮熟為止,然后再在上面撒點胡椒,放一個面包在旁邊。
我想指出為什么以蔬菜作為早餐比其他的食物要好——不知是什么緣故,野菜、胡蘿卜的吸引力總是比不上蘑菇、西紅柿、薯條,甚至甜玉米。 也許是文化原因,或者是其他國家對蔬菜有更好的烹調方法,我覺得亞洲人通常會在早餐上以麥片粥配上蔬菜。
如果你這個周末有時間去烹調一頓蘑菇宴,那可以試試這道簡單的菜,它凝聚了我做蔬菜早餐的全部心血了! 它有多種口味,如果你在蘑菇的基礎上再加些雞蛋和土司、咸肉,那它可真是一頓豐盛的早餐了。
全菇早餐
給每個人準備兩個大蘑菇。 把蘑菇莖摘掉,在蘑菇表面灑上橄欖油,然后用微熱烤幾分鐘。配料方面,4個蘑菇就需要8小勺奶酪(或者干酪),2份大蒜丁香,6個松果,4—5塊新鮮面包,新鮮胡椒,如果你喜歡的話,還可以加點鹽。 加點橄欖油,把蘑菇莖、大蒜、松果一起炒,然后把它們放到烤好的蘑菇上,再加點薄荷、胡椒和鹽。 把材料都放進蘑菇帽以后,再用微熱烤15—20分鐘。