Birthday Breakfast

It's my birthday, how exciting!  My baby and I are going to have a day out, the sunshine has unfortunately been replaced with grey cloud and rain showers, so no birthday picnic as planned, perhaps we'll have to make do with a nice pub lunch instead.

I've had some rather lovely presents, look at them!

I'm a lucky, lucky girl!

Now, on to the subject of birthday breakfasts.  I believe in special breakfasts on special occasions - sitting down with your nearest and dearest, and enjoying a good feed, rather than grabbing some toast on the hoof or just opting for cereal, as I often do on a working day.  This morning I first of all had a cup of Earl Grey and a slice of chocolate cake (Mr Wiggles, a caterpillar cake!).  This was followed by a glass of cava, and Omelette Arnold Bennet.  If you haven't experienced this light-as-a-cloud omelette, invented at the Savoy Hotel in the 1920s, I recommend you give it a go on your next special occasion.  It's worth the effort.  I follow the recipe from Daisy Garnett's excellent book, 'Cooking Lessons', but have adapted it to use smoked salmon instead of haddock, and don't add parmesan.

100g smoked salmon
100ml cream
Knobs of butter
4 free range eggs
Seasoning

There are three stages to this recipe - first of all, combine the cream, knob of butter and salmon in a saucepan, and heat through gently.  Separate your eggs - the yolks are beaten with a splash of cream and black pepper.  The whites are whisked until forming soft peaks.  Add the yolks to the saucepan, then fold in the whites.  Heat another knob of butter in a heavy-based frying pan and pour in the combined mixture.  Over a medium heat, let it gently cook until it's fairly set, then finish it off under the grill.  Voila!