Brunch on Saturday: Corn cakes and avocado salsa recipe and Daylesford delights

This week in Brunch on Saturday we make corncakes with avocado salsa and recommend an organic farm food cafe in Gloucestershire

A deliciously runny poached egg ties this dish together

Brunching in...

Corn cakes with grilled bacon, avocado salsa and poached eggs

Serves 4

A classic breakfast dish that we’ve had on the menu for forever and a day, originally inspired by the corn cakes at Bill’s in Sydney. The poached egg is the key to making this dish great – it has to be oozy and runny.

2 tablespoons olive oil
8 rashers (slices) bacon
1 teaspoon vinegar
4 eggs

Corn cakes

250 g (9 oz/1⅔ cup) cup plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 eggs, lightly beaten
180 ml (6 fl oz) milk
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups corn kernels (about 4 cobs)
½  red capsicum (bell pepper), diced
1 long red chilli, deseeded and chopped
3–4 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced
1 handful coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
1 handful flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped

Avocado salsa

2 avocados, flesh finely diced
juice of 1 lime
2 handfuls coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely chopped
1 tomato, diced
¼ red onion, finely diced
4 drops Tobasco sauce
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

To prepare the corn cakes, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper into a bowl. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the egg, milk and sugar. Add the dry ingredients along with the corn kernels, capsicum, chilli, spring onion and herbs and mix until well combined. To make the salsa, gently combine all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add ¼-cup amounts of the corn cake batter to the pan and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove and set aside to drain on paper towel, then repeat with the remaining batter. You should get eight corn cakes. In the same pan, fry the bacon until cooked to your liking. Drain on paper towel.

Meanwhile, fill a shallow lidded saucepan or deep frying pan with about 5 cm (2 in) of water. Add the vinegar and bring to the boil over medium–high heat. Turn off the heat and carefully crack the eggs into the water, one at a time. Ensure you are doing this as close to the water surface as possible so as to contain the egg. Place the lid on the pan and leave the eggs to poach for 2–3 minutes. The eggs are cooked when the whites are solid. Stack two corn cakes on each plate and top with a poached egg. Serve with the bacon and salsa on the side.

Alimentari by Linda & Paul Jones. Published by Hardie Grant, £20

(Daylesford Cafe)

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As one of the most famous farmshops in the country, the Daylesford at Gloucestershire is an organic lover’s dream which began life more than 35 years ago.

The award winning café in the Cotswolds, which was one of the first of its kind, is led by Carole Bamford and is about as transparent as food gets. Everything you see around you, goes into the food. From the vegetables and fruit grown on site in the market garden, to the dairy and creamery next to the café – where all the milk, butter and yoghurts are produced – and the freely roaming animals who are fed on green pastures. The bread and pastries are also made on the farm, which come in the form of toasted fruit and walnut bread and buttery croissants and pain au chocolat.

(Daylesford Cafe (Daylesford Cafe)

The real attraction on the menu are the signature dishes, which have their own Daylesford touches; the breakfast uses streaky bacon and Portobello mushrooms, and the bacon roll has homemade brown sauce. The best of the bunch is the poached eggs on toast with Daylesford Gloucestershire cured ham and hollandaise. There’s also the option to have egg-whites only scrambled or super greens eggs benedict – for the super health conscious.

But the café has not shied away from current food trends, with pure coconut water on the menu and a dedicated section to “supercharged morning”, featuring goji berries, flax seeds, cacao and black quinoa, but the menu is down to earth enough to still warrant a simple glass of (homemade) milk.