Easy Like Sunday Mornings | Gordon Ramsay

Merguez and Fontina stuffed croissants. OK, big and bold. When I was living in France, I stayed there for three years. Once, twice a week, I treated myself to the most amazing, bold breakfast, and it started off with these beauties here. Merguez. Cheap, but incredibly tasty. Start off with a nice hot pan. Merguez in. It's a very spicy sausage. Doesn't need any help, doesn't need any chilli. Just a touch of salt and pepper. You can smell the spice. They're starting to release all that wonderful oil, that flavour in there. Add a couple of cloves of finely sliced garlic. Spread the garlic across the pan. It instantly changes colour. Takes on this nice, dark, rich, golden colour. Now, take a little bit of the heat out with the parsley. The stalks of soft herbs like parsley and coriander can be used to impart flavour during cooking, but the leaves should always be added just before serving to give maximum colour and fragrance. And then finish that off with my capers. Amazing. Beautiful. Now, take your croissants. They're literally 24 hours old, so they're crispy on the outside. And just slice off the lid. This recipe is a great way to use up any leftover croissants from the day before. I used to cringe when I saw the French cooks throw away croissants. I used to cry, thinking, oh, my God. Do you have any idea what you're throwing away in terms of flavour? Whatever you do, do not wipe out that pan. Dunk your croissants, mopping up all that amazing flavour and caramelising the inside. Look at that. Beautiful. And don't forget the lids. And then get your thumbs and go inside the croissant. All I want to do now is just create a little pocket and just manipulate the croissant. Now, this is where it gets exciting. Mix up the capers, the garlic, the sausages. Look at the colour. All that wonderful, delicious flavoured oil. Now, some cheese, but not just any cheese. Fontina cheese is, like, the number one cheese for grilling. And because it's a very rich cheese, you shave it thinner than you would a white truffle, but it gives a really nice saltiness and a light, smoky flavour. A touch of pepper. A bit of salt. Place these big boys on the tray. Literally 30 seconds. On the grill. Here we go. Nice. Crisp. Packed full of flavour. Now, top them on that for me. It's almost like being back in Paris. Except this time, I don't have to share them with the French. My ultimate big and bold breakfast. Merguez and Fontina stuffed croissants, a great way to start the day. Boiled eggs with a soldier that will make your taste buds stand to attention. There's something quite nostalgic about a boiled egg. It's something that's never lost. It's magically sliced that top off and dunked that soldier into the yolk. You can't mess with a deliciously runny yolk, but this is what I like to dunk in it. An anchovy soldier. Anchovies into a glass of water. No salt, naturally. Yeah, anchovies are very salty, so just a touch of pepper. Rich in omega-3s, the amazing tinned anchovy is a natural flavour enhancer, and I use it to pepper many a savoury dish, from roast lamb to the humble toasted soldier. Grind them... to a really nice, smooth paste. The smell of that is almost like being at the seaside. Now, get your soft butter. I just put half the butter in first. 50-50 is the way. 50% anchovy, 50% butter. That way, you've got that real nice, salty creaminess. Mix that up. Mm. That's absolutely delicious. Trust me. Finishing that anchovy butter. On a slice of grilled fish, I'm in heaven. The bread. This is a sourdough. Delicious, very crusty. Take four nice slices. Now, get that pan nice and hot. A couple of tablespoons of that anchovy oil into the pan. Then get your bread and lightly fry each side. The smell of that anchovy oil is incredible. Take that out. Now, bring your water up to the boil. The secret of softly boiling an egg is to place them into the water gently on a spoon. In and just tilt so they don't hit the bottom. Nice and light. Up to the boil. Count to five. Turn the gas down. Is it four and a half minutes? Is it five minutes for a soft-boiled egg? I've cooked thousands of them, and every time, it's four and a half minutes. Whilst that's boiling, get your bread. Spread that on there. That is incredible. Chopped parsley brings that kind of freshness. Goes brilliantly well with the anchovies. Hear that crunch? On. Sorry, but I can't resist. Oh, my God. Right. Gas off. One. Beauty in. Two. I feel like a five-year-old again. This is that moment when you open the vault and that little magic inside is all yours. Mmm. There's a great twist on a great classic. Wow. Perfectly soft-boiled eggs with dressed-up anchovy butter soldiers. Of eggs benedict with crispy parma ham. The secret behind a great eggs benedict is in the hollandaise. So, get your pan on, because I'm going to cook our hollandaise over a rolling boil with a glass bowl. Butter. Just put it on to melt. Three egg yolks. Separate it from the white. Tarragon vinegar. Pop that into the eggs. You can't get tarragon vinegar. Any white wine vinegar will do. Just as long as you've got that acidity in there, give some bite to the hollandaise. Put your bowl over the rolling water and just start whisking. If the eggs had direct contact with the gas, the hollandaise would become scrambled egg. Once you've got that nice, creamy texture, a nice, thick sauvignon, start adding your butter. Nice and slowly. Couple of tablespoons of butter in. Give that a really nice mix. If you don't whisk it enough, the egg yolks don't take the butter. It causes it to split. More butter. Using a big balloon whisk like this one makes it easier to incorporate air and helps prevent your mixture from separating. All the butter in. The best way to keep hollandaise nice and warm is just leave it to sit over that nice, warm water bath, and it just keeps it at a really nice room temperature. A nice pinch of salt. Fresh pepper. And then fresh lemon juice. That just really makes it vibrant, exciting. You want it like a sort of thick custard. I just want it to coat the back of the spoon so it's like you're giving a nice, glossy texture to your beautiful poached egg. Now, as the base for the eggs benedict, you cannot beat English muffins, but the ham, I'm going to change. I'm going to use the most amazing Parma ham. Get your pan nice and hot. Into the pan. It's like posh rashers of bacon. Beautiful. Mmm. Parma ham fried nice and crisp like that is incredible. Beautiful in salads. Fantastic for eggs benedict. Now, keep that pan nice and hot. I want all that flavour from the Parma ham left in there. And rather than toast my muffins, I want to put the muffins into the pan. I want them sucking up all that wonderful flavour from that crispy Parma ham. Make sure your muffins are toasted nicely. This will prevent them going soggy later. Look at that. Nice and crisp. Now, water on to boil for the eggs. Nicely seasoned, really important. And then just a little splash of vinegar in the water. That helps to set the egg white in a minute. Crack it in. While the water heats up in the pan, there's time to get organised. Lay a nice slice of ham on the base. Now, water's brought up to the boil. Turn it down and then spin your water around. Like a little whirlpool. Then get a little cup. So you just drop the cup in. Look what happens to the egg. It gets caught up in the turbulence of the water. The secret is not to boil the water rapidly, because the strength of the boil can literally explode your egg. As they start to move their way up to the top of the water, that's an indication that they're cooked. Take off any excess little bits of egg white. And then out on to a piece of tissue paper. That just drains off excess water. That stops your muffin from going really soggy. Look, they're like little beautiful mozzarella balls. Give them a little seasoning. Lift them on to a crispy parma ham. Beautiful. Now, get a nice spoon of your hollandaise. Glaze over. Try and do it in one, glazing over the whole egg. When I tell Jack, Holly and Megan and Matilda that we're cooking Eggs Benedict for breakfast, they bolt down the stairs. And let's be honest, who wouldn't run to sit in front of those? A special occasion breakfast that would make anyone feel spoiled. Eggs Benedict with crispy parma ham. Beautiful.