Serving breakfast in bed has become a Mother’s Day cliché, but as fervent foodies we think that since it’s the most important meal of the day — or so our mother’s have told us many times — breakfast deserves a second chance to prove itself as a go-to gift for mom.

For some fresh new takes on classic breakfast fare, we’ve turned to professional chefs and Firefly cookbook authors including Nicole Pisani, former head chef for Yotam Ottolenghi’s Nopi restaurant, and Christina Mouratoglou and Adrien Carré, the geniuses behind Mazi in London.

Whether the mom in your life prefers something savoury or sweet for breakfast, these delicious recipes inspired by Moroccan, Greek, and Welsh cuisine are sure to show her that you put in the extra effort this year — just like she does for your family everyday.

Bon appétit, maman!

 

Laver Bubble and Squeak(from The Seaweed Cookbook)

What you need:
1 small sweet potato
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp dried laver or nori sprinkle
½ tsp sea salt
3 tbsp olive oil
½ cup pancetta, cubed (optional)
1 cup Savoy cabbage or spring greens, shredded
Generous ⅓ cup oatmeal
1 tbsp unsalted butter, plus extra if needed
2 eggs
3 cups baby spinach
2 tbsp hollandaise, to serve
Sea salt (optional)

For the hollandaise sauce:
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp of any white vinegar of your choice
½ tsp cracked black pepper
100 g melted butter

How to make it:
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
2. Roughly chop the sweet potatoes and toss with the sliced onion, seaweed flakes, sea salt and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Spread out in a roasting pan and roast for 35–45 minutes, or until golden at the edges. Set aside until cool enough to handle (leave the oven on).
3. Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a frying pan, add the pancetta and cook over medium heat until browned, then add the cabbage and sauté for about 5 minutes until just tender. Put the oatmeal into a shallow bowl.
4. In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes to a coarse consistency. Mix in the onions, pancetta and cabbage. Shape this mixture into 2 or 4 patties, depending on whether you prefer them small or large, and then press each patty into the oatmeal so that all sides are covered.
5. Melt the butter and another tablespoon of the oil in an ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. When hot, carefully place the patties in the pan and cook for about 7 minutes on each side until golden. To make sure the patties are warm all the way through, transfer them to a sheet pan and place on the top shelf of the oven for another 5 minutes.
6. To make your own hollandaise sauce, whisk the yolks, vinegar and pepper in a bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water (it should not touch the water) until it has a pale ribbon-like consistency. Drizzle the melted butter very slowly into the egg yolks, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Set aside for later.
7. Poach or fry the eggs as you prefer and either shred the spinach or wilt with a little butter and salt in a hot pan. Divide the spinach between two plates, add the patties and serve with an egg on top and some hollandaise sauce.

Serves 2.

 

Berber Breakfast Eggs (from Casablanca: My Moroccan Food)

What you need:
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tomatoes, grated
1 green pepper, cored, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
pinch of cayenne pepper
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp water
4 eggs
Khobz, to serve

To garnish:
½ red onion, finely chopped
handful of chopped spinach

How to make it:
1. Warm up a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the tomatoes, pepper, garlic, parsley, spices and salt, give it a good stir, then add the water. Cover the pan and leave to cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it looks like there is not enough liquid in the pan at any point during the cooking process, add a couple more tablespoons of water.
2. Break the eggs straight into the sauce, re-cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny. Garnish with the chopped red onion and spinach and serve immediately with bread.

Serves 4.

 

Sweet Bougatsa with Homemade Milko (from Mazi: Modern Greek Food)

What you need:

For the chocolate milk:
800ml milk
50g cocoa powder
30g honey
60g caster sugar

For the pastry cream:
1 litre milk
300g superfine sugar
8 egg yolks
60g fine semolina
60g cornflour
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped out, or 1–2 tsp vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 lemon
grated zest of 1 orange

For the filo:
500g filo pastry
200g butter, melted

To serve:
icing sugar
ground cinnamon

How to make it:
1. First make the chocolate milk. Put the milk and cocoa powder in a saucepan over a medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring. Add the honey and sugar and continue to heat, stirring constantly, until they have dissolved. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Then pour into a clean bottle and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
2. For the pastry cream, put the milk and half the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Meanwhile, using a balloon whisk, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a heatproof bowl until well combined, then whisk in the semolina and cornflour until smooth. Add the vanilla and citrus zest and whisk again.
4. While whisking constantly, add the hot milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture in a slow, steady stream until well blended. Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan over a medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Remove from the heat and set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 475°F (240°C).
6. Lay 3 filo pastry sheets, one on top of the other, in the base of a large shallow baking tin, about 14 x 16 inches, brushing each with melted butter as you stack them. Pour in the pastry cream and spread it out in an even layer. Cover with another 3 filo pastry sheets, again brushing each with melted butter. Fold in the overhanging filo around the edges of the baking tin, making sure there are no holes, to make it look like a sealed parcel. Brush the top well with butter and bake for 15–17 minutes until golden.
7. Remove the bougatsa from the oven and cut the parcel into small squarish portions. Sprinkle with lots of icing sugar and cinnamon and serve hot with a glass of the cold chocolate milk.

Serves 8.

 

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Get the books:

 The Seaweed Cookbook

 Casablanca: My Moroccan Food

 Mazi: Modern Greek Food