Brunching with yoga
Brunch Bowl with a Poached Egg
This is the second buckwheat recipe on the blog this last month. Buckwheat is the new quinoa. Trust me. It is hardier, holds its shape in a cold salad (or brunch bowl) way better than mushy quinoa ever would. And despite the fact I had an exam in cooking quinoa (I kid you not), I still have issues with the perfect way of cooking it.
I devised this brunch bowl recipe for a yoga brunch picnic with Secret Urban Escape , a blissful event involving over an hour of alfresco Vinyasa yoga with Mona Heep, followed by a picnic brunch in a secluded secret park in West London. I usually practice yoga in a studio, so had forgotten how different the experience is outside. Looking up to the stunning blue sky (we were lucky) instead of a grey ceiling made an inspirational change. Saluting the sun with each sun salutation, literally.
So often we rush in and out of our exercises classes, barely having time to converse with our fellow yogis, and strengthen our communities. By socialising with fellow yogi’s after some mood enhancing yoga and delicious (in my opinion 😉 ) health food I felt nourished in more ways that one. Secret Urban Escape have lots of fun events planned throughout the summer in London so do check them out HERE.
Secret Urban Escape: Yoga| Mona Heep, Secret Urban Escape’s Iris Louwerens and me | Lounging picnic brunch
For me brunch is all about the egg, poached or soft boiled if you’re recreating this at home, or hard boiled for a picnic. Since fresh off the double boiler hollandaise isn’t a picnic possibility, I opted to top the egg with a cooling avocado cream. For those less into eggs at the picnic, the other option was a overnight soaked oat Bircher muesli with seasonal compote and cacao nibs for some crunch.
This brunch bowl recipe is merely a template for your creative palate. The basic formula is:
Roasted root vegetable + cooked grain + herby dressing + seasonal leaves + egg + creamy sauce
You could for example switch the sweet potato for squash, celeriac or beetroot, the buckwheat for quinoa or wild rice and the rocket for watercress (or kale in the autumn). Or just use veg. Or just use grains! One of the yogis at the event said she’d loved to recreate this at home, and was already excited about using different ingredients, and or eating it for an office lunch instead. Did I mind? Of course not. Whilst I spend time and energy creating recipes for the blog and for my projects, the main aim is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and get cooking healthful food. I don’t care if you don’t follow them exactly, but I do care that you’ve been inspired to cook a healthful dish as a result!
Brunch Bowl with Poached Egg and Avocado Cream
- 2 large sweet potato, peeled, cut in a small dice
- tsp olive oil
- Salt
- 80g Buckwheat groats, rinsed
- Herb dressing (see below)
- Handful fresh rocket
- 4 Cooked eggs (or more)
- A dollop of avocado cream (see below)
- Black pepper
- Half a bunch of parsley
- 60mls olive oil
- Half a lemon, juiced
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 avocado
- 2 Tbs water
- Tbs apple cider vinegar
- tsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Toss the sweet potato cubes in olive oil and a pinch of salt, and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until softened but still retaining some bite.
- Meanwhile cook the buckwheat using the pasta method - boil a saucepan of water and cook for 15 minutes. Drain and rinse well. Lay out on a plate or sheet pan to cool and dry.
- Next make up the dressing by blending the parsley with the olive oil, lemon juice and the salt.
- Then the avocado cream by blitzing all the ingredients together till completely smooth with a hand held immersion blender. Set aside.
- When the potato and buckwheat have cooled, toss them together and coat with all of the parsley dressing. If you are serving straight away, toss through the rocket. If not, leave this part till you're ready to assemble your dish as the rocket will wilt.
- Cook the eggs to your liking, then divide the potato-buckwheat mix between 4 serving bowls and top with the egg. Add a dollop of avocado cream and finish with some black pepper.
What would you put in your ultimate brunch bowl?
2
It’s all about the egg for me as well. I would have them every day if that seemed a sensible thing to do. I too am experimenting with buckwheat, but I still have a ways to go to wean myself off quinoa. I didn’t know it was the new quinoa, but I will take your hint and try including it more. Roasted as kasha is lovely and so gorgeously nutty. Wonder if that would work okay here. Anyway, the retreat (I saw your posts on IG) looked fantastic. I am a yoga failure (my wrists are too dodgy) but would happily come among to the picnic!
Fellow egg fan! I almost do have them everyday, then I go through a muesli faze, and wonder what all the fuss was about! ha. I think I’m the only person that believes buckwheat is the new quinoa, so don’t worry if you can’t/won’t go with MY flow. Will have to try the kasha soon too, am sure it would work here, just has a nuttier taste. Thanks Kellie!
Oh Ceri this sounds awesome! My kinda breakfast bowl. If you could pop down to Bath right now and make it for me that’d be fab! Your yoga brunch sounded so lovely!
Thanks Sus! Sure no problem, will jump on a train asap ;0). Thanks for stopping by!
This recipe has been popping up all over my social media feeds. Glad I finally clicked on it 😀 looks amazing!!! I want it nowwwwww. I’ll definitely have to make it at the weekend.
Ah how funny 🙂 Brunch bowl gone viral! Thanks for taking the plunge and clicking on the link, glad you weren’t disappointed! Enjoy!
This looks so good! I bought a packet of buckwheat groats ages ago but still haven’t tried to make anything with them. Now I have a recipe I will definitely give it a go! Have pinned!
Thank you Ciara. Have fun exploring buckwheat! I definitely think it deserves a bit more kitchen love, and is so versatile too!
wow what a fantastic brunch idea. I love the idea of the avocado cream. I have some buckwheat sitting in my kitchen so must try using it as I do like the flour so am sure I’d like this grain too.
Thanks Nazima. Avocado on anything is a good idea – but as a cream with egg – even better. Have fun exploring cooking with buckwheat! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!