I was about thirteen the first time I tried Marmite. As is no doubt a pretty normal reaction, I spat it out instantly and retched dramatically while scrubbing my tongue in protest. God, it was vile.
I came around to Marmite sometime last year. My flatmates BenAnna started spreading it ever so slightly over their toast. There was something about it that looked…well, yum.
I tentatively tried it one morning, spreading the tiniest amount of the stuff over some nice toasted Polish bread. By gum, it was yum!
Since then, I’ve gradually upped my doses of Marmite on toast, and I positively crave the stuff when I’m hungover. It must be all that B12.
I got this little breakfast idea from The Jamie Oliver Magazine. It’s great. If you’re a fan of Marmite, go for it. If you’re not a fan, give it a try. You might be surprised!
Jamie’s Marmite Soldiers with Boiled Egg
Boil up your eggs as you like them. My perfect egg is achieved by popping the egg into salted boiling water and leaving it for 5 minutes.
Get some nice white bread, toast it up and add butter and marmite. Be as generous or as stingy with your Marmite, according to your taste.
Chop up your toast into Marmite Soldiers, take the top of your egg and dunk. You don’t even need salt in the egg because of the saltiness of the Marmite.
I washed mine down with some coffee and the 100th Issue of The Observer Food Monthly, which is packed with loaaads of recipes as well as Alex James from Blur giving out about the lack of decent cheese at Glastonbury. Tee hee!
Categories: Breakfast
July 19, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Marmite is one of the seven wonders of the world.
July 19, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Hey Darragh – thought you might be a fan of this
July 20, 2009 at 8:15 am
Oh Aoife I LOVE reading your blog. I was away and when I got back I was so excited to see lots of new posts to read! I have been curiously craving eggs at the moment (vegan fail) and would love to eat this, actually scratch that, Id love to come over and eat it with you and read the observer! Sunday bliss = papers, brekkie and oodles of tea…
July 20, 2009 at 10:45 am
I love marmite – it’s a must have for me on my scrambled eggs on toast – mmmmm
July 20, 2009 at 7:56 pm
The poppyseed toast soldiers stuck in the egg look magnificent
July 21, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Hey Ciara – thanks for your lovely comment! Sorry there aren’t more veggie friendly recipes. Did you get your hands on the cornucopia recipe book yet? It’s got your name written all over it!! We have to meet up soon, been too long
Hiya Lola-Lu, I would never have thought to put it with eggs, but it really works!
Hai foodhoe – merci, merci, I think it’s my own personal photographic triumph to date. Glad someone appreciated it
And thank you for visiting the blog!
July 22, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I’ve never tried Marmite but I’ve always been of the view that I’d be one of those people who won’t love it. Bt that egg looks yummy. Or maybe it’s just day one of my diet getting to me.
July 23, 2009 at 9:46 am
Hey Lottie – give it a go, it might surprise you! And take it from someone who knows, you should NOT be looking at food blogs when you’re trying to diet
July 23, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Aoife, what a spectacular photo! Actually, they’re all spectacular. Wow, that looks good … and I don’t even know what Marmite tastes like! LOL
July 27, 2009 at 10:31 pm
where’d you get your robot cup? I loves it!
July 28, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Hai Diva – you must get your hands on a tub of marmite. Many people will tell you to avoid it like the plague but it has a sweet sort of acquired taste to it. To me, I feel like I’ve overcome a culinary challenge learning how to appreciate it. And yeah, food shouldn’t be hard or difficult but….ah well, Marmite is great and kind of hard to describe!!
Hiya Manuel! Good to see you round these parts and thank you kindly for your compliment on the mug. I got it in Avoca in Dublin about six months ago but it’s a member of a series of Robot Family mugs. I love it too, actually. In fact, it’s the only mug I’ve ever kept clean/tannin free in my life. There’s only one tiny tea stain in it. That’s love if ever I saw it!