Angela Nilsen transforms the traditional breakfast making it lighter, yet still delicious. Photographs by Simon Wheeler

Reproduced from the April 08 issue of Good Food magazine on sale now. Subscribe now and save 30 per cent.

The challenge
Have you ever tucked into a full English breakfast, then felt racked with guilt? My aim was to reduce the guilt of eating what is ostensibly a plateful of fried everything, by creating a healthier, more contemporary version - while offering the same taste satisfaction as a traditional fry-up.

Seeking advice
'A traditional cooked English breakfast is not a problem, it's how often you eat it, so regard it as a treat,' Good Food's nutrition expert Fiona Hunter told me.

She advised choosing sausages with the highest meat content, and the least fat, salt and other more dubious ingredients. 'Have one really good sausage rather than two of uncertain quality. Bacon can be very fatty and salty, so choose a lean back bacon, trimmed of fat. Choose free range eggs, preferably omega-3 enriched, and if you must have fried bread, for more fibre choose wholegrain or wholemeal.'

Fiona then advised that I 'go big' on healthy ingredients. 'Mushrooms can count as one of your five-a-day and cooked tomatoes are a good source of lycopene. This meal does lack vitamin C, so serve it with fruit and juice.'

To reduce the fat, I knew I needed to eliminate the word 'fry' from the cooking equation. Since B&Bs serve this meal on a daily basis I spoke to Kit and Penny Noble, who run Nonsuch House in Dartmouth, to see how they coped. They advised using good-quality, local ingredients, cooking quick and to order, and using heavy non-stick or griddle pans that need the minimum of oil.

Testing times
I began by frying eggs in minimum oil and, to save basting in extra oil, covered them with a lid part way through. This worked beautifully, but wishing to eliminate all cooking fat, I decided to poach instead.

Poaching eggs has never been my forte and various cookbooks offered conflicting advice. So I reached for Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking (Penguin Books) and tried her poaching tip:

'First, dip each egg in a saucepan of boiling water while you count 30 seconds. This process coagulates a thin layer of white nearest the shell so when the egg is poached the rest of the white tends to fly about less than when the raw egg is put straight into the water.' Her advice was brilliant and the egg was fashionably shapely.

A fresh approach
Reluctant to lose the fried bread, I decided to make it healthier by brushing granary bread with a little olive oil then griddling it. To get the best from the sausages, it was more about buying wisely. I eliminated oil by grilling them, and as long as I kept turning them, they self-basted and remained juicy.

Grilling also worked best for the bacon and, by leaving on just a minimum of fat, it didn't get dry. After trying various tomato varieties, I loved the sweet juiciness of whole cherry tomatoes. For gutsy flavour and texture, brown portobello mushrooms won out, and grilling brought out their natural juiciness.

The verdict
For my final test there wasn't a greasy puddle in sight, and a glass of fruit juice and mix of fresh fruits balanced things out.

Nutritionist Dr Wendy Doyle had warned that this meal would never be superhealthy. What surprised me though, was how many merits this trimmer version had compared to a traditional fry-up (about which Wendy could find nothing good to say).

Fat was almost halved (which reduced the calories), salt was very slightly reduced, fibre was doubled and the meal was now a good source of calcium, folic acid, vitamin C and omega 3s, and counted as 4 of 5-a-day. I'll still regard this meal as an occasional treat, but at least I won't feel so guilty about it.

The ultimate makeover

The full English breakfast

Serves 2
Prep 5 mins
Cook about 20 mins

Good source of calcium, folic acid, vitamin C and omega-3s, counts as 4 of 5-a-day

4 rashers good-quality lean unsmoked back bacon
4 brown-cap portobello mushrooms
12-16 cherry tomatoes on the vine, room temperature
6 tsp olive oil
2 slices granary or wholegrain bread, cut on the diagonal
2 good quality free-range pork sausages, minimum 86 per cent pork
2 free-range, omega-3 rich eggs, room temperature few drops cider vinegar
2 x 100ml glasses freshly squeezed orange juice, plus 1 orange, cut into wedges
handful fresh blueberries (about 50g)

1. Lay the bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes on a foil-lined tray. Brush the tops of the mushrooms with 3 tsp of the oil and both sides of the bread with the remaining oil. Set aside. Heat the grill to very hot. Lay the sausages on a small foil-lined tray (best not to prick good-quality sausages or they may lose moisture). Grill for about 10 mins until cooked, turning occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, three-quarters fill a small pan, and a wide, deep saute pan with water. Bring both to the boil. Lower an egg into the small pan and remove after 30 secs. Crack the egg into a cup. Add vinegar to the larger pan then, using a wire whisk, swirl the water around to create a whirlpool. Remove the whisk and slowly tip the egg into the centre of the whirlpool (see top picture). When the water comes back to the boil, remove the pan from the heat, cover and leave for 3 mins, then remove the egg. Place in a bowl of warm water while you cook the other egg - or cook both eggs an hour ahead, leave in a bowl of iced water, then reheat for 1 1/2 mins in simmering water before serving.

3. Meanwhile heat a griddle pan to very hot. Place the tomatoes, bacon and mushrooms under the grill for 3-4 mins without turning. At the same time, lay the bread on the griddle pan, cook until crisp, about 1 min each side. Drain everything on kitchen paper.

4. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on a cloth. Arrange everything on a plate and serve with the juice and fruit.

PER SERVING 618 kcalories, protein 37g, carbohydrate 37g, fat 37g, saturated fat 11g, fibre 5g, sugar 21g, salt 3.05g

Making it healthier
A traditional English breakfast contains 807 calories, 63g fat, 18g saturated fat and 4.52g salt. Here's how I made it healthier:

Reduced fat I used good-quality sausages and lean trimmed bacon, plus I grilled, poached and griddled instead of fried, and drained on paper towels after cooking.

Upped fibre I used granary bread.

Reduced salt I chose ingredients wisely by checking and comparing amounts on the labels of bread, bacon and sausages.

Upped vitamin C I served the breakfast with tomatoes, orange juice and fruit.