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Eggs Benedict – with a twist

eggs benedict

I’m a morning person. During the week I’m up at 5:00, at the gym by 6:00, and at my desk by 8:00. I usually eat breakfast at work; oatmeal, or cereal…something healthy and quick. On the weekend I start out much slower but eventually, around 10:30 or so I decide to make something delicious for breakfast. Today I craved Eggs Benedict. The thing about EB is that making the hollandaise requires 4 ounces of butter and a lot of whisking and tempering the sauce so as not to overcook it. But since I’m still on my Tastes of Spain kick I thought I might be able to make a sauce with olive oil, it might be more like an aioli but it could have a hollandaise texture. A quick check on the interwebs confirmed that this is commonly done with great success and I also discovered the hollandaise in a blender technique which tosses the whisk and tempering worries right out the window.

eggs benedict

Eggs Benedict invites substitution and additions…rather than lame English muffins I used slices of baquette, brushed with garlic and olive oil and grilled on the griddle. Instead of Canadian bacon I used speck (smoked prosciutto).

The hollandaise is easy to put together. Put 3 egg yolks, a tablespoon of hot water, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt in the blender jar. Heat 4 ounces of extra-virgin olive oil in the microwave for one minute on high. Process the eggs on the lowest speed for 30 seconds or until well blended. With the motor running on low gradually dribble the olive oil into the blender…don’t try to speed this up, just go really slow and dribble the oil in as the motor runs and it’ll transform into a lovely velvety sauce. Once all the oil is added let the blender process it for 20 seconds more. Pour it over the baquette, speck,egg stack and garnish with some grilled asparagus. Serve immediately.

The olive oil hollandaise has a robust flavor and was easy to put together. It matches well with the speck and the richness of the poached eggs. The baquette was a bit tough but did add a good texture. Best of all this sophisticated looking, great tasting breakfast was ready in less than 10 minutes.

April 5, 2009 | Filed Under asparagus, bread, breakfast, eggs, cheese, dairy, food, pork, quick and easy, recipe | 12 Comments 

Bacon Doughnuts with Maple Glaze – Vote For Hope

bacon doughnuts with maple glaze

I cannot be clear enough about this…if you love doughnuts and if you love bacon then you must make these bacon maple doughnuts…they are infinitely superior to plain doughnuts, more addicting than crack muffins, and fraking tasty with a hot cup of coffee…really they’re enormously excellent!

These babies are super simple to make; dice up a quarter pound of the best bacon you can find and cook it until crispy, let it cool a bit then work it into the doughnut dough, roll the critters and fry them up all according to the directions for the plain doughnuts. Top them with a glaze made from powdered sugar and real maple syrup. WoooHooo…trust me on this, you do not want to miss out on this tasty, porcine treat.

Take some time to plan your day on Tuesday, November 4th. If you haven’t voted already then you may want to head to your polling place early on Tuesday, maybe bring a book, a snack, digital music, water…whatever you need to make the wait in line easier to handle. Voting is just like a bacon doughnut…it’s something you don’t want to pass up. So plan ahead people, make arrangements, and vote.

October 30, 2008 | Filed Under bacon, baking, breakfast, doughnuts, food, food porn, recipe | 18 Comments 

Biscuits and gravy – weekend warrior breakfast

homemade biscuits with sausage gravy

I know you’re out there, we all are, either raking leaves, mowing grass, clearing out dryer ducts, washing windows or perhaps biking, running, climbing, or paddling. It’s a beautiful fall day in Wisconsin and no matter what it is we’re doing it’s almost guanteed that we’ll be overdoing something…after all there are only a few weekends left of good outdoor weather…unless of course you enjoy snow, slush, and ice. So before you head out to do battle pause for a moment and prepare this fabulous breakfast; it’s hearty, warming, filling, and it’ll stick with you for 6 to 8 hours.

Start by mixing up a batch of my biscuits, cut them out cylinder style and bake them up. While the biscuits bake you should brown a 1/2 pound of breakfast sausage. Remove the sausage from the pan by scooping it out with a spoon. Now add 4 tablespoons of flour to the pan and cook the flour with drippings and goobs from the sausage for 2 or three minutes. Because most pork isn’t very fatty these days you’ll have to stir more when you add the milk but the end product is much less fattening than you might think. Now add some milk and start stirring with a whisk, dislodging the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet and working out the lumps. As soon as it becomes too thick to be edible you should add more milk…but just add a 1/2 cup or so at a time, stirring constantly, until you get the consistency that you like. Season with tabasco, salt, and black pepper. Add the sausage to the gravy and let it cook on medium low for about 5 minutes. Place your biscuit in a shallow bowl and add the gravy.

Sure you won’t want to eat this every morning but on ady like today it is sure to give you the fuel to go, go, go. Have fun.

October 25, 2008 | Filed Under baking, breakfast, food, food porn, recipe | 7 Comments 

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