Eggs Benedict – with a twist
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 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.
Eat Like A Geek – menu planning and a wiki
In my quest to organize my family and perhaps foster some independence among the male population in this house I’ve been planning my weekly menu and then posting it on my wiki and emailing it to the guys. My initial intent was to dodge those “what’s for dinner” questions that start the moment they stagger from their beds. But actually it has helped me more than anyone. When I come home from work I know exactly what we’re having for dinner and what I have to do. It is much less chaotic, more relaxing, and because of good planning I’m not letting any of my great CSA veggies go to waste. The other step towards less chaos is spending an hour or two on Sunday doing some of the prep work to make the weekday meals easier. My menu this week was:
Monday, Chicken pot pie and salad
Tuesday, pizza for the boys and minestrone soup for Dave and me
Wednesday, Spaghetti with my red sauce
Thursday, French Hash (aka hash topped with an egg), salad
Friday, Dinner out
Saturday, Puerco Pibil, rice, salad
My prep work on Sunday included making the crust for the pot pie and storing it in the refrigerator. I made the filling too and that entailed poaching 5 chicken thighs, steaming some carrots and potatoes, chopping and sweating some onions, and making a velouté from the stock that I made from poaching the chicken and then simmering the thigh bones for an hour. I purposely steamed 3 times the amount of potatoes I needed for the pot pies so that I could make tonight’s french hash. I also made the minestrone on Sunday, as well as the pizza dough. Everything got jarred or wrapped up and stored in the refrigerator and each day’s meal went off without a hitch. There was a ton of dishes on Sunday so Dave ran the dishwasher a few times but each night this week the clean-up chores have been slight.
French Hash is merely a batch of hash brown potatoes with a couple of Aidell’s sausages diced up and thrown in along with a couple onions. I serve it with a fried egg on top and that’s what makes it “French” (in Paris the egg shows up on almost everything). Some fresh minced parsley and a glass of vin rouge, a fresh salad with excellent olive oil and vinegar drizzled over it and all is right with the world.
