I’m a breakfast girl. I’m also an avocado girl. So when California Avocado Commission asked me something along the lines of: "Hey Jackie, wanna come to a fancy schmany Beverly Hills restaurant and have a schmancy chef make you Breakfast For Dinner? Oh and you get to make cocktails with avocados," My answer didn’t require much debate.
Schamncy Chef Neal did an outstanding job feeding Los Angeles bloggers an array of Avocado Breakfast foods. They even sent us home with a goodie bag that included a bag of avocados and a cutting board. AND if that doesn’t sound great to you, you’re probably not a food blogger. We seem to have an unreasonable affinity for bags of produce and cutting boards.
I also have a great love of the Eggs Benedict (I’m probably an old man, given the love I also have for stout beer and cable knits) but after waitressing my way through college, working the early shift at a breakfast joint, I’ll never be able to eat hollandaise at a restaurant (if you read this book, you’ll also know why). Because of these two things, I tend to make it myself about once a month. Add the creaminess of an avocado and I’ll lick it right out of the blender and don’t you try and stop me.
BLT Eggs Benedict with Avocado Hollandaise
Ingredients
1 large ripe California avocado, diced
2 egg yolks
3 tbs butter
2 tbs lemon juice
pinch each of salt, pepper and cayenne
4 English muffins, split and toasted
8 slices tomatoes
½ cup baby arugula
8 strips bacon, cooked
8 eggs, poached
Yield 8 (4 to 8 servings depending on serving preference)
Instructions
Add the diced avocado to a blender or food processor, process until smooth.
Add the egg yolks and process until well combined.
Heat the butter in a microwave safe bowl until very hot.
While the food processor is running, slowly add the melted butter until well combined. Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper and cayenne, process to combine.
Add the English muffins to a plate, cut sides up. Top each half with a slice of tomato, a few leaves of arugula, bacon, and a poached egg.
Spoon avocado hollandaise over eggs. Serve immediately.
I think we know each other well enough by now that I don’t have to try and pretend. If a dish is easy, I’ll tell you. If it’s quick, I’ll tell you. If it’s healthy, I’ll tell you.
This is none of those things. It is, however, worth the effort. It’s a special occasion breakfast to keep in your back pocket, for, you know, if Bradley Cooper stops by for breakfast. It could happen.
It’s actually not that difficult. Although, I do hesitate to say that since my "not that difficult" is someone else’s "Oh my GOD, is she nuts??"
But really, you can do this. I even gave you a food processor version of a hollandaise, which is SUPER easy, you don’t even have to worry about turning your sauce into scrabbled eggs, which is what I did the first time I tried to make it the traditional way.
If you want to make this in stages, you can assemble the crab cakes ahead of time, put them on a plate, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then cook the following day. You can also make the sauce ahead of time, and then reheat slowly in a double boiler. You can EVEN replace the poached eggs with fried eggs to make it even easier. But really, it’s not that difficult.
And I believe in you.
I think all food people have a small stash of items that we buy at Gourmet Food Stores that we save for special recipes. Spices, the good salt in those fancy containers, crab meat, things like that. This is a recipe I found worthy of breaking into my Gourmet Food Store stash. Rare for a breakfast recipe, but this one made the cut.
Crab Cake Eggs Benedict with Bacon Hollandaise
Ingredients
For The Crab Cakes:
1 egg
2 tbs green onions, chopped
1/4 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
1 tbs melted butter
8 oz lump crab meat
1 cup Panko bread crumbs, plus one cup divided
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
pinch cayenne
1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning
For the Hollandaise:
4 strips bacon
4 tbs butter
4 egg yolks
2 tbs lemon
pinch cayenne
4 eggs (for poaching)
Makes 4 servings
Instructions
Combine all the crab cake ingredients in a bowl (reserving one cup of Panko for the coating). Form into 4 patties, about 1 inch thick. Place remaining Panko in a bowl. One at a time, place the patties in the Panko and press until well coated on all sides with bread crumbs. Place on a plate and refrigerate until ready to use.
In a pan over medium high heat, cook the bacon, turing frequently, until crispy and cooked trough. Remove the bacon and set aside. Once the bacon is removed, add the crab cakes to the pan, cooking in the bacon grease until golden brown on the underside, flip carefully and cook on the other side until cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from heat.
In a food processor, add the bacon, process until only crumbs are left. Add the egg yolks and process for about 3 minutes. Melt the butter in a pot on the stove (or in the microwave) until hot and steaming. While the food processor is running, slowly, slowly add the butter until well combined with the yolks. Add the lemon and the cayenne, process until combined. If your sauce is too thick, add water to thin, about a teaspoon at a time.
Poach the eggs in simmering water.
Place one crab cake on each plate, top with poached egg, then sauce.
Food is one of the greatest choices we have as members of the 1st world. For the most part, we get to choose what we put in our bodies, and how much.
The path people take to the way they eat as adults is a direct result of the experiences they have as children. Although I am no longer a practicing vegetarian (as evidenced by the extensive number of bacon related posts on my blog) I did spend about 4 years in my early 20’s with a very meatless existence. That choice was a direct result of the farm style living of my youth.
Just before I started Junior High, my parents moved me from the Central Coast of California to a small farm in Eastern Washington state. It sounded like such a romantic and adventurous journey, my love of animals having the full indulgence it had always wanted.
I was a 4-H kid, and the idea of acres and acres of animals was like a dream and within hours of a pig pen fully inhabited by squealing little pink and brown creatures I was in love. I named my favorite guy Garfunkel, as an nod to my love of 70’s music. I spent the summer feeding, walking, and training my new pet. In my head was the knowledge of the inevitable fate of this little guy, but some how it didn’t reach my heart.
Then, towards the end of summer, came an old Chevy pickup truck. White and faded with wooden boards rising up above the sides of the truck bed. I watched from the window as the town butcher consulted with my step father, compared guns, pointed at the pigs, and unceremoniously shoots Garfunkel in the head.
He struggles to get up. Another shot. He moves again. Another shot.
Three days later, I stared at the pork chops on my dinner plate, unable to get the image of his last moments out of my head. Unnerved by the feeling of knowing the first name of my dinner.
Although this is a brutal reality for the meat eating world, and one that we should come to terms with if we choose to eat meat, I am not advocating for everyone to go vegan. I know that the pigs my family raised had great lives. They were loved, cared about, and fed well. If it wasn’t for the dinner they became, they wouldn’t have existed in the first place.
Choice. Choosing to spend more for free range. Choosing to support local growers. Seeking out raw milk and cheese from reliable farms.
Because if the story of Garfunkel is horrifying to you, it is Disneyland compared to way some commercial farms are like.
Just some food for though.
Let me know what you think. If you disagree, agree, or even if you don’t care.
In the interim, here is a meatless breakfast that will give you a break from meat, if that is what you are looking for.
Portobello Mushroom Benedict with Sriracha Hollandaise
4 Portobello mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
pinch of salt
4 cups fresh spinach, chopped
1/4 cup chopped onions
3 cloves of garlic minced
4 eggs
1 large tomato, cut into slices
For the Hollandaise:
4 tbs melted butter
4 egg yolks
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs room temp water
1 tsp sriracha sauce
salt and pepper
In a pan over medium high heat, add the oil and allow it to get hot but not smoking. Place the mushrooms in the pan. If the pan is two small for all of the mushrooms to fit, cook in two batches. Turn the mushrooms once the bottom has turned dark and has softened, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and allow to cook on the other side until the entire mushroom is dark, soft and cook all the way through. Remove cooked mushrooms from pan and add the spinach, onions and garlic, cook until soft.
Poach the eggs in lightly salted simmering water. (Tutorial)
Melt the butter in the microwave. In a good quality sauce pan, add the yolks, lemon juice and water and whisk quickly and continually over low heat until it’s frothy and doubled in size (this is an arm work out, be prepared). You don’t want too much heat or you’ll have scrambled eggs. If you need to step away for even a second, or if it’s getting to hot, remove from the heat. While continuing to whisk, slowly add the butter in a steady stream. Continue to whisk until thickened, and almost doubled. If your sauce gets too dry and thick, you can add a few tbs of water. Add the sriracha, and salt and pepper to taste.
Place the mushroom on a plate, top with spinach, then tomato slice, then poached egg and drizzle with hollandaise.
I worked in a breakfast cafe through college. This is the reason that I will never be able to eat Hollandaise sauce in a restaurant. Those of you who have also worked in breakfast joints may be nodding your heads in agreement, while those who haven’t may have a puzzled look on your face. If you want a further explanation, this book does a pretty good job. I do, however, love Hollandaise and appease my cravings with a homemade Eggs Benedict at least once a month. I love a twist on a classic recipe (as you can clearly tell by my postings) and pesto goes well with just about everything.
Italian Eggs Benedict with Pesto Hollandaise
4 eggs
4 slices of crust Italian loaf bread
4 slices of prosciutto
4 slices of tomato
4 basil leaves
4 tbs melted butter
2 tsp pesto
4 egg yolks
2 tbs room temp water
1 tbs lemon juice
Poach the eggs, one at a time in simmering/boiling water. Remove with a slotted spoon after about 3 minutes or when the whites are solid and yolk is still soft and uncooked.
This recipe really comes down to the sauce. First, melt the butter with the pesto. Then, in a good quality sauce pan, add the yolks, lemon juice and water and whisk quickly and continually over low heat until it’s frothy and doubled in size (this is an arm work out, be prepared). You don’t want too much heat or you’ll have scrambled eggs. If you need to step away for a second, or if it’s getting to hot, remove from the heat. While continuing to whisk, slowly add the butter in a steady stream. Continue to whisk until thickened, and almost doubled. If your sauce gets too dry and thick, you can add a few tbs of water.
Slice four pieces off a loaf of crust Italian bread. Ciabatta would also work nicely.
Toast your bread lightly. I placed mine under a broiler for about 3 minutes. Top your bread with tomatoes, prosciutto, basil, poached egg and then a few tbs of your pesto hollandaise.
