Breakfast for Dinner – Eggs Benedict

The Eggs Benedict recipe we used was by Tyler Florence.

Laura
I didn’t make my own hollandaise sauce.  I used a sauce packet that I had.  Honestly, it was good but not like the hollandaise sauce you get when you get eggs benedict in a restaurant.  I used Canadian bacon.  Originally my plan was to use Taylor ham, but I seem to be the only person that knows what that is.

Let’s talk about poaching eggs.  I poached it as per the directions in the recipe.  The egg white was a little undercooked and the yolk was’'t runny enough because it was overcooked.  Anyone know a foolproof way to poach an egg?  Oh who am I kidding?  I’m not going to poach an egg anytime soon.

The verdict:  While the dish was good and interesting to make, next time I want eggs benedict, I'll just order it from a professional chef.

Meredith

Alright, I made my own hollandaise sauce! It’s a good thing my arms get a regular workout because the stamina was certainly needed here – oh man that was a lot of whisking! The end result was worth the effort I think, but the sauce packets are convenient in a pinch and taste good too. The poaching of the eggs will take some practice, on the other hand. My whites had some runny spots like Laura’s but at least my yolks were still runny. I can’t quite figure out why you’d poach an egg anyway. I mean, after you’ve covered it in hollandaise does it matter if it’s fried instead? For the meat I had one “benedict” with the traditional Canadian bacon and then on the other I tried Smithfield country ham. I won’t use the country ham again here – way too salty for this application.

On the side I had steamed broccoli and home fries – let’s call it my ode to Rockafeller’s brunch. I first boiled red potatoes and then smashed them a little bit before I added them to onions and red pepper flakes that I’d sauteed in olive oil. Then I smashed the potatoes to the pan letting them get browned before stirring and smashing again. These were DELICIOUS. So simple yet so full of flavor. A definite winner here. All in all, this was a yummy meal. I don’t know that I would put forth the effort very often when Rockafeller’s can put it on a plate for $5.95, but hey – at least now I’m not afraid of hollandaise!

Green Chile Quiche

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 green chile peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
• 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 4 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook peppers and onion until tender. Transfer to a bowl and mix with feta, sour cream and salt.
• Spread bottom of pie crust with Monterey Jack cheese. Top cheese with pepper and onion mixture. Mix eggs and milk in a bowl; evenly pour over onion and pepper mixture. Top with Cheddar cheese.
• Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is melted and eggs are firm.

Meredith

Would you serve this to company? UH HUH! It was SO good. Savory, buttery, cheesy... Delicious!

Even though this was my first attempt at a quiche, I was hesitant to follow the recipe as written - I'm such a rebel... I refuse to believe that feta had any place in this ingredient list and so I substituted it for some shredded Parmesan. A couple other tweaks - I used added garlic, 4 eggs, 1% milk, light sour cream and about half the cheese. I'm not quite sure how the entire recipe worth of cheese would have fit into my 9" pie pan. That being said, the recipe was easy and makes me want to try my hand at adding just about anything to eggs and throwing it in a pie crust. I will be the Top Chef of QUICHE!

Laura

I love quiche.  I've never made one before, either.  I made a few changes . . . I used jalapeno peppers instead of chile peppers.  Whenever, the recipe called for cheese, I used 75% fat free sharp cheddar.  Finally, I added a can of diced tomatoes with jalapenos.  I drained them really well and cooked off the rest of the liquid with the onions and jalapenos.

I will say that I learned a few things during this process.  Next time (and there WILL be a next time), I plan to cook the pie shell just a little bit before filling it.  I feel like the bottom of the quiche should have been just a little crisper.
All in all, a very nice vegetarian option.  It'd make a great brunch item, too.  I had a salad with caesar dressing on the side.  That's all I needed.