Kris's Cooking Corner -- Recipe #4

build-your-own benedicts

This is less of a recipe and more of a menu concept. It was inspired by a meal served by our friend Mielle. She prepared a vegan breakfast with foccacia bread stacked with tofu, grilled veggies and topped with a lemony basil sauce. From that dish we had the idea to offer guests their choice of what to have on their own benedict. Depending on what you choose, you can have your classic Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine, or something completely vegan. We like to offer this at smaller (6-12) brunch parties. It's great for Christmas morning! And best of all, everybody claims that their particular combination was the best.

Ideally, give each guest a checklist so she can mark off what she'd like. This helps in the assembly of the stacks. Do all the chopping and advance grilling that is feasible.

Here's what we've offered in the past:

Toasted Foccacia or Toasted English Muffins
Grilled Tofu*, Poached Eggs, or Scrambled Eggs

Any (or all) of the following:
Sliced Tomatoes, Artichoke Bottoms, Sauteed Mushrooms*, Carmelized Onions*, Canadian Bacon (real or veggie), Smoked Salmon, Steamed Spinach*, Grilled Red Bell Peppers*

Hollandaise Sauce* or Tofu Basil Aoli*

Preparing the Ingridents:

Grilled Tofu: Make a marinade of soy sauce, olive oil, orange juice, and a little garlic. Slice firm tofu into 1/2 inch slices and soak in the marinade for at least a half and hour. Lay out all the slices in a large skillet and pour the marinade over them. Simmer over medium low until most the liquid is absorbed.
Sauteed Mushrooms: Over medium high heat, sautee sliced mushrooms with a small amount of olive oil. Season with salt only. When mushrooms are soft, remove them from the liquid and reduce the liquid to a glaze. Combine the glaze with the mushrooms.
Carmelized Onions: Slice yellow onions into rings. Put in small skillet and add enough oil to coat onions evenly. Heat over medium low until they are very soft and golden. This will take quite a while. Be patient and keep the heat low.
Steamed Spinach: The trick with the spinach is to lay it out on damp paper towels and cook for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. That keeps the leaves from getting all bunchy. Sprinkle a little bit of lemon juice over the hot spinach.
Grilled Red Bell Peppers: Cut into julienne strips and cook slowly (like the onions). You can also buy prepared bell peppers in a jar and heat them. They're okay.
Hollandaise Sauce: You could buy this canned or use the recipe in the Joy of Cooking. I'm lazy and use the easier blender recipe in the cookbook. It's fine.
Tofu Basil Aoli: Put one package of SILKEN tofu (very soft). Add olive oil, lemon juice, fresh garlic, and salt to taste. Mix in a blender or food processor until very smooth. Add enough basil to make the sauce a little green, but not too basily.

The Assembly:

Lay out a plate for each guest, and put the list of what they've selected in front of each plate. Toast the bread and cook the eggs as necessary. Put the bread on each plate and spoon on a small amount of sauce. Artichoke bottoms are next, then eggs/tofu. From there it doesn't matter what order, but once all the stacks are assembled, pour sauce over each. Throw a sprig of basil on top, put grilled potatoes and/or sliced fruit on the side and serve.

A Testatmonial (from Kristen DeHaan, Jolie's sister)

"i would like to send in my testimonial of (for?) the benedicts. they are simply scrumptious. should you be so lucky as to be at jolie and kris' house w/a group of people (we were very lucky as were were only 5 -- unless you include my 6 month old, Irene who watched us eat and got to have some "processed benedicts" later that day), beg kris and jolie to prepare this for you! and when you think that you want to go w/that regular old hollandaise sauce? scrap it and go w/the special aoli!!! it's MUCH better than the hollandaise (this is saying a whole lot b/c the hollandaise is damn good!)."

If you are interested in prior week's recipes, please select below:
recipe 1: alternative mushroom stroganoff
recipe 2: caprese pasta
recipe 3: artichoke-olive tapenade
recipe 5: savory filo stacks
recipe 6: braised kale
recipe 7: chicken noodle soup
recipe 8: yogurt-rosemary-garlic dip
back to Cooking Corner

Please, if you try any of these recipes, send us your reviews.

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