Weekend Brunch

My sister and I had Steph over for brunch last weekend, and made Eggs Florentine, which are kind of like Eggs Benedict, but with sauteed spinach instead of canadian bacon.  We served it with home fries and sweet & spicy bacon.



I think you all should saute the spinach and cook your potatoes howsoever you choose, but the two good takeaways were the Hollandaise sauce recipe we pulled from the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook, and our standby way to cook sweet & spicy bacon from Orangette, which is baked in the oven and thus doesn't splatter grease all over your stove, and is also super delicious.



To assemble the Eggs Florentine, you just toast some English Muffins, and then layer on your sauteed spinach, poached egg (good tutorial here), and hollandaise sauce, and then top with a dash of paprika.

Hollandaise Sauce, from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook:
10 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 large egg yolks
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt
dash of hot sauce

Cut the butter into small bits and melt gently is a small saucepan until 3/4 melted.  Remove from the heat and stir until the remaining pieces melt - which ensures your butter doesn't get too hot.

In a blender, combine the egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and a dash of hot sauce.  Blend at high speed until pale yellow a smooth, about 30 seconds.  While the blender is running, drizzle in the melted butter, slowly at first and then gradually in a thin stream until all added.  Taste for seasoning, adding more salt or lemon juice if needed.  Keep warm until ready to serve.

Sweet & Spicy Bacon, from Orangette:
1.5 Tbsp brown sugar
0.25 tsp cayenne
0.25 tsp black pepper
1 lb bacon (roughly 12 slices)

Position an over rack in the middle of your oven, and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and peppers.

Arrange the bacon slices in one layer, not overlapping, on a rack on a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan or directly on the pan itself.  (It is important that your pan has a lip, because the bacon will give off its fat, which you don't want falling onto the bottom of your oven.)  Bake the bacon for 25 minutes.  Turn the slices over, and sprinkle them evenly with the spiced sugar.  Continue baking until the bacon is crisp, about 20-30 minutes more, checking every so often.  Transfer to paper towels to drain before serving.