Heart Shaped Eggs...One Day Late

Happy Late Day of Love! Hubby was gone yesterday morning for work, so I made him heart shaped eggs this morning instead. Was a pretty easy breakfast. Just warmed up the pan, put in my heart shaped cookie cutter, cracked the egg in, put some seasonings on top, and waited for it to fry. Took longer than usual for it to be ready to flip since the egg was contained within the heart shape, probably 4 minutes?

Since the pan was well greased, I was able to flip it over pretty easily. I let it cook for another 2-3 minutes and then I gently ran a butter knife around the cookie cutter so I could remove it. Would have been a much faster process if I had had two cookie cutters! Since Valentine's Day is already over, these would also be great as a sweet anniversary breakfast.

We are leaving on vacation today for a ski trip, but I will try to post once or twice while I am gone. =)

Eggs Benedict Substitute!

For the continuing cookbook challenge I decided to try what Betty Crocker called Brunch Eggs on English Muffins. The basic blueprint is a yummy cheese sauce with scrambled eggs and canadian bacon on half an english muffin. There were a few things I didn't like about the recipe. 1. Scrambled eggs on top of bread sounded like they would all fall off when you tried to eat it. 2. I didn't have any canadian bacon. So, to fix this, I made eggs over medium (you could do poached as well if you are feeling ambitious) and subbed in some fried salami. One thing I always keep in the fridge these days is salami. You can put in on some many things: pizza, breakfast sandwich, pasta carbonara...Of course if you want to make this a vegetarian breakfast, just leave out the meat!

The first thing my husband said when he sat down to breakfast was, "Wow, fancy!" I think the sauce resembles a Hollandaise sauce, without the two sticks of butter and constant whisking or you'll end up with buttery scrambled eggs factor.

The basic building blocks for this sauce are made with something every chef should know- a roux. A roux is made up of melted butter and flour, with milk or broth mixed in. This is can be the starting place for a lot of things- gravy, alfredo sauce and soup, to name a few. The big benefit is that it's lower fat than tradtional sauce bases because it only uses a little butter, and no heavy cream is needed. Keep your handy-dandy whisk at your side, and you will be amazed at what you can create. I will share some of these other super-easy recipes at a later date.

Save this recipe for a nice brunch that doesn't take very long to whip up!

Better than Benedict Egg Muffins
Serves four

2 toasted English muffins
4 eggs
4 slices of salami, bacon or canadian bacon (bet you could try spinach here too!)

For the sauce:
1 tsp butter
2 tsp flour
1 ounce cheese
1/2 cup of milk
Pinch of salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika to taste

Melt the butter in a sauce pan at medium heat. Mix in the flour, it will form a lumpy paste. Pour in the milk, and start whisking. Keep whisking as the milk comes to a gentle boil, and after a few minutes the lumps will work out. Don't leave the pan sitting or the sauce will scald. When the sauce is smooth, whisk in your spices. Dump cheese in pan and whisk in until smooth and melty.

Fry your eggs until the yolk is almost cooked through. Briefly fry your salami or canadian bacon so they are warm, or cook up your bacon while you make your eggs. Put the meat on top of your toasted muffin half, then your egg. Whisk your sauce one more time. If it seems a little thick, whisk in a little more milk. Pour sauce evenly over the muffins and serve. Yum!

p.S. This post has been entered in Positively Splendid's "Link Party"!