Breakfast for Dinner...

So, I promised. I promised you pizza, and you’re gonna have it. I did a quick looksie to see if anyone remaining in the competition did what I did, and it looks like only one other person joined me on the hashbrown crust train.

Kids, it’s a good train to be on. You should hop on it.  Here’s the deal.  I wanted to focus on when I eat pizza.  When do you eat it?  For dinner? Late night after the bar? Cold the next morning?  Yea. I thought so. Me too.  So I thought, let’s spin this pizza out of the box, let’s do breakfast for dinner, and a late night snack. 

You could convince me to eat breakfast for practically any meal of the day.  And you could also convince me to eat pizza for practically any meal of the day, so this is a perfect marriage if I have ever heard of one. 

Off I went on an adventure to create the perfect breakfast pizza. I already knew it involved a hashbrown crust, because DUH.  I knew it involved eggs. And it needed to involve bacon.  Well, turkey bacon.  The rest, is history my friends.  One time. I dare you to make this one time, and it will revolutionize the way you look at breakfast and pizza. 

Hashbrown crust, turkey bacon-roni, poached eggs, green onion, and a homemade hollandaise.

Did your heart stop for a second? Mine did.  When you break that perfectly poached egg, and the yolk gently flows out, oh I could cry. It’s beautiful.  

Yes. I said Turkey Bacon-roni.  In the middle of the night last Wednesday, I sat up out of a dead sleep. Bacon. Roni.  You cut the bacon, into pepperoni shapes.  It’s bacon roni.  That was worth the wake up.

tequila... errr.. bacon!

So let’s get down to business.

For the Hashbrown crust:

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 russet potatoes, peeled and grated

¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1 grated small yellow onion

1 teaspoon salt                                   

1 teaspoon pepper

Peel and grate your potatoes and onion, and mix in a bowl with the cayenne, salt and pepper.  Heat the olive oil in a non stick skillet, and put the potato mixture in, firmly pressing it down to ensure a nice, flat crust.  Cook for 4 minutes on medium high heat before flipping.  (I employ the plate flipping method, you know where you put a plate over the top of the skillet and in one quick flip, you have turned it over) Simply slide the hashbrown off the plate back into the skillet to finish the other side.  Once it is browned and crisp on both sides, put in the oven at 350 to make sure it stays warm.  Don’t worry, you aren’t going to dry it out by doing this, that grated onion keeps it nice and moist.

 

After that, you’ll want to cut and cook your baconroni, and make your hollandaise.  You’ll need:

4  pieces of the best turkey bacon you can find. Or real bacon if you like the hog.

3 egg yolks

1 teapsoon water

1/4 teaspoon sugar

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

First, take a shot glass and a knife or a small cookie cutter to cut the bacon into roni’s.  Fry those up in a skillet and drain on a paper towel when they are done.

In the meantime, pour 1-inch of water into a large pot; over medium heat, bring to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce the heat to low.

Place egg yolks and 1 teaspoon water in a medium mixing bowl and whisk until mixture lightens in color, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sugar and whisk for another 30 seconds.

Place the mixture over the simmering water and whisk constantly for 3 to 5 minutes,(double boiler method) or until there is a clear line that is drawn in the mixture when you pull your whisk through, or the mixture coats the back of a spoon.

Remove the bowl from over the pan and gradually add the butter, 1 piece at a time, and whisk until all of the butter is incorporated. Place the bowl back over the simmering water occasionally so that it will be warm enough to melt the butter. Add the salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper.

In order to keep your hollandaise from separating, you must continue to whisk it while you are poaching your eggs.  This is where a helper comes in handy.  Make sure to have someone keep and eye on it and continue to whisk / move it on and off the simmering pot while you’re poaching.

 See the difference here? gorgeous!

Poached eggs

5 eggs

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Water

Chopped green onion

Salt and pepper

Bring a pot of water (no more than half full) to a simmer.   Crack your eggs in individual bowls or ramekins and add the vinegar to the water.  Once you are at a simmer, add the salt and stir the water.  Now, very carefully, one at a time, slip your eggs into the water down the side of the pot.  Turn the heat off and cover the pot for 3 minutes.  When you remove the eggs, the whites should be firm but not rubbery, and the yolks just be just warmed through.  Cut the excess white off that doesn’t look so gorgeous, and drain excess water on a paper towel from the eggs. 

To serve, remove the hashbrown crust from the oven,  place the bacon roni and the poached eggs on top.  Drizzle with hollandaise and garnish with green onion, salt and pepper, and choke back your tears.

Gorgeous. Amazeballs. Success. 

Now that you’re set for breakfast for dinner, you’ll need to prepare yourself for a late night snack, SO EPIC, that you might die of cardiac arrest.  No seriously, like, it could clog your arteries.

But, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that one!  The rest of this week is sure to be a good one, with the one and only family recipe I have, more epic pizza, and a bread baking experience sure to make anyone feel comfortable without a breadmaker. 

Love,

Whit