Sunday Brunch

Bacon hash with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce

Love Sunday brunch but hate waiting an hour or more for a table? 

Try this delicious LowCountry-style breakfast sure to please your friends and family.

Let's get shopping:

• dozen eggs
• russet potatoes
• celery
• onion
• garlic
• roma tomato
• lemon
• fresh or dried rosemary and oregano
• cheddar cheese
• salsa
• butter
• apple cider vinegar
• bacon 

Ok, let's get cooking:

For poached eggs:

In a straight-sided (preferably shallow/3-4in deep) pot add water (fill up halfway) and 1 cup apple cider vinegar and simmer on low heat. Keep simmering and come back to this later. 

For potato-bacon hash:

Medium dice potatoes and blanch in salted water. Blanching is a method used in cooking to partly or fully cook starches and vegetables, it helps speed up cooking process and bring out brighter colors in vegetables. Cook the potatoes until almost fork tender and remove from boiling water and place in an ice bath to completely stop cooking.

Small dice bacon (slightly freezing the bacon beforehand allows for easier cutting), celery, onions. Mince garlic.

Add bacon to cold pan and begin cooking

Once bacon begins to become crispy add vegetables, herbs, salt and pepper.

Add blanched potatoes

Last add diced roma tomatoes and place in oven at 350 degrees

Now it's time to make your hollandaise sauce.
Once you learn to make this you will never need to leave you house for brunch again and your friends will just so happen to stop by Sunday after Sunday around 10:30am or so.

Seperate 3 egg yolk and set aside. Mix together 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon tabasco, half a lemon squeezed, salt and white pepper. Today hollandaise is rosemary infused, so add a pinch of rosemary to mixture.

Melt 1 stick of butter and skim fat off (fat will be white and rise to the top).

Melted butter with fat

Butter with fat removed, ie. clarified.

Whisk together egg yolks and vinegar mixture over a double boiler (you can make your own double boiler by putting egg mixture in a stainless steel bowl and place over a pot of boiling water. Make sure the gap between the water and bowl is great enough so that the water in not touching the bowl, you just want the steam).

Vigorously whisk until mixture begins to thicken.

Remove from heat and add butter in a slow continuous stream while still whisking.

Adjust seasoning (salt and pepper) and set aside.

Finished hollandaise sauce

Back to eggs:

In the pot with the water and vinegar, crack 2 eggs per person. Don't over crowd pot though; water will cool down too much and eggs will overlap.  For today's breakfast, I maxed out at 8 eggs in the pot at a time.

Cook until whites are set (slightly firm, not clear), remove and place on plate on top of potato mixture. Top with cheese, salsa and sour cream. Finish with hollandaise sauce.

Breakfast is served!
Mimosa anyone??!?