Category Archives: Breakfast in Bed

Breakfast in Bed – Eggs Goldenrod

Post by Alison Hein.

Some know this cheerful golden breakfast dish as Eggs Beauregard. Even more know it as Eggs Goldenrod, a staple in Home Economics classes, uh, a long time ago. It makes sense for budding chefs to practice this simple recipe. Several basic cooking techniques are rolled into one dish: how to hard boil eggs to a perfect consistency; how to toast bread to a light golden brown; how to make a smooth, creamy white sauce; and how to successfully assemble and garnish a dish to an elegant finish. The finished product – warm toasty bread topped with creamy white sauce and dusted with feathery bits of cooked yolk –  is lovely to look at, and lovely to eat.

I like to use a light, airy bread, such as brioche, to offset the rich and creamy egg-topped sauce. If you like, hard boil the eggs the day before, then heat them for a minute or two in the white sauce before serving. Also, feel free to use white pepper rather than black if you like to keep your white sauce white.

Let your little ones and fledgling cooks help. Go boil some eggs right now. Then, tomorrow morning, let them toast, sauce and plate for you – a cheerful, golden breakfast in bed!

Ingredients

2 eggs
2 slices of bread
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Preparation

Place eggs in a small heavy saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil on high heat and continue to cook eggs for 10 minutes, until hard-boiled. Cool and peel. Separate eggs from whites. Finely chop egg whites and set aside. Push cooked egg yolks through a fine mesh sieve to form an airy powder and set aside. Toast bread to a light golden brown and arrange on 2 plates.

To make white sauce, melt butter in small heavy saucepan. Whisk in flour until smooth, thick paste forms. Whisk in milk and cook until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in chopped egg whites.

Spoon white sauce over prepared toast. Top with fluffy egg yolk, garnish with parsley and serve immediately. Fresh sliced oranges make a nice accompaniment.

Makes 2 servings.

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Breakfast in Bed – Cherry Blossoms

Post by Alison Hein.

My husband and I just took a trip to Washington, DC for a big family birthday celebration. Our party was Saturday night, and we planned to return home the next day, after a quick morning detour to see the flowering Yoshino cherry trees. Upon arriving, we realized the blossoms were mere days away from opening. My heart was set on photographing the flowery pink trees, so Kevin suggested I stay in DC a few days longer.

While the blossoms slowly opened, I took many lovely close-up shots of the airy rose-colored cherry blossoms – completing a slow circle around the Tidal Basin, pausing to capture the unique color and style of every tree. I’ve been home for a week now, and still see lush, pastel blooms every time I close my eyes. And so I was inspired to create luscious cherry pastries for this week’s post. They aren’t nearly as pretty, but they taste much better than the real deal (especially considering that the DC tree blossoms are edible only for birds).

So if you can’t get away this year to visit some cherry blossoms, enjoy some instead for a flowery springtime breakfast in bed.

Ingredients

2 puff pastry sheets (generally sold as 2 in a package)
1 egg, separated
4 ounces whipped cream cheese
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup cherry preserves
½ teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar for dusting flower tops

Preparation

Thaw puff pastry sheets, per package instructions. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets and preheat oven to 350°. Lightly beat egg white and set aside. Whip together cream cheese and 2 tablespoons sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk, flour, cherry preserves and vanilla to the cream cheese mixture and mix until smooth. Set aside.

Carefully unfold a pastry sheet onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll and trim each pastry sheet into a 16×8-inch rectangle. Cut into 8 equal 4 inch-squares. At each corner, ¼ inch from edge, cut a 1inch line in each direction, following the square edge of the corner. Repeat for the remaining three corners (see picture). Pick up each corner cut-away strip and bring to the center creating four loops. Pinch ends lightly to seal.

Spoon 1½ teaspoons of cherry cream cheese filling in the center of each pastry square. Place the pastries on the prepared baking sheet. Brush pastry crust with beaten egg white. Flip flat corners of each flower up to meet filling center and brush with more egg white to seal. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the blossoms are golden brown and filling is set. Transfer the pastries to a wire rack and let cool at least 10 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Makes 16 cherry blossoms.

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Breakfast in Bed – Most Ridiculous Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Post by Alison Hein.

Is it breakfast? Lunch? A new meal category yet to be invented like the Hobbit’s Second Breakfast? Your guess is as good as mine, but I do know the Most Ridiculous Grilled Cheese Sandwich is an experience you’ll have to try for yourself.

Many years ago, when I was still a novice cook, my friend Sally introduced me to this addictive compilation. Sally’s family had been making this uber-rich, cheesy, gooey indulgence since she could remember. The philosophy of the sandwich is simple – the richer the better. Thus, tangy cheddar cheese is not enough until mixed with thick, creamy mayonnaise. And a grilled cheese sandwich is not enough until dipped in egg batter and fried in butter until golden brown like French Toast!

I liked the recipe immediately because it combines two of the simplest meals I had already learned to cook – French Toast and Grilled Cheese. The olives provide a necessary foil to offset the cheesy richness of the sandwich. And, it was fun to cook because no one had ever heard of such a thing.

Many years have passed. My culinary skills have greatly increased, and I’ve long since lost touch with Sally. But I still pull out my old frying pan once a year or so, and cook myself up a ridiculous (gooey, indulgent and delicious) breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
2 slices soft, eggy bread
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup black olives, sliced into thin rounds
Salt and pepper, to taste
½ cup milk
1 egg
2 to 4 tablespoons butter

Preparation
Place bread slices on working surface. Add the cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and black olives to a small bowl and mix together. Season with salt and pepper. Spread cheese mixture on one slice of bread, then top with the second slice to form a sandwich.

In a large, shallow bowl, whisk together milk and eggs. Dip the sandwich into the egg mixture, turning once to completely saturate. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in heavy skillet over medium to medium-low heat. Add sandwich to pan and cover. Cook, turning once, until golden on the outsides and cheese mixture is thoroughly melted, about 6 to 8 minutes, adding more butter as needed. Serve immediately with plenty of napkins.

Makes 1 ridiculous sandwich – enough for 2 servings.

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Breakfast in Bed

Post by Alison Hein.

All you Downton Abbey fans are familiar with the habit of married ladies languishing in their boudoirs while gentlemen fetch their own breakfasts in the drawing room (wow, what a great idea!). The fact that one has the time and means (and someone to serve them) to partake of an indulgent breakfast in bed has come to symbolize the epitome of luxury.

Today, I thought I’d share with you some other Breakfasts in Bed of which you may not be aware. First up, Mary Cassatt’s endearing painting of a quiet morning shared between mother and daughter. Women and children were prominent figures in the work of Cassatt, an American Impressionist who studied in Pennsylvania before settling in Paris. This lovely painting was created in 1897 and currently hangs in the Huntington Library in California. Curators there have this to say about the painting: “With the child centrally located in an upright pose, Cassatt depicts a quiet but charged moment in which a mother embraces her daughter, whose attention is elsewhere. Contrasting the mother’s protective action and gaze with her offspring’s curiosity and the world beyond her reach, Cassatt evokes the subtle tensions implicit in the relationship of parent to child”.

You can read more about Cassatt’s Breakfast in Bed on the Huntington Library site.

Now then, have you heard Dusty Springfield’s sultry and bluesy Breakfast in Bed? It was released on her 1969 album Dusty in Memphis, and was later recorded and popularized by Baby Washington on Cotillion. The R&B song was written by Muscle Shoals songwriters Eddie Hinton and Donnie Fritts. They knowingly paid “homage” to the line “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” the title of a song which had previously been a number one hit for Dusty in the UK. Watch her performance on YouTube:

Many other performers reproduced Breakfast in Bed, including three reggae versions performed by Lorna Bennett, Scotty, and Bongo Herman.

Then there’s the German comedy movie Breakfast in Bed (Frühstück im Doppelbett) that came out in 1963. It’s about the wife of a newspaper editor who grows sick of his frequent absences. Don’t worry – they reconcile in the end. I’m not sure what to make of this but you can see a snippet of it here:

Finally, I’d like to leave you with a few words of etiquette wisdom penned by Emily Post in 1922 (see the full text here: http://www.bartleby.com/95/25.html ):

BREAKFAST DOWNSTAIRS OR UP: Breakfast customs are as varied in this country as the topography of the land! Communities of people who have lived or traveled much abroad, have nearly all adopted the Continental breakfast habit of a tray in their room, especially on Sunday mornings. In other communities it is the custom to go down to the dining-room for a heavy American (or English) meal.

PREPARING BREAKFAST TRAY: The advantage of having one’s guests choose breakfast upstairs is that unless there is a separate breakfast room, a long delayed breakfast prevents the dining-room from being put in order or the lunch table set. Trays, on the other hand, stand “all set” in the pantry and interfere much less with the dining-room work. The trays are either of the plain white pantry variety or regular breakfast ones with folding legs. On each is put a tray cloth. It may be plain linen hemstitched or scalloped, or it may be much embroidered and have mosaic or filet lace.

Every bedroom has a set of breakfast china to match it. But it is far better to send a complete set of blue china to a rose-colored room than a rose set that has pieces missing. Nothing looks worse than odd crockery. It is like unmatched paper and envelopes, or odd shoes, or a woman’s skirt and waist that do not meet in the back. There is nothing unusual in a tray set, every china and department store carries them, but only in “open” stock patterns can one buy extra dishes or replace broken ones; a fact it is well to remember. There is a tall coffee pot, hot milk pitcher, a cream pitcher and sugar bowl, a cup and saucer, two plates, an egg cup and a covered dish. A cereal is usually put in the covered dish, toast in a napkin on a plate, or eggs and bacon in place of cereal. This with fruit is the most elaborate “tray” breakfast ever provided. Most people who breakfast “in bed” take only coffee or tea, an egg, toast and possibly fruit.

Well, I’ll be sure to check that the Downton Abbey staff keeps their crockery in order. And you should be sure to luxuriate in your own form of breakfast in bed, whether culinary, musical, or lyrical, whenever possible.

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Breakfast in Bed: Prosciutto Egg Cups

Post by Alison Hein.

Here’s a great idea from my friend and Pilates instructor Michele – crispy baked prosciutto slices wrapped around warm, gooey baked eggs. A little tweaking to this simple preparation produces lots of varieties. You can add a little parmesan cheese, or float some sautéed onions or mushrooms on top. Eggs can be beaten first and mixed with herbs and vegetables, similar to the Baked Breakfast Egg Cups (http://www.charlesprogers.com/blogs/archives/4411) I’ve shared with you in the past. But I like Michele’s version for its ease and simplicity. The salty Italian cured ham minimizes spicing needs so a touch of freshly ground black pepper before baking finishes nicely.

The Prosciutto Egg Cups make a neat and elegant dish for entertaining. Put them on your brunch table, along with an assortment of toast, fresh fruit, hash browns and mimosas, and you’ll have trouble getting rid of you friends and family on lazy Sunday afternoons.

Or, keep them for yourself, served with a plain, crusted bread like Irish Wheaten Bread (https://www.charlesprogers.com/blogs/archives/7766) for an easy, simple (and delicious) breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
Cooking spray
2 pieces prosciutto
2 eggs
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spray a muffin tin with cooking spray (for as many prosciutto eggs as you plan to make). Arrange a piece of prosciutto in each muffin cup, wrapping around the sides and covering the bottom to form a closed bowl.

Crack eggs one at a time into a small bowl (to make sure yolks are intact), then pour into prosciutto-lined muffin cups. Grind some fresh black peppercorns onto the top of the raw egg. Place in oven and bake for around 15 minutes for a cooked egg white and soft yolk. Cool slightly before removing from tin. Carefully scoop out eggs with a large spoon. Serve with crusty, whole grain bread, if you like.

Makes 2 servings.

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