The day I discovered pretzel bark, I was a goner. They carry the bark thins with pretzels at the grocery near my house, and there is a real internal struggle every single time I go to the store. I mean. Every. Single. Time. My brain can’t turn it off! So when I thought of making Sam’s favorite dessert, brownies, into my favorite candy, pretzel bark, it was like my universe exploded. These are the very best Pretzel Brownies sprinkled with sea salt and topped with pretzels.
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Lately I’ve been soaking in the last of the fall weather before things turn frosty over here. We’ve been having dinners with friends, meatball parties (more on that later), afternoon walks in the park, and fires in the backyard. It smells smoky outside all the time, like leaves and campfire. There’s nothing better. A couple of our friends, one of which is a far superior cook to me, invited us over for Chili Verde, and I knew that I had to bring my A-game. I made this Green Chile Skillet Cornbread with actual corn in it. Is that a thing? Because I swear I’ve had it that way before, but I don’t know where! His Chili Verde blew me away, so I’m going to have to try and recreate it for the blog soon. It was the perfect pairing to this cornbread.
We have been eating this recipe for days, and I even made it twice this weekend. This recipe has green chiles and corn kernels in it with lovely crispy edges like it fried itself in the oven. I wanted to make something really special, so this couldn’t be your nasty, sweet, run of the mill jiffy mix. It had to be complex. I decided to put corn in it for texture, green chiles for flavor, and the skillet part adds an extra element.
But even better than that, I made the leftovers into breakfast by putting a fried egg and some spicy salsa verde on top. It was incredible! It’s worth the work to make this just to put an egg and salsa on top. It’s a great thing to make for any of your Thanksgiving houseguests this weekend so that breakfast is easy.
We always try to make special breakfasts on the weekends, and this has to be my favorite. This recipe is going to be a new staple this winter at our house. Try the recipe below and let me know what you think!
makes one 12inch skillet of cornbread
adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Ingredients:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 whole egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup shortening, melted
1/2 cup canned corn, drained
one 4 ounce can green chiles
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tbsp shortening
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix together with a fork. In a separate bowl, add the buttermilk, milk, and egg. Mix together with a fork. Add the baking soda. Mix again. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the cornmeal mixture and stir together until combined. Add the melted 1/4 cup shortening a little at a time. Mix together until just combined. Add the corn, chiles and cheddar. Mix again.
In a cast iron skillet, add the 2 tbsp shortening over medium heat on the stove top. Once shortening is melted, add the batter. It should sizzle. Cook for one minute on the stove and then place in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Slice into wedges and serve warm.
Every cook has a secret ingredient that they keep coming back to in every recipe. Sometimes, you get really hooked on this one thing that just seems to make everything better. For me, it’s dijon mustard. It makes EVERYTHING better. And I used to hate mustard. I also thought I hated hollandaise, but I have corrected this error. I never could have ever hated hollandaise because it’s basically the best, most buttery sauce in the whole world. So add a little mustard into your hollandaise, and you have the very best hollandaise. When I worked in restaurants, at brunch we’d always sing “Hollandaise! Celebrate!” in the back of the house like that Madonna song… Don’t judge.
Now the title of this recipe may be a bit confusing since there’s no lettuce, but lettuce would be a bit wilty here, so I skipped it. A handful of arugula would be great though! My Eggs Benedict has sliced avocado, roasted tomatoes, bacon, poached eggs and a mustardy hollandaise on sliced toasted baguette.
I definitely ate this alone this morning and I’m not kidding you, it’s the best thing I have ever made or eaten, so I’m making it again for dinner when Sam gets home because it’s that good. THIS RECIPE IS BEYOND AMAZING! Don’t let the hollandaise scare you off. My friend just in passing at brunch yesterday suggested I use a blender to make it so it’s easier than trying to use a double boiler. Um, genius! So anyone can make this recipe. The only challenge is timing it right. Read my tips at the end of the post if you want help timing the sauce or the poached eggs.
So to roast the tomatoes, you just throw em in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil and some lovely flaky kosher salt. Roast for about 15 minutes or until they start to get a bit wrinkly.
Slice your baguette and toast lightly. Fry your bacon and put on top of the toast. Slice your avocado and stack on the bacon. Then spoon some of your roasty tomatoes on top.
Then you’ll boil some water to quickly poach your eggs. In a blender put the yolks, salt, mustard, lemon, and blend while drizzling the melted butter into the top slowly.
And of course drizzle the hollandaise on top. Sprinkle some paprika to make it look beautiful 🙂
Best. Recipe. Ever. You gotta make this!
BLT BENEDICT WITH BLENDER HOLLANDAISE RECIPE
serves 2 people
Ingredients:
1 baguette sliced diagonally
1 avocado sliced
4 slices of bacon
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
4 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 stick of butter
olive oil
kosher salt
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 F. Slice and toast four pieces of baguette. Slice your avocado. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Spread them on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt. Place in the oven for 15 minutes or until the tomatoes are wrinkly. Remove from oven and set aside. While the tomatoes bake, use a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat to fry the bacon for about 3 minutes on each side. Remove bacon from the pan and place on a paper towel lined sheet.
On a plate, add the toast, and top with the bacon, then the avocado, then spoon on the cherry tomatoes.
In a medium pot, boil water. Once water is boiling, turn the heat to medium or a simmer.
While you wait on the water to boil, make the hollandaise. Melt butter in the microwave in a bowl and reserve. Add 3 egg yolks, a pinch of salt, mustard, and lemon juice to a blender. Blend for a couple seconds. Remove the top of the blender and start the blender slowly dripping the melted butter into the egg mixture as the blender purees until all the butter is gone. Set aside.
With a spoon, stir the pot of boiling water to make a cyclone in the water. Crack your four eggs into the cyclone, one at a time. Stirring slightly. (This helps the white to wrap itself around the yolk. It may take some practice, so maybe do two eggs at a time). Simmer for two minutes for a runny egg, 3 minutes for a medium egg, and 4 minutes for a hard egg. Remove eggs from the water using a slotted spoon. Place each egg gently on top of the toast, avocado, bacon, and tomato. Immediately top with the hollandaise.
Tips!: If you want to make the eggs for a crowd or take your time on them without being rushed, you can poach them for two minutes and remove to an ice bath of cold water with ice in a large bowl. When you’re ready to use, warm up some water in a saucepan and dunk the eggs for 20-30 seconds to warm them before serving.
If you want to make the hollandaise first and you won’t serve it immediately, you can put the sauce in a thermos. Or you can keep it in a bowl in a pot of tepid water, which will regulate the temperature.
I have some very exciting news! Sam and I are engaged! Wedding planning is a huge thing. There are a million tiny decisions to make and it’s insane. The minutiae can really get to you, but I’m a secretary, so I’m definitely in my element. The important thing is that in the end, I end up married to Sam. All the other stuff doesn’t matter.
In case you’re wondering, we got engaged at the park. And my whole family knew, and we even went to lunch with them and they kept it a secret. HOW?! I’m the worst at secret keeping. And if you know me, I am a total snoop, so I didn’t think Sam could pull off a surprise, but he did. In retrospect, him wanting to go to the park when I was wearing heels was suspicious, but we pretty much go every weekend and I thought, maybe he just wants to sit. Questions you may be asking are–did I cry? Yes, but not an ugly cry. Sam thought I was onto him because I was having a good hair day. Nope. No idea. I was supposed to blog about this recipe last weekend, but I was distracted by the engagement, so I hope I get a pass.
We made this summer vegetable hash together and it was incredible! It’s a great way to use up some back of the fridge leftovers since you can use pretty much any vegetables. Or you could go to the farmers market and pick up some seasonal veggies. I had some leftover arugula and some sundried tomatoes in the fridge, so I whizzed up a pistou! (Basically a french version of pesto with no nuts). Crack some eggs in your skillet, broil, and boom, you have brunch!
I recommend separating the egg whites and yolks and putting in the egg whites first and then the yolks for one minute at the end or they’ll overcook and you won’t have a runny egg. Sad.
SUMMER VEGETABLE HASH WITH ARUGULA PISTOU
Ingredients:
3 eggs (whites and yolk separated)
1 onion
1 potato
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow summer squash
1 zucchini
2 handfuls of arugula
1/4 cup olive oil
2 sundried tomatoes in oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 clove garlic
a handful of basil
1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Dice the onion. Dice the potato into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat a large nonstick skillet over med-high. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan. Saute the onion and potato in the pan until onion is translucent and the potato browns slightly. Transfer to a large baking sheet and place in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
To make the pistou: add the arugula, basil, garlic, sundried tomatoes, parmesan and juice of half the lemon to a food processor. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Turn on the food processor and while it’s running, add the olive oil. Set aside.
Dice the bell pepper. To cut the zucchini into half moons, cut the ends off the zucchini then cut it long ways. Place the halves on the cutting board flat side down then cut into quarter inch slices. Do the same with the summer squash.
Heat a cast iron skillet or other oven safe pan over medium high heat, and a little olive oil. Add the vegetables and saute for about 5-10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the squash is slightly browned. Turn off the heat. Remove the potatoes from the oven and add to the vegetable mixture. Turn on the broiler in the oven and move the oven rack to about 6 inches from the top of the oven. Put the egg whites into the pan over the vegetables. Place the pan in the oven on the top rack for about 2-3 minutes until the egg whites turn white. Open the oven, put the reserved yolks on the eggwhites and return to the broiler for one minute. Remove from the oven.
Drizzle the top with pistou and serve hot.
This is where my blog peaks, and no other recipe will live in infamy like this miso butter and mushroom orecchiette. Which I have misspelled and spelled again fifteen times since writing this post. ORECCHIETTE. Why so many letters? I’m here to tell you that this pasta is an umami bomb. The savory miso butter…
Sam once told me he didn’t like carrots, which I took as a challenge to craft the most delicious carrot recipe that even the most dedicated carrot-hater couldn’t hate. I used to hate a lot of vegetables until I found out that everything is good roasted. Everything. Even a brussels sprout. I made this amazing…
Hi Friends! Every year I fall in love with autumn all over again, and I’m reminded why. I took a step outside and watched the rain fall on a big oak tree in our backyard while all the yellowed leaves fell to the ground. It smelled like dirt and leaves and those scented crayons that…