Friday, February 07, 2014

Bitchin' Brunch


Sometimes I amaze myself.  I hit a major home run on this brunch dish.  This is how my brain works. 

The other day I bought some mushrooms to make sauteed mushrooms over polenta for dinner.  Then I started feeling pretty crappy and I decided that the only thing I had the energy to cook was a sweet potato.  So that was my dinner that night.  A sweet potato and a spinach salad that was already made.  

The next day I was Pinteresting and I found this recipe that was for sauteed mushrooms and Brussels sprouts with an egg over easy broken open on top.  It looked amazing and I made mental note that I would have to recreate this dish in the near future.

The day after that I wanted to try my hand at making a goat cheese souffle, so I went out and bought some goat cheese.  That night I worked and didn't get home until 2 am, so my dinner was a handful of almonds.  I know, Mom, that's not exactly a good dinner.  But sometimes life gives you rotten lemons that you can't do shit with.  Needless to say, when I woke up the next morning, I was RAVENOUS.  And so I decided to make a goat cheese and scallion polenta topped with sauteed mushrooms, onion, garlic, jalapenos and an over easy egg.  And because today I was craving country ham, I added that to the mix and here you have it.  The best damn meal I have created in awhile.  I mean, it was so good I'd put it up against some of the finer dishes in the best restaurants in Memphis.  NO JOKE!

Here's What I Did:
I made polenta using 1/2 cup of quick cooking polenta and 1 1/2 cups of milk.  Bring the milk to a boil and then slowly whisk in the polenta like a crazy person, avoiding the hot lava explosions that end up erupting when you make polenta.  Stir like a psycho for about 5 minutes, then add in one of those small logs of goat cheese.  Stir to melt the cheese and take off heat.  Add in 2 chopped scallions (aka green onion), green and white parts.

Next, I sauteed half an onion diced, a package of white button mushrooms, sliced thick, a small clove of diced garlic, and half a jalapeno pepper, diced.  I've been using coconut oil to saute things lately because it's much better for you and I have found that I LOVE the taste of mushrooms sauteed in coconut oil.  It's amazing.  Almost sweet, yet still savory. Salt and pepper the mushroom mixture then add in a little chicken stock, just a splash and bring to a boil.  Add in a splash of half and half and mix until sauce has thickened.  In another pan, cook your eggs over easy.  

Put a heaping scoop of your goat cheese and green onion polenta on your plate.  Top with mushroom mixture.  Then top that with your egg.  Sprinkle with a little parsley.  Then break the egg yolk levee and watch as the yolk floods everything on your plate.  Serve with a side of country ham, or whatever meat option you prefer, or nothing at all.  The dish stands on its own.  It really didn't need the ham.  Try it this weekend.  Would be perfect with a mimosa.         
   

1 comment:

Tish said...

I'm with you. :-) Sometimes I do my best work with a random assortment of stuff that needs to be cooked. Sounds pretty!!

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