Eggs Hawthorne.

It's Sunday morning and I'm fixing Eggs Hawthorne,
my version of Eggs Benedict.
Toasted English Muffins.
Sauteed ham slices.
I use Kentucky Double Smoked Ham,
available at Food Lion.
A bed of spinach.
And a 2.50 - 2.75 minute poached egg.
Bring water with a splash of vinegar in it to a boil.
Stir to create a vortex.
Drop in the egg.
Place drained poached egg in spinach nest.
Caress with Hollandaise Sauce.

That was my plan.
It's always worked for me before.

This time I screwed up the Hollandaise.

This has happened to me once before.

My sauce separated and curdled.
I think I might not have paid attention
and added too much butter at one time,
then I had to stop and answer the phone,
and I couldn't properly continue heating my emulsion,
and whisking it,
and I had to ignore it for a while,
so it all separated.
Mea culpa.
Into fat pieces and liquid.
Looked like crap.

This isn't my Hollandaise.
I grabbed this pic off the internet.

But this is what my Hollandaise kinda looked like.
Only worse.
More curdled and separated.
Imagine that.

This is a nasty mess.
But you don't need to throw it out and start over.
You can fix this.

What I did was put a tablespoon of white wine
in a Corning ceramic bowl thingie
and heated it over low, low heat.
Then I whisked in the curdled sauce a tablespoon at a time.

And would you look at this?
I ended up with this beautiful Hollandaise.
I was amazed.

Who'd a thunk?
It's freakin' beautiful Hollandaise.

My favorite part -
penetration.

And release.

My Aloe Plant.

It's blooming for the first time.

Mr. Hawthorne Makes An Appetizer.

We were up at Sam's Club the other day
and they had beautiful asparagus.

Mr. Hawthorne wrapped the spears in thinly sliced ham
and I made a mustard and roasted garlic dip.

Ingredients for dip:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1 bulb garlic, roasted
1 dried cayenne pepper, minced
chives, finely chopped
1 tsp white wine
1/2 tsp hot mustard
freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

To roast garlic, pour a little oil over top
and wrap in foil.
Bake at 350 for about an hour.
Let cool, then simply squeeze each clove to get garlic pulp out.
Roasted garlic is very mild,
so go ahead and use the whole bulb.

Mix all ingredients.

Mayo, Dijon mustard, and vinegar.

Add in roasted garlic, chives, and cayenne.

Freshly ground salt and pepper.

Mix well.

Mr. Hawthorne added in a teaspoon of white wine at the end.

Mr. Hawthorne taste tested and
suggested some horseradish.
I wasn't looking carefully when I got out the "horseradish,"
then I noticed it was a funny color.
It turned out to be Chinese Hot Mustard
and it worked quite nicely in the dip.

While I was making the dip,
Mr. Hawthorne cooked the asparagus.

To prepare asparagus,
first snap the bottoms off.
They will automatically snap off
where they're supposed to.
Drop into boiling salted water
and boil about 2 minutes.
You want them crisp tender, not mush.
Immediately plunge into ice water
to stop the cooking and set the pretty green color.

Drain on paper towels.

Wrap each spear in thinly sliced ham.
We use Food Lion's Kentucky Double Smoked Ham.

The mustard and garlic flavors in the dip
nicely complement the ham.

Good finger food for a party.

Loved the dip.
Be sure you make enough of these.

Giada Wants To Be A Star.

Daughter Hawthorne shot this picture
of Giada watching the Go video.

Dream on, Giada.

Mr. Hawthorne Makes Oyster Chowder.

The Hawthornes finished off
their third bushel of oysters last night
with Oyster Chowder, courtesy of Mr. Hawthorne.

When you make an oyster chowder,
please do not skimp on the oysters.

These oysters were on the small size
and we used up what was left in the burlap bag.
They do have a shelf life, you know.
Mr. Hawthorne figgers about 100 oysters.
Yes.
100.
I'm serious.

Since Mr. Hawthorne had an injured and bandaged hand
and I didn't feel like shucking all of those oysters,
he put them all in a big pot and steamed them
until they were just starting to open.
Then they were easily shuckable.

Every spoonful contained several oysters.

And now, for the method.

Notice I'm not giving you the mise en place here.
And I'm not giving you a recipe.
Mr. Hawthorne is just cooking on the fly.

Once you know the method,
the "recipes" are endless.
Consider my giving you the method
kinda like giving you the keys to the kitchen.
You have the keys now,
so you can drive where ever you want.
You can switch out ingredients,
combine different flavors,
use different, but appropriate, seasonings ...
you know ... cook.

First, Mr. Hawthorne fried up
3 chopped up slices of bacon over medium heat.
The bacon will impart a nice smoky layer
to the chowder.

While the bacon was frying,
Mr. Hawthorne added in peeled, finely-diced carrots and potatoes.

And some chopped celery.
Stir around until bacon is browned.

Look at your pieces of vegetables.
They should be all the same size.

When the bacon bits had browned ...

... he added in about 3 cups of clam juice.

Season with freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
and bring to a simmer.

Next he added in around 1/3 cup of heavy cream.
The way I think about it,
the more cream, the merrier,
so if you'd like more, go for it.
Taste test.

Reduce heat to low and let the chowder barely simmer.

In another small pan,
Mr. Hawthorne made a roux.
A roux is simply equal parts butter and flour cooked.
It's going to be used to thicken our chowder.
First he melted about 1/2 stick butter.

Then he sprinkled an equal amount of flour (4 TB)
into the melted butter.

Swirl for about two minutes
over medium low heat to cook the flour.

Taste to be sure the flour is cooked.
You don't want raw flour.

Next he added a little of the clam juice to the roux.

And he added the roux to the chowder.

Stir and heat to thicken.

He added some of the shiitaki mushrooms he grew.

Here's another tip for thickening a soup.
You can also use an instant blend flour, like Wondra,
to thicken your chowder.
Wondra will not clump when you add it to your dish,
as regular flour will.

I prefer the roux, myself.
The flour is cooked.

Oysters in.
Care to count?

Just heat through.
You cannot undercook an oyster,
but you sure can overcook it,
making it tough, dry, and unpleasant.

Num yummy.

Would you look at that?
He sneaked some corn in the chowder
while I wasn't watching.

I added fresh scallions and parsley
and oyster crackers.

Excellent oyster chowder, Mr. Hawthorne.

Dare we get a fourth bushel?