A Brief Respite. The Hawthornes Have Repasts.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I hope you haven't been worried about the Hawthornes' sustenance, since this is, basically, a food blog and I haven't posted anything about food lately. Are the Hawthornes eating? Where's the food? I know these issues are paramount in your mind. To allay your fears, here's the food; here's what we've been eating.

Last night, Saturday, Mr. Hawthorne stir fried spicy shrimp, celery, carrots, water chestnuts, onions, and snow peas from the garden.

Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne. As always, delightful. Succulent, spicy shrimp always win me over. Crisp, green, sweet, fresh snow peas is the icing on the cake. In retaliation for Mr. Hawthorne's wonderfulness ...

... I made Eggs Hawthorne this morning. Toasted whole wheat muffin, Ticky! Steamed spinach. Slightly browned ham slices. Egg gently dropped into the vortex of vinegared water (which coagulates the albumen and makes for a nice, neat, white packet) and gently poached for precisely 2 minutes and 45 seconds. My Hollandaise was superb.

My favorite part of Eggs Hawthorne - the defoliation of the ovum. That sounds dirty.

Rosie Makes Eggs Benedict Arnold With A Twist.

I wanted to start the New Year off on proper footing, and what better way than with Eggs Benedict for breakfast? Instead of my usual Hollandaise, I'll be making a Cajun Hollandaise. Instead of my usual English Muffins, I'll be using Arnold's Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins. I had the Food Network on this morning and Booby Flay was making Eggs Benedict with a Cajun Hollandaise, hence my inspiration for the Acadian accent.

Sadly, I had no English Muffins on hand and Mr. Hawthorne didn't want to wait for me to make Homemade English Muffins, so I used Arnold's Whole Wheat Sandwich Rounds for the base. And WALLAH ! Thanks, Aunt Sandy, for that pronunciation. I have Rosie's Eggs Benedict Arnold. WHOOT!

I put a bunch of spinach in the steamer basket and happily steamed away until wilted.

The last of the Christmas double-smoked ham, sliced and browned in buttah.

Spinach is ready. Keep warm.

I used three egg yolks for my sauce. I had the yolks leftover from my chiles rellenos batter.

You know how I love my egg shots!

I squeezed in the juice of half a lemon. Oh gosh. I just realized, hours later, that I have 4 yolks in the pan. Should've used 2 sticks of butter, sliced in half-tablespoons.

I didn't have all the Cajun ingredients Booby used, so I used what I had: onion powder chile powder garlic powder Hungarian hot paprika oregano Cajun seasoning Lea & Perrins cayenne pepper flakes, homegrown

I used a big pinch of each spice - totaling maybe 1 teaspoon.

And I added the spices to my whisked yolks and juice.

I haven't started heating yet. I'm getting my flavors together. As for Monday morning quarterbackin', you could have used 2 teaspoons of the spices here.

Before I started heating, I decided to add in my new favorite spice to the Hollandaise - the annatto paste.

Making Hollandaise is not hard or tricky. It just demands your full attention. If you're sketchy about doing this, use a double boiler. Barely simmering water underneath your pan of eggs, not touching. I use a hovering pan over very low heat. You do NOT want to end up with scrambled eggs so this is where you need to pay attention. Heat the eggs, whisking constantly, until yolks get lemon-colored and thickened. Mine aren't lemon-colored since I have so much annatto paste in there.

I hovered my pan over very low heat, whisking the entire time, until my yolks thickened. Then I whisked in 1 pat of butter at a time, stirring until the butter was incorporated. Keep adding small pats of butter, one at a time, whisking to emulsify. All in all, for three yolks, I used 3/4 stick of butter. You could use more. Probably the three yolks could take up to 1 1/2 sticks of butter, but I'm not Pauler. I just realized I used four yolks. I could have emulsified two sticks of butter, easily.

I added in a few drops of that new thick Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. And my Cajun Hollandaise is done. And it's quite tasty. Lemony with a bit of heat and spice. Nice contrasts.

Now, on to the poached eggs:

Bring vinegared water to a boil. (I add a tablespoon or two of white distilled vinegar to the water.) Stir briskly to make a vortex and drop the egg into your little tornado.

The swirling water wraps the white around the yolk making a lovely little package. Cook for 2 minutes.

Assemble. Pretend that's a homemade English muffin on the bottom, not a Benedict Arnold. Place a slice of ham on the muffin. Make a nest of spinach. Put the poached packaged egg in the nest. Spoon on Cajun Hollandaise.

This is my favorite part - puncturing the delicate, fragile shell of albumen, and releasing the lovely liquid yellow yolk.

The lava flow of sunshine cascades down. 2011 has started out very well. Indeed.