Negro Frijoles Benedict

The review of Friday's breakfast reminded me of the last time I was truly impressed by an interpretation of eggs benedict. This was in Chicago at a little breakfast and lunch place near Grant Park whose name escapes me. The dish consisted of poached eggs on english muffins and spicy black bean cakes and then dressed with a chipotle squash puree. It was amazing. Interestingly, the Flying Biscuit in Atlanta (one of my favorite places for breakfast) has a recipe, Egg-ceptional Eggs, which consists of two fried eggs on black bean cakes topped with tomatillo salsa and sour cream that sadly just does not work. The Biscuit does breakfast very well, but on this it falls short.

Now I am feeling inspired to construct a recipe similar to that I had in Chicago that I am calling Negro Frijoles Benedict.

Ingredients

English muffins, toasted
Poached eggs
Spicy black bean cakes (recipe links to follow)
Butternut squash and chipotle puree or Sauce or salsa of some kind
Avacado slices

Spicy Black Bean Cake links:

Epicurious.com
Sara Moulton/The Food Network
All Recipes

Many spicy black bean cake recipes come include a sauce recipe or salsa recommendation that would work well. Otherwise, my search for a chipolte and squash puree has turned up little in terms of things that might approximate the sauce that accompanied the dish I had. The closest I can find is from a Salmon recipe on about.com

Otherwise, I think the best bet is to make a basic squash puree (Kabocha or butternut seem to be the best to accompany black beans) and add chipotle to it.

Prepare cakes and sauces according to directions. Lightly toast english muffins and top with avacado slices, black bean cakes, and poached eggs. Spoon sauce and/or salsa over egg. Serve with a side of grits (or polenta!) or potatoes and fresh orange juice (or mimosas!).

In Your Kitchen, Scrambling Your Eggs

I really wanted to make a LOLCat reference up there, but I could not bring myself to knowingly and willingly put bad grammar and spelling into my blog.

My stepfather, Jim, makes the best scrambled eggs, ones that I have not been able to replicate. UNTIL NOW. I thought perhaps that yesterday was a fluke, that I "accidentally" made eggs that were the right combination of moist and fluffy. But then I made them again today. Of course, I am at my parents' house in Massachusetts so it could be that they have a magic stove, but I highly doubt that. Jim is too frugal to pay the extra money for the magic feature of the Magic Chef brand stove and oven.

There are 13 until Andy and I get married and there is still a lot to do:

1. Call the florist by Wednesday
2. Contact the guests who have not replied to see if they are coming or not
3. Plan the ceremony
A. Music
B. Words
4. Plan the reception
A. Order of events
B. Seating arrangements
C. Final count to Caterer by the 18th.
5. Final dress fitting
6. Meet with photographer on Tuesday
7. Obtain the marriage license
8. Gifts
A. Bridesmaids
B. Parents