Posts tagged ham

toomanyreservations:

I woke up this morning craving some good brunch food. The kind that involves runny egg, cheese and other forms of creamy, decadent goodness. I have often seen recipes for Croque Madames and have drooled over photos. Being a starving college student though, I don’t have much Gruyere laying around and the idea of whipping up some Mornay or Bechamel sauce is far from appealing early in the morning. 

So I improvised. Swapping cheddar in and making a creamy spread of mayo, yogurt and honey mustard gave me an easy, more affordable recreation of the classic. Having never had a Croque Madame I cannot compare the two fairly, but I can say that this version was delicious. The overwhelming smoothness of the flavors went perfectly with the golden perfection of the egg yolk that spilled over the ham and toasted English muffin. I am keeping this recipe on my list of favorite late morning favorites. 

Ingredients: 

Makes one serving. Double or quadruple the recipe for more people. 

1 tbls plain nonfat yogurt

1/2 tbls olive oil mayo

1/4 tbls honey mustard

2 slices thinly sliced ham (I used prepackaged shaved ham)

1 large, sandwich slice extra sharp cheddar cheese cut in half or two smaller slices

1 whole gain English muffin

2 eggs

Olive oil or PAM spray 

Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

Make the spread by combining the yogurt, mayo and mustard in a small bowl. Cut the English muffin in half. Use a knife to spread 2/3 of the spread mixture on top of each muffin half. Place one slice of ham on the halves, then top with cheese. Place under the broiler of a conventional oven or in toaster oven until cheese is just melted. Place these aside on a plate.

Crack each egg one at a time onto large frying pan that has been preheated over low heat. Make sure you arrange the eggs on opposite sides of the pan and use a spatula to keep the whites separated. It should look like this. 

When the eggs have set turn the burner off and very gently flip each egg. After about a minute remove the eggs and gently place one on top of each muffin half. Spoon remaining spread on each egg and season with salt and pepper.

Look how pretty the end result is! This recipe proves that you don’t have to get fancy to make a delicious, filling and aesthetically pleasing dish. I don’t know about you, but when my food looks good it makes eating it that much more pleasurable. 

Let’s look at all this loveliness close up shall we? 

The way the egg oozes over on the plate, leaving all that heavenly juice to be soaked up with the next bite… My mouth is watering all over again.

Please excuse me while I go make another one. Or six. Don’t judge. 

sillysulli:

Eggs Benedict: Organic eggs, York ham, Hollandaise