Breakfast. 

It seems like such a simple meal, but it can be a special time as Chef Leon and his wife, Lori proved at our recent Locally Grown Meal, or, as Leon put it, our Local Grower’s breakfast at Cafe 711. 

Leon started with the menu: 

Eggs Benedict

Mimosa

Ebbelskivers

Coffee

Fruit Tangerines Pineapple Blueberries. 

And those dining were Leon, Lori and me, Carol. 

To tell you the truth, Leon beat me to it - the meal theme, anyways. 

Usually I am the one talking about the next Locally Grown Meal project, but this time, he was the first to suggest the meal’s theme: breakfast! 

Breakfast? 

We’ve had two locally grown meals in the past - one featuring lamb and chicken and another with spare ribs and all the fixings. Both meals included locally grown vegetables and more. Breakfast, however, was a new meal to consider. Actually, it’s pretty exciting and a great opportunity to highlight more great locally grown whole foods! 

As Leon was sending the text suggesting the theme, he included a picture of a hollandaise sauce he was making for the Eggs Benedict. 

The cogs and wheels began turning in my head as I thought of growers I could contact for the meal’s ingredients. 

Instead of Canadian Bacon, I purchased a ham from Haffner Family Farm. Check out their story at thelocalgrowers.com/Haffner-Family-Farm-a-true-farm-to-table-model. 

And I got eggs from Alison Nyberg. Alison attended the same Christian elementary school as my sons and now lives on a farm with her partner, Tom Schiesser and their four children. Read about the eggs and other farming ventures they are involved with at thelocalgrowers.com/home/an-egg-cellent-venture. 

Here’s Leon’s description of the day: 

“Starting at about 8:15, coffee was served. The special coffee of the day was. Puerto Rican 100 percent Arabica bean coffee called Elaborate. The morning coffee was served alongside a cranberry Biscotti from Falls Baking Co. (www.fallsbaking.com) and a Swedish flatbread called Knackebrod, this was provided by our good friend Shawn Schneeberger of Fergus Falls. 

Note: Shawn and her husband, Dave, were guests at our Locally Grown Meal featuring spare ribs. Shawn made two dynamite desserts and, for the sugar, that was provided by Dave’s dad who is a sugar beet grower. Check out Shawn’s desserts at: thelocalgrowers.com/A-Locally-Grown-Dessert-Dream-of-Rhubarb-Torte-and-Peach-Pie.

Leon continues….

Moving on to the main course: 

“Eggs benedict is a favorite of mine. Today’s recipe used toasted sourdough bread (Falls Baking Co.) instead of the traditional English muffin. I used baked ham (Haffner Family Farm of Eagle Bend,MN) in place of Canadian bacon, poached eggs from Allison Nyberg of Fergus Falls. A topping of “from scratch” hollandaise sauce using Allison’s eggs and fresh melted butter from Millerville Co-op Creamery of Millerville, MN. The dish was garnished with finely chopped chives and black pepper.” 

Hollandaise Sauce

To make the hollandaise sauce, separate two eggs and set aside. 

In a small saucepan add: 

1 TBSP water

2 TBSP white wine vinegar

1 TBSP of black peppercorns

1 Finely chopped shallot

Cook the mixture down so only about 1 TBSP liquid is remaining. Discard all but the liquid. Set it aside to cool. 

Next: 

Melt 1/2 stick of butter or 1/8 lb in the microwave. Be careful to not boil it over. 

Add the two egg yolks to the blender then stir the eggs until frothy. 

Add the room temperature vinegar/water mixture to the egg mixture and, while blending at a slow speed, drizzle the very hot butter slowly into the blender, being careful to not add it too fast. 

Keep the blender going for another 15 seconds or so. 

Leon adds about a tsp of lemon juice at the end of the blending time. 

Taste the mixture and add more lemon, if desired. 

The sauce is ready! Set aside and keep warm but not too hot. 

Notes on the eggs: 

Poached eggs are basically raw eggs boiled in a water bath instead of frying in a pan. 

The easy way to make a poached egg is to fill a 2 qt sauce pan with water, add a pinch of salt, heat the water to a boil. 

Crack the eggs into a small cup or ramekin (one per cup) and set aside. 

When the water is at a full boil, turn the heat down to a simmer. Stir the water briskly until you see a vortex in the middle of the pan. 

As the water spins, add one egg, stop stirring and what 3 minute exactly. 

Use a slotted spoon to remove the poached egg, drain the water in the spoon, put the egg aside and repeat the process. 

It’s best to serve the egg as soon as possible. 

Assemble the Eggs Benedict: 

Have the bread toasted and the the guest plates. 

Layer some warm thinly sliced ham on the toast. 

I added a bit of steamed spinach. 

Next comes the poached egg. 

The hollandaise sauce is then drizzled over this layered meal. 

I like to garnish with freshly chopped chives and black fresh ground pepper and maybe a pit of paprika for color and taste.

On the side: 

To go along with this meal, I cut up a fresh pineapple, added fresh blueberries and then served them in small bowls as a side to the Eggs Benedict. I also served sliced honey crisp apples with a fruit dip. The fruit dip was made from mascarpone cheese, blended with a lemon curd for a sweet lemon dip for the apples. 

Carols note: This fruit dip was FANTASTIC! I haven’t tried it myself, yet. But am anxiously looking forward to it with the upcoming fruit season here in MN. Another note: Leon and Lori learned I do not like pineapple, but the fruit was great, nonetheless.

Leon continues:

After Breakfast Treat: 

I chose to make one of my grandmother’s Danish recipes, using the very same cast iron pan that she had used most of her life. Danish Ebbelskivvers are a pancake batter fired in a cast iron pan with spherical depressions. The end product is like a pancake, but in a golf ball size. My grandmother usually served these with powdered sugar and a fruit syrup like cherry or chokecherry. We used a butter and maple syrup topping along with chokecherry syrup. 

Ebbelskivver Recipe: 

2 c. Buttermilk

2 c. All purpose flour

3 eggs

2.5 TBSP baking pwoder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 TBSP granulated sugar

Beat the eggs, sugar, salt, buttermilk, flour, baking soda. Blend well and then add the baking powder. Add 1/2 tsp oil to each depression in the Ebbelskivver pan. And heat to just under the smoking point. 

Fill each depression to about 2/3 full and cook for about two minute. Flip each of the Ebbelskivvers over as they become browned. Cook on the other side until done. Move them to a serving dish and start the cooking process over again until  all the batter is used up. 

This recipe should yield about 30 to 35 Ebbelskivvers. 

These can be cooled to room temp and reheated for another day. 

More Fruit: 

We decided to do mimosas to this brunch meal. These mimosas were made from orange juice and a white moscato from Carlos Creek Winery near Alexandria, MN. (The wine is called Minnescato which is a sweeter wine or Aurora which is a drier. Both make great mimosas.) 

 I served the juice in small carafe so each can mix as they see fit. Most recipes call for 1/2 sparkling wine and 1/2 orange juice. These certainly could be mixed ahead in a larger batch and served from a single pitcher. 

Carol’s notes: The ham was sliced thin and, for that added touch that Leon always provides, he used a Minnesota-shaped cookie cutter on each slice. A special touch! The ham also wasn’t overly salty like some hams are. We didn’t use it all for our breakfast - it was about 5 pounds - so my hubby Doug froze it. We thawed and heated it for our Easter meal and it was great! I highly recommend Haffner Family Farm.