I woke up this morning feeling blissful. Nothing puts a little pep in your step like the thought of impending doom right? Now don't get your thongs in a bunch, if you think hard enough, you'll agree. Its like the age-old question, what would you do with only a month, week, or day left to live? Well I, my dear, would bake to my heart's content. And unless you're living under a molten lava rock, you'd know that there was a mighty hurricane, by the name of Irene, headed my way. Your way too, if you live anywhere on the East coast for goodness sakes. So as I said...when in doom, you bake.
I set out this morning, with my now on and off beau (you know how that goes) to whip up a delicious French inspired brunch. He wanted pancakes, I wanted something light to keep my figure, so we mutually agreed upon crepes. Only problem is, crepes and maple syrup is blasphemy to the French. I needed to think harder. Why not crepes filled with eggs...but not scrambled then rolled, but baked. A few searches and I found I was not alone. Everyone from Martha Stewart wannabes to farmer housewives were tucking baked eggs into carefully folded crepes. A little ham and spinach and you had a whole meal. Just one little fork in the road (no pun intended) and that was...well the recipe called for over a dozen eggs. Goodness me. If I am going to consume that much cholesterol, at least let it be cage-free and organic. Am I right? So to Target we go!
Target was closed. Hurricane looming. Right. Got it. Okay, well, think fast woman. You are the head of the household, the housewife to be, the voice of reason, the...you catch my drift. I instantly thought of taking a cue from my new favorite restaurant
Egg, where the chef ingeniously bakes up a beautifully runny egg in the center of fresh French brioche, or use The Rebel Within as inspiration. Oh, and smother it a in southern-style gravy of some sort. Combine that with the fact that I still have leftover buttermilk biscuit dough in my fridge, and my next meal presents itself on a silver platter. I shall do a ham, egg and cheese biscuit breakfast cup. What a mouthful, literally. And
this takes a little bit of prep, a little bit of effort, but it is sooo good, that I was begged to make more. So without further ado my friends, if you have some dough laying around (be it pastry, pie, biscuit..who cares, just go for it like I did, and even if you don't, its so worth the extra effort) and have eggs handy, the rest of your morning will look pretty damn bright. Even if it is overcast, windy, and pouring acid rain!
HAM, EGG, AND CHEESE BUTTERMILK BISCUIT CUPS & SAUSAGE GRAVY
serves 2
INGREDIENTS:
Buttermilk biscuit dough (
see my recipe here)
6 eggs
2 tbsp green scallions
2 slices Virginia ham
1/3 cup shredded Munster, cheddar, and monterey jack cheeses
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb sage-flavored breakfast sausage or 3 pork sausage links, diced
¼ cup finely chopped white or yellow onion
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
½ tsp poultry seasoning
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
1-2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1-2 dashes of Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper
1-2 tbsp butter or bacon grease (if needed)
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 400 F with rack positioned in the center. Grease a muffin baking pan or line muffin pan with silicone/cupcake cups. Set aside.
Preheat a saucepan over medium high heat (put a few drops of water in the pan – when they evaporate, you know the pan is ready). Crumble the sausage into the pan and let it brown for a minute or two, then turn down to medium heat.
Continue cooking, breaking up the sausage into smaller pieces, until no pink remains. Stir in the onions and cook until they are transparent.
Remove sausage with a slotted spatula or spoon, leaving the drippings in the pan. If less than 3 tbsp of drippings remain, add enough butter (or bacon grease) to equal about 3 tbsp of drippings. Add the cooked sausage back to the pan on medium heat, and sprinkle the flour over the sausage. Stir in the flour and cook for about 6-8 minutes, until the mixture starts bubbling and turns slightly golden brown.
Stir in poultry seasoning, nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce and salt and cook for 1 minute to deepen the flavors. Slowly add the milk and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened (about 15 minutes). Be patient, it will thicken!
While gravy is thickening, break off pieces of your biscuit dough and pat down into each muffin cup, making sure to push down a well in the center and easing up the dough along the sides. This will ensure your contents don't overflow. Add dough if spread to thin.
Tear pieces of the ham and push into bottom of each cup, about 2-3 pieces each.
Crack open an each in each cup and sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper on each. Top each with a sprinkling of the cheese mixture, saving a bit of cheese for after baking. Sprinkle with chives. It will look like its overflowing, but don't worry, it will bake up!
Bake at 400 F for about 12-14 minutes, until egg whites are cooked and biscuit rim is golden brown. I chose runny yolks, but to each her own.
Remove breakfast cups from the baking pan and serve two or three per person. Pour the gravy into a side dish for topping. Voila! A perfectly gourmet breakfast concoction.
