Tom Douglas

A Happy Egg Day in the Test Kitchen!/ by Shelley Lance, Cookbook Coauthor

We had a brilliant day in the test kitchen yesterday!  We tested Eggs Benedict recipes (on delicious Dahlia Bakery toasted English muffins, of course!)  for the upcoming Dahlia Bakery Cookbook with great success.  Adrienne Lasko, now chef of Etta’s and Seatown, worked with me on hollandaise and egg poaching techniques one day a few months ago, but this was the first chance I had to write up recipes and test them out.  I credit Adrienne’s clear, well thought out instructions for our success!  I have poached eggs many times over the years, but never with the calm confidence that I had using Adrienne’s technique.  Julie Hartley, my co-tester, was also nervous about poaching eggs but had no trouble at all making perfect poached eggs.  We made hollandaise by two methods, using the blender for Dahlia’s scallion hollandaise (photo above left) and whisking by hand for Etta’s lemon dill version (photos above middle).  Both versions came out silky smooth and luscious!!

We also made our second strata- a springlike version with asparagus, bacon, and leeks- golden crusted outside and creamy-yummy inside. (You may be getting the idea, there are plenty of breakfast recipes in this book.)

More success: our first ice cream tested for this book (a lovely vanilla streusel), and perfect chocolate cupcakes!!  A good start to the week!

April 6th, 2011