Eggs Benedict New Creole Style

By corlear

Picture: Egg Benedict + Egg Sardou = Eggs Brennan!

Chef's Notes: In 19 years of working with the Brennan family, I have seen this dish transformed several times. The original version vas served on a Holland Rusk, which is now a rarity. From there we moved to English muffins and Canadian bacon, which enjoyed immense popularity. Last year, Alex's new idea added creativity and quality to this dish. Since we make our own tasso ham, we thinly slice the tasso, roll it up pinwheel style in puff pastry and bake the pinwheels like cinnamon rolls. One of my current weekend addictions is one of these pinwheels, topped with a little Creole Choron Sauce (see recipe).

Chef’s Tips: Another well-known dish is Oysters Benedict, which calls for a single Egg Benedict surrounded by fried oysters.

The ideal accompaniment for this brunch dish is freshly blanched jumbo asparagus or Broiled Tomatoes (see recipe).

Ingredients

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 12 ounces tasso or Cajun spiced deli ham, thinly sliced
• 8 Poached Eggs (see recipe)
• 2 cups Hollandaise Sauce (see recipe)

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Unfold puff pastry dough. Combine butter with cayenne and paprika. Brush one side of dough with 2 tablespoons seasoned butter. Place tasso lengtlnvise over three-fourths of buttered dough. Roll pastry lengthwise to form a long jelly-roll. Cut roll into 8 pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches long. Use remaining 1 tablespoon seasoned butter to brush pastry edges of each roll.

Place rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet or a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.

Prepare Poached Eggs; keep warm.

Prepare Hollandaise Sauce; keep warm.

To serve, place 2 pastry rolls on each plate. Top each roll with a poached egg. Pour 1/4 cup reserved Hollandaise Sauce over each egg.