..."Take that, you bully!"
"Oeuf!!!....now why'd ya have ta go and do that Mrs. Florentine?, all I said was you'd better be careful you don't go finding something out that you didn't really want to know. I thought you trusted me?"
"Awww, Mr. Benedict. I know you had something to do with it. Or you know someone who does. Either way, you're guilty as hell and I intend to see that you pay."
"That's an awful big fuss over a simple breakfast lady. What if things don't turn out the way you thought?"
"Well, Mr. Benedict, that's a risk a girls's gotta take once in a while. Now hand me that knife!"
"Mrs. Florentine! Stop! Please don't do this!"
"Oh...It's just a poached egg in the middle."
"I told you you'd be disappointed darlin."
That's it for the very brief film noir portion of this months EotMeoTE entry. As you can see, work's run me ragged and my brain just can't cope with any sort of task requiring thought. Forgive me my feeble effort.
The breakfast was good though.
Cakes and I eat poached eggs on cheesy grits for an awful lot of our weekend breakfasts. I'd have to say it's probably our favourite easy, Saturday breakfast food. We love it enough that variations on it have appeared on Lex Culinaria at least two times.
This weekend, hot off last week's runaway popular beehive pasta timballe, I decided to try a smaller version for breakfast, using grits. It turned out brilliantly, other than the fact that I think I cooked it a touch too long so the yolk was not as runny as I would have liked.
This entry is also special as it is the first time in a long long time that my weekend breakfast-making schedule has coincided with the end of the month and therefore I have a post for the End of the Month Eggs on Toast Extravaganza. EotMEoTE is the only (cooking) meme I know of that started out as a piss-take of memes. I invoke the longstanding EotMEoTE rule that any carbohydrate, in this case grits, can stand in for the "toast".
This use of grits makes a really nice presentation, certainly different from our standard Saturday pile'o'grits topped with cheese and spinach and a poached egg. I love the idea of cutting into the timablle and seeing the soft yolk ooze out. Like I said, I cooked mine a little too long though, so you might want to be a bit more vigilant in checking on yours for doneness by prodding the top gently with your finger to check for "give". You could also add all sorts of good stuff eityher to the cavity with the egg or mixed right in with the grits - chopped crispy bacon, spinach, sauteed mushrooms, chopped ham, onions.....
If you had pre-cooked the grits the nigh before, or if you has leftovers, this would be a snap to make for a special brunch or breakfast.
Breakfast timballe of grits and cheese, with poached egg centre
Serves 2
- 1 + 1/4 cup cooked coarse grits, cooled
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon carse ground pepper
- 1/2 cup asiago (or other strong hard cheese)
- 2 small eggs
- butter
- chives, crumbled bacon, more cheese, whatever you want to add...
Butter the inside of two oven proof glass or ceramic dishes (each about 350-400 ml). Mix salt, pepper and cheese into grits. Divde grits into thirds. Press 1/3 into each greased dish, to cover bottom and sides. leave 1/2 inch (1cm) room at the top of the sides. Crack one whole egg into each grit-lined cavity. Top with chives, crumbled bacon, more cheese, whatever you want. Divide remaining grits in half. Roll each half into a ball and use a damp rolling pin or your hands to flatten the ball into a circle that will cover the top of the egg and grits in the dish. Top each dish with a round of grits. Press gently aroung the egdes to seal. Bake dishes in a 350F oven for 15-20 minutes. After about ten minutes start checking every few minutes to see if the egs are set. Remove them from the oven when set.
Run a knife around the inside of the dish to loosen and then invert onto plate.
What a gorgeous, mouth-watering photograph.
Just beautiful!
Posted by: Tana | April 03, 2006 at 12:35 PM
Hi, I just tagged you for The Recipe Collection Meme.
Posted by: kalyn | April 03, 2006 at 07:19 PM
YAY! grits! yum. it's finally getting warm in NYC so it wont be on my breakfast menu 4 2 much longer, but ONCE again i'm headed 2 norway for Easter week & i'm thinking I'll take some grits over for the Future In-Laws!! surely they'll LOVE them!
enjoy!
Posted by: Atlanta | April 04, 2006 at 08:58 AM
Hey, not feeble at all!! I love it! Mrs Florentine & Mr Benedict, indeed... Now all I have to do is script my own epic! ;-)
Posted by: Jeanne | April 07, 2006 at 03:42 AM
I really enjoy your site and love your writing. I've been playing with this particular recipe for the grits and posted it on my site. Grits are a favorite of mine. This now appears in many ways on our breakfast, lunch and dinner plates. Thanks many.
Posted by: Tanna | April 21, 2006 at 02:32 AM
Bravo for your pictures, this one is truly beautiful !And your recipes...mmmm !
Posted by: claire | September 13, 2006 at 01:13 PM
There’s a place in your heart and I know that it is love. This place could be much brighter than tomorrow and if you really try You’ll find there’s no need to cry.
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