BLT Benedicts with Prosciutto and Basil Hollandaise

I know I crossed my heart that I would be posting lots of fall recipes this week, you know with masses of pumpkin and apples and cinnamon and soups and stews…and…I lied. All I’ve posted this week are summer dishes, but I have a very good reason for it. All of the fresh produce in my area is still ripe as ever. The basil and chives are still flourishing, the bell peppers are still sprouting, and the tomatoes are some of the juiciest I’ve had all summer long – you don’t just expect me to ignore all of them do you? That would be so rude of me.

So if you can bear with me for one more week, I promise I will have a new fall recipe for you every single post of next week. I swear.

Today: BLT Eggs Benedicts with Basil Hollandaise

I mean, BLTs are the quintessential summer sandwich, are they not? Piles of bacon, crisp lettuce, sweet tomatoes and gobs of mayo, (real mayo) all smashed between two perfectly toasted pieces of bread is pretty much my idea of heaven. Now, transform those ingredients into breakfast and ahhh…eternal happiness.

Eggs benedict is basically the be all and end all of breakfasts for me, but I’m always trying to come up with inspired variations on the original preparation, because even though I love love a classic eggs benny, I do get a little tired of the same monotonous ingredients time after time. So when I was handed a bucket of fresh, ripe-as-ever tomatoes from a client of ours, and I was craving a little benedict breakfast, I knew I’d found the next twist on my fav.

I was originally going to do this as a sandwich, but I kind of like the knife and fork aspect of breakfast…unless of course I’m eating an Egg McMuffin; or if I’m being bad, a Sausage Egg McMuffin; or if I’m being really bad, a Sausage, Egg and Cheese Biscuit, but that’s besides the point.

I switched out the Canadian bacon for crispy prosciutto I cooked up in the oven for a few minutes, then piled it on top of thick slices of tomato perched on a toasted and buttered English muffin and then slid a perfectly poached egg on top of it all. But we’re not done yet…

We still have the most important part of a benedict…the hollandaise…

In the words of Miss Phadra from RHOA, everybody knows the hollandaise is the star of the show, the icing on the cake, the cheese on the pizza…you get my point…it’s the best part… In this particular hollandaise, I blended a handful of basil into the base of the sauce for the “lettuce” aspect of the BLT, and of course, for added flavor and utilization of the basil still growing in my backyard. The sauce goes from blender to benedict immediately, (but if it isn’t hot enough for you, you can very gently heat it over the stove over a barely there heat, while stirring constantly.) and is sprinkled with a little bit of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. If you want to get all fancy schmancy like I did, serve it with a sprig of fresh basil.

Breakfast is served.