Hearty Eggs Benedict

Despite my immediate desire to eat chocolate in the morning, I tend to feel better if I eat a real breakfast (go figure). As a kid I was a no-breakfast type, preferring a cup of hot chocolate and nothing else. But my dad always ensured I ate something of breakfast-- grapefruit, toast with almond butter, cereal, and on the special days oven roasted hash browns or even Eggs Benedict. 

Now I love eggs for breakfast, and Eggs Benedict feels like a holiday to me because you have to get more than one pot dirty to make it, but it's always worth it. This particular Eggs Benedict recipes includes more than just Hollandaise sauce: with a bed of hash browns and a layer of lox, it's pretty hearty, in the best of ways. 

Just got home from a really long trip? Make this. 

Finished a tough work out? This. 

It's Saturday and you just need some time to yourself after the work week? Yup. 

Hearty Eggs Benedict

Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Served over hash and lox, a poached egg is dressed with hollandaise sauce.

Serves: 2   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• Dash cayenne
• Dash salt
• Parsley, for garnish
• Pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs, poached or fried
• Hash browns of choice
• 2 servings lox

Directions:

1. Before making the sauce, prepare your hash browns to your liking, and cook your eggs (I prefer to leave the yolks runny).
2. Whisk together egg yolks with lemon until they become slightly lighter yellow. Place in small pot and heat over low, whisking continuously (or in a double boiler if you have one). After 3 minutes, pour in melted butter continuing to whisk the entire time. Continue to whisk until sauce thickens. Remove from heat. Add a dash of cayenne and salt to taste.
3. Serve: Make a layer of hash brown on each plate, and top with lox. Then place a fried or poached egg on top, before drizzling with sauce. Top with parsley leaves for garnish, a sprinkle of pepper and/or more cayenne to taste. Serve immediately.

Pork Chops with Cherry Wine Reduction Sauce

I always get a little antsy when it comes to waiting for things to come into season. Case in point: this recipe that boldly features cherries. And cherries are coming! They are. But right now it's May and cherry are still weeks away. 

That's the trouble with cherries--you spend so much time anticipating them, and when they finally come it's nearly impossible to make up for the rest of the year. You can eat them every day for a week straight but you still won't be sick of them. That's what waiting does -- it makes things even better than they are. 

But since we won't be dining on bags of cherry for months still, I made this cherry wine sauce, which used cherry preserves rather than fresh cherries and comes out of the pot sweet and tart and savory,  making you want to lick the spoon and the pot and everything else. What can I say? I'm impatient. 

Impatience doesn't always work out for the best, but this time it did. You know those cherries they put out at the store, loooong before cherry season begins? They're not really sweet, not quite a deep red, and not quite ripe yet? Don't buy those. You will be sad. Those no-yet cherries will spoil your appetite for cherry season early. But this sauce--oh, this sauce- it's just the beginning, and will have you licking your plate in glee. 

Serve it over seared pork chops, cauliflower mashers, a bed of spring arugula. Add a side of sautéed mushrooms. Dinner: 🙌

Pork Chops with Cherry Wine Sauce

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free,    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

This sauce is perfect for when you’re ready for summer before it’s summer.

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 4 pork chops, thin cut
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil OR 2 pats butter
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup cherry jam (I chose one that is 100% fruit)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup fruity red wine
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• Optional: rosemary for garnish

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, heat 1 teaspoon or coconut oil (or half the butter) over medium heat until melted. Add the minced shallots and garlic, and sprinkle with the salt. Sauté until the shallots are transparent.
2. Add the wine and honey and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the jam and the pepper until the jam is dissolved. Simmer for 10 more minutes until sauce has thickened. Sauce will coat a spoon once thickened.
4. Remove from heat and set aside while you cook the pork chops: heat the remaining coconut oil/butter in a large skillet. Heat over medium-high heat and swirl pan to coat in the oil. Pat the chops dry with a towel, and then place in pan. Sear on first side for 3 minutes (cook time is for thin-cut pork chops with no bone — extend this by a few minutes for thick-cut or bone-in chops) and then flip and cook on the second side for 3 more minutes, or until the meat is cooker through and no longer pink in the middle (check with a knife).
5. Serve pork chops hot and spoon cherry wine sauce over each chop. Optional: garnish with rosemary.

Garlic Rosemary Shrimp & Paleo Cocktail Sauce (made without ketchup!)

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Shrimp with cocktail sauce is not something I ate growing up. The entire category of shellfish was on my short list of foods that sucked, right there next to tomatoes, ketchup, asparagus, and carrots. I have only a few memories of actually eating shellfish as a kid, and most of them include my dad sneaking tiny shrimp into stews to see if I could detect them. 

Clearly, I just didn't understand that shrimp, roasted and tossed with garlic and rosemary is a gift from the sea. (I eventually learned to like everything on that list, aside from ketchup--ugh!).

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I've also learned to appreciate a really good cocktail sauce. One that's zesty. One that actually makes the shrimp taste better, instead of masking it. On that does not include--you guessed it-ketchup. Instead it's made with real tomatoes, horseradish, and garlic. A bit of cayenne, and some lemon juice to round it out. When you start putting real ingredients in cocktail sauce, it actually becomes a power food! Did you know that horseradish is considered a cruciferous vegetable? With molecules called glucosinolates, it's been show to help fight cancer. Horseradish has ten times more glucosinlates than broccoli... So dig in already! 

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The beauty of this recipe is it's flexibility. Sensitive tastebuds? Hold the cayenne. Timid when it comes to garlic? Add a little, taste it, and add some more. It's easy to take this recipe and turn it into you own signature sauce concoction.

Garlic Rosemary Shrimp & Paleo Cocktail Sauce (made without ketchup!)

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

More shrimp! Less ketchup.

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

For the Shrimp:
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the Cocktail Sauce:
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 to 1 ounce piece of fresh horseradish
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss the shrimp with the melted oil, minced garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Spread the shrimp out on a cookie sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, until shrimp are pink and cooked through.
2. While shrimp cooks, prepare sauce: If you are using a high speed blender, add all of the ingredients and puree until smooth. If you are using a standard blender or food processor, mince the garlic and shred the horseradish with a microplane and then whisk all of the ingredients until combined.
3. Serve shrimp warm on a platter alongside a bowl of sauce.

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