Wednesday, May 8, 2013

You Can Count on Monte Cristo Benedict for Mother’s Day Brunch

I always get a ton of food wishes this time of year for creative brunch ideas, and I was thinking about doing some new type of eggs Benedict, when I happened to see a photo of a Monte Cristo sandwich. At first, it just made me want a Monte Cristo sandwich, but after that wore off, I started thinking about how I’d seen these topped with fried eggs before.

Long story short, I decided to simply make an open-faced version of the famous stuffed sandwich, and top it with poached eggs, and hopefully a new American brunch classic was born. Of course, I'll let you decide, but there was nothing I didn’t love about this plate of food. Okay, the salad was kind of phoned in, but the rest was awesome.

The base is a variation of our famous Restaurant Style French Toast recipe, which marries perfectly with the ham, cheddar and havarti. It was so tasty you really don’t even need the poached eggs. Actually, forget I said that. Do the eggs. If only so you can pop those yolks, and watch them run. Besides the eating, that has to be the best part.

I’ve also re-posted a poached eggs demo below, since poaching your eggs ahead of time is the only way to go, especially if you have a larger group. By the way, you can hold the Monte Cristo bases in a warm oven while you pull the rest of the meal together. I hope you give this new Benedict a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for 4 portions:
For the batter:
2 large eggs
1/4 cup cream
1 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
4 thick slices of French bread
1 tbsp butter
8 slices ham
4 slices cheddar cheese
4 slices havarti cheese
chive to garnish

How to Poach Eggs 
 

View the complete Poached Eggs recipe

View the complete Monte Cristo Benedict recipe

14 comments:

cookinmom said...

I've got three engineers in the family...wanna trade one for a chef??!?

Unknown said...

Eggs benedict is one of my all time comfort foods. Your twist sounds delicious, great job chef!

S/V Blondie-Dog said...

Hey Chef!

I'm cornedfused... Wasn't 'dat boiling water supposed to be swirling before immersing 'dem eggs so that the whites wouldn't scatter in every direction? Or did my finicky lady-friend happen to tell me a small fib when tellin' me this?

Thanks anyways!

Vinnie said...

benedict with a salad?! You need homefries or crispy hasbrowns! I mean you do love your mother right?

Chef John said...

Never been a big swirler since it only works if you do one at a time. Btw, did you see how gorgeous my eggs were? No need to swirl!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the wonderful recipe. My husband and I loved it :)

Faith said...

Tried this this morning and it was even more awesome than I expected! I tossed on some fresh tarragon since I didn't have any chives, and it was delicious!

Aaron said...

Oh man did this go over well with my mother/fiancé/sister! I served it with a tomato and basil soup and salad (I was thinking of the classic tomato soup and grilled cheese pairing). The only thing I wish I had done differently is the baking portion on a rack so that it didn't get so greasy from the cheese. Thank you Chef John!

JustMe said...

Thank you so very much for this video!! We rarely get fresh eggs out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and usually rely on "cold storage" eggs from CONUS. I'm guessing the eggs I will use will spread out like the first one in your video. At least I know I'll be able to "salvage" it.

Katrina said...

What about the Jam?? The Monte Cristo I had at Bennigans had jam on it!!

S/V Blondie-Dog said...

Greetings Chef!

I'll has ya know 'dat I ain't checked out your huevos nor do I haves any intention of doing so!

I'll also has ya know 'dat if my finicky lady-friend done tells me to swirl, 'den 'fer sure I 'den be a swirlin' lest she boot me out of her house!

Thanks anyways! You're 'da best!

Unknown said...

"Don't need Hollandaise" ... !?!

C'mon, Chef - one always needs Hollandaise!

Sarah said...

This looks like a great Easter brunch option, but my boyfriend can't have pork... any advice on a good meat substitution?

dr. mutu said...

6 min?! Seems excessive.