This Spring, one of our mini adventures was a weekend trip to Charlottesville, VA. It’s a gorgeous town, situated at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains for which my Blue Ridge Mountain Benedicts are named. It’s a tiny town, but it’s packed with art, music and great food. We had lots of awesome meals, but the one I knew I had to recreate, and I dare say best, was a breakfast sandwich from the Bluegrass Café. It was a sweet little breakfast place that’s so good at what it does that it can afford to yell, “No Substitutions” at you. That said, if you’re famous for made from scratch biscuits and you’re located in the South, you should serve your breakfast sandwich on that, and not a store bought English muffin. Since there were “No Substitutions,” I ate it as recommended, but was wishing I had a biscuit all the while. So, when last Sunday night turned into a little party to toast, and well-wish, and “Bon Voyage!” some dear friends moving to California… I had a hankering of what to make: Blue Ridge Mountain Benedicts. And then they sealed the deal. “We’ll bring bubbles” they said. “All we ask is that you help drink up our special vintages of J winery sparkling wines, which we can’t take with us in this heat.” Well, I think we can help with that. And we did, after all, it was Sunday, a wonderful breakfast for dinner sort of night. So I settled on my Blue Ridge Mountain Benedicts, but I knew they’re be lots of steps and I wanted to gab with my guests, not slave over a hot stove. Fortunately, with a little planning it was easy to prep most everything in the days ahead, or in the morning before they arrived. I admit there are quite a few little steps, but there are lots of outs you can take if you want to make these Blue Ridge Mountain Benedicts easy as, well, easy.
Blue Ridge Mountain Benedicts
Ingredients
- Hollandaise Sauce
- Buttery, Food Processor Buttermilk Biscuits" href="http://www.dirtylaundrykitchen.com/flaky-buttery-food-processor-buttermilk-biscuits/" target="_blank"> Flaky, Buttery, Food Processor Biscuits
- Blackberry Sage Refrigerator Jam
- 2-3 ounces fresh goat cheese if you don’t like goat, cream cheese would work
- 2-3 tablespoons honey I used a clover honey
- 2 sausage links per biscuit I like the maple infused ones for this, but any work
- 2 poached eggs per person
Instructions
- Make the Blackberry Sage Refrigerator Jam up to a week in advance. Did you read it over? Still seem like too much trouble? Take a jar of blackberry jam and melt it down in the microwave (in a heat safe bowl of course). Add the sage while it’s boiling. Let cool. It will infuse the jam. Or just use plain blackberry jam.
- Mix the goat cheese and honey together.
You can do this up to a couple of days in advance. You will want the cheese at room temperature when you assemble the Benedict, but if you forget, just warm it for a few seconds in the microwave to make it spreadable. - Make the biscuits day of, but hours ahead of time works great. Keep them out or store them in an open plastic bag.
- Poach the eggs up to a day in advance. As you pull the eggs out of the hot water, place them in an ice bath. Store them in the fridge in the ice bath. You could even precook the sausage as per the package instructions.
- When you’re ready to assemble, fill a sauté pan or large pot with a couple of inches of water. Turn on low heat. Set the eggs in the water.
- Split the biscuits in half. Toast.
- Slice the sausage links in half. Rewarm in a skillet.
- Check on the eggs. Is the water just barely warm, that’s perfect.
- Make the Hollandaise.
- Check the eggs. You don’t want them to keep cooking, so if it’s moving from warm into hot, remove from the heat but leave in the water bath.
- Spread goat cheese on each side of the biscuit.
- Then top with jam.
- Next place sausage link halves on each biscuit.
- Top with an egg when the Hollandaise is ready to serve.
- Spoon a little Hollandaise, or let guests serve themselves.
I served it with a pea, asparagus and arugula salad with a buttermilk mint dressing that was very similar to my Smoky, Spicy Homemade Buttermilk Dressing, but I nixed the smoked paprika and used mint instead of cilantro. I love the sweet and savory of each element in this dish. The flavors layer really well build on each other. Oh, and I was totally right. The biscuit was way better than the English muffin because it was less tart (which the goat cheese spread takes care of ) and it was flaky and offered a little more texture. But hey, it's not bossy when you're the boss. And it was perfect with the J Winery Sparkling Rose and the 2003 rrv.
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These look utterly amazing. I love when I see jam on otherwise savory dishes. I must either make them myself or, book a flight and head to the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I too am a huge savory with a hint of sweet person. A great dish is always a good reason to travel! And make them yourself.
This looks fantastic! Perfect recipe!
I love the Blue Ridge Mountains and quaint little bistros/restaurants you find in new places. . And these benedicts–insane!!! I think I could stop at just the jam and sausage on the muffin, of course and egg is always a welcome addition.
Yeah, these look like they could be too much. But they’re not. They’re soooo good.
I can’t believe they wouldn’t use their biscuits!
I was very surprised! But it made for a fun brunch at home.
Very creative and sophisticated for a Blue Ridge Mountains recipe! I was born in Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Love the idea of Blueberry Sage Refrigerator jam and the Buttermilk Biscuits. I’ll have to try the goat cheese idea but it does sound good with the jam
What a beautiful place to be from, I hope you make it back from time to time. It’s true, the biscuits and jam are great on their own, but the dish is amazing.
Oh my goodness, this! I love eggs benedict but you totally took it to new and amazing levels here.
I’m so with you. I love the dish in all forms. This version is spectacular, though.
What a great idea to use goat cheese…the textures here are truly incredible!
Thanks! Yeah, it’s a very special breakfast.
I am such a breakfast fanatic, and this sounds so amazing! Love the sweet and salty and creamy and delicious paring!!