It’d be selling them short to claim eggs as my favorite breakfast food, as that leaves out all of the other meals where eggs win my heart. Sure, I can appreciate a fluffy waffle or sugar-dusted french toast. But if eggs are one of the options, all other sweet delights are off the table. It’s eggs for me 100%.
Though I’ve yet to meet an egg that I didn’t like, there is something about perfectly scrambled eggs in sandwich form that makes me grin bigger than Christmas morning. This sandwich gilds the proverbial lily by adding tender steak to the party, and ups the egg quotient with a piquant topping of jalapeno hollandaise (made in the blender for quick and easy eating). Yes, darlings, this one is trouble. And the best kind of trouble you can get in to, no less. Comfort-food noshing, hangover staving off, one-on-one private time with you and your breakfast a la Hall & Oates kind of trouble. You know exactly what I’m talking about, so don’t even pretend.
Steak and Egg Sandwich with Jalapeno Hollandaise
Serves: 8 hearty portions
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
For the Steak
1 tbs. of butter
1/2 lb. of thinly shaved roast beef, roughly chopped
1 tsp. of garlic powder
1 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce
pinch of salt and pepper, to taste
For the Scrambled Eggs
1 tbs. of butter
8 eggs
1/2 c. of roasted red peppers, thinly sliced into strips
For the Jalapeno Hollandaise
8 pickled jalapeño rings
1 cl. of garlic, minced
2 egg yolks
3 tsp. of vinegar from the jar of jalapeño rings
1 tsp. of salt
1 stick of butter
For the Sandwich
1 lb. loaf of foccacia (round or square)
extra jalapeño rings for garnish
Begin by preparing the roast beef. Heat a skillet over medium-high and add 1 tablespoon of butter. Once melted, toss in the roast beef and stir with a spatula, warming through. Add the garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce and stir. Taste a small piece of the roast beef for salt and pepper and season as needed (our roast beef was perfectly salted, but needed a scant pinch of black pepper). Place sautéed beef in a small bowl and cover, keeping warm until sandwich is assembled.
It that same skillet, melt another tablespoon of butter over low heat. While the butter melts, crack the eggs into a medium bowl and scramble well. Slip the eggs into the warm pan and allow to cook gently, pushing the curds that form to the opposite side of the pan. When the eggs are almost set, turn off the heat and stir in the roasted red pepper strips. Set pan aside while you make your hollandaise.
Add the jalapeno rings, crushed garlic, egg yolks, vinegar from the jar of jalapeno rings and the salt to a blender. Blitz to combine. In a microwave safe bowl, melt your butter in the microwave (should take a little under a minute). While the butter is still hot, turn the blender on and open the hopper in the cover (the little hole in the center to feed ingredients into the blender). Carefully stream in the hot butter and continue to blend until a thickened sauce is formed – the hot melted butter cooks the egg yolks and forms a zesty hollandaise.
Now you are ready to assemble your sandwiches. Cut the focaccia into eight portions and halve them. Scoop an eighth of the scrambled eggs onto a focaccia half and top with some of the extra slices of jalapeno rings. Place some of the roast beef on top and drizzle liberally with the warm hollandaise. Top with another focaccia half and repeat until you have eight sandwiches. Serve immediately.