Brunch: Bacon, Egg and Toast Salad with OJ Dressing and Ebelskivers

Saturday I had most of the day off from cooking.  I found some excellent local sausage and I cooked that with scrambled eggs for breakfast.   We also had Williams Sonoma croissants.  The Music City Marathon was being run in Nashville this morning with significant road closings.  So Jim toured friend also named Jim around Lebanon in the morning.  We went to Nashville in the afternoon and showed out friend the new house we will be moving to and then we toured Cheekwood.  Cheekwood is the estate of the family that made millions from Maxwell House coffee.  It is a very interesting house, art museum, and grounds.  We went to dinner at Fish & Co. in Nashville and loved it. 

Sunday we slept in a little and I made brunch.  The main course comes from Sunset Magazine, April 2012 issue.  It serves 4.

Ingredients:

½ English cucumber

2 C slivered orange or red bell pepper

2 C quartered cherry tomatoes

1/3 C slivered red onion

¼ t kosher salt

½ t orange zest

1 T each of orange juice and lemon juice (½ of each fruit)

3 T of EVOO

6 slices of Canadian bacon

4 large eggs

7 oz. multigrain bread, sliced ¾” thick, toasted

Pepper

Directions:

1.       Quarter cucumber lengthwise, then slice ½” think.  Toss cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, and onion in a large bowl; set aside.

2.       Whisk together  ¼ t salt, the orange zest, orange and lemon juices, and oil in a small bwl.  Set dressing aside.

3.       Brown bacon in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat until golden, turning once, 4 minutes.  Cut into ¼” strips. 

4.       Put eggs in a small saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil.  Turn off heat, cover pan, and let it 3 minutes for soft cooked.  Crack eggs all over on counter, transfer to a bowl of ice water, and let cool 2-3 minutes.  Peel and halve lengthwise. 

5.       Meanwhile, cut toasted bread in ½” pieces.  Add to vegetables along with bacon and dressing, and toss until evenly coated. 

6.       Divide salad among 4 shallow bowls and top each with 2 egg halves. 

This was delicious.  It was such a refreshing breakfast.  Of course Jim thought I was trying to make him too healthy.  I have blogged before about the filled pancakes called Ebelskivers.  I also made these and filled them with Raspberry Jalapeno Jam.  I served these with strawberries and whipped cream. 

Jim claimed that the kitchen was the biggest mess he has ever had to clean up.