Weekend breakfasts have been out of this world lately. Just about every Sunday we sleep in, then cook up a great brunch and listen to our motown playlist while reading the paper. It makes me feel like my life is grown-up in the way I used to think about adults on tv shows as a kid, like Denise Huxtable or most of the cast of ThirtySomething. Anyway, for this, we skipped the traditional english muffin base and used polenta baked with butter and sage, which was incredible. Then, of course, Wild for Salmon’s unbeatable Hickory Smoked Salmon (and seriously, I don’t know if I can ever go back to salmon other than wild-caught like this – night and day difference between the two), gently poached eggies and the lemon-dill sauce. It’s December. Make this then snuggle up with somebody you love this weekend.
POLENTA EGGS BENEDICT WITH SMOKED SALMON AND LEMON-DILL SAUCE (makes breakfast for 2 very lucky guests)
– 4 eggs
– Lemon-Dill sauce
– 4 precooked polenta circles
– chopped fresh sage, approx. 8 leaves
– 4 tbsp. butter
– Wild for Salmon’s Hickory Smoked Salmon
1. Get the polenta ready. You want to get a package of it precooked, then cut it into 1/2 inch slices.
2. Next, cut circles out of those slices with either a cookie cutter or a measuring cup (Kitchen hacks. You’re welcome).
3. Melt the butter, chop up the sage, and combine.
4. Brush the polenta on both sides with the butter and sage mixture. Bake at 400 for approx. 30 minutes, or until firmer (crispy-ish) and golden. Set aside to cool while you make the eggs.
5. Poach eggs. You can start doing this when the polenta has been cooking for about 10 minutes. First, get the water temperature up to almost-boiling, just-bubbling, then add a tiny pinch of salt and a tiny splash of white wine vinegar.
6. When water temperature is perfect, crack 1 egg into a ramekin, making sure the yolk stays intact. If it breaks, toss it and try again.
7. Stir water into a little tornado. Then carefully drop the egg into the “eye” of the tornado. Step away and let it cook for approx. 3-4 minutes, or until the whites are set and the yolk is still kind of jiggly when you poke it with your finger (use a slotted spoon to pull the egg out of the water to test it).
8. Set on a paper towel, then repeat the tornado poaching process with the other three eggs, one at a time. When you’re finished cooking all 4, I usually drop the first two I cooked back into the water for a quick minute just to heat them up again.
9. Assemble your polenta eggs benedict.
10. Using the polenta as a base, top with some smoked salmon. 
11. Then, top each one with one of the eggs.
12. Finally, drizzle a little lemon-dill sauce over this. This sauce makes this breakfast – the combo of the greek yogurt, lemon juice and dill pulls all the flavors together and is definitely a healthier alternative to hollandaise sauce.
13. Slice into the yolk so that it runs all over everything deliciously, then serve immediately – we had this with Bren’s A+ hash brown potatoes and sausage from our local farmer’s market. Another awesome Sunday brunch.
