A week back, Kyle and I went on a trip to visit a good friend of ours in DC. Being the lovely host that he is, as well as a cooking aficionado eager to take me up on joint blog post, Mark treated us to the most fantastic brunch! Ideas swirled back and forth the week before we arrived, and we settled on this perfection of a brunch: Southern Style Eggs Benedict (of sorts) accompanied by honey roasted ruby red grapefruit. My mouth is watering just thinking about it again.
We started with Joy the Baker’s Dad’s Buttermilk Biscuits and added an egg wash to the tops for that shiny finish. And by we, I mean Mark got up early to slave away in the kitchen making dough while we slept in. He’s the best. But honestly, these are such a nice, simple recipe and are divinely delicious. We made a full batch of these first so we would have some pre-brunch snacks while the rest of the parts were cooking.
To top the buttery biscuits, every good Southern recipe needs a little fried chicken. Though we had never fried chicken before, we were really successful in getting moist, crispy chicken that I wanted to dive in to right as it came out of the hot oil… finding out fried chicken is so easy to make is really going to be detrimental to my health… But don’t worry, we also added a heaping load of sauteed spinach. That makes it healthy, right?
Though our original intention had been to make this a true Eggs Benedict, we decided to fry the eggs instead of poaching them. I love poached eggs, but I don’t love poaching 8 of them. The water gets all foamy and I get impatient. Frying 4 eggs at a time in the pan was way easier, and just as delicious! But don’t worry, we made sure to make a kick ass hollandaise with hot sauce, just the right touch to finish off our Southern feast.
Because brunch shouldn’t be too challenging (it is the morning after all) our sweet side dish was the simplest and most delicious little concoction I ever have tried. Broiling the juicy grapefruits with just a drizzle of sweet honey on top was beyond delightful. I was stuffed to the brim by the end of the meal….and still went back for another grapefruit half.
We all had a wonderful time cooking, singing, and laughing all the way through our brunch. If only every weekend could be brunch as Mark’s!
Southern Eggs Benedict
Buttermilk Biscuits
(from Joy the Baker)
3 cups flour
2 Tbs. sugar
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening, cold and cut into cubes
1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk, cold
8 biscuits sliced in half are required for brunch, the others can be nibbled on while waiting.
Sauteed Spinach
6 large Handfuls of Spinach
1 Tbs. Vegetable Oil
1/2 tsp. Salt
Heat up your oil in a frying pan on medium. Throw your spinach in the pan and let it wilt in the pan, slightly moving it around to cook evenly. This should take about 5 minutes and have quartered in size (I’m always amazed at how much spinach shrinks up when it’s cooked!). Season with salt and split among the 16 biscuit halves.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken
4 Chicken Breasts (2-3 lbs)
1/2 Quart Buttermilk
4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
2 cups Flour
Pot of Vegetable Oil
Brine the chicken breasts the night before brunch in a gallon sized bag with the buttermilk, salt, and pepper. The next day, heat up your vegetable oil in a large pot until it starts to simmer. Take your chicken breasts out of the brine and coat each of them completely with flour. One at a time, place the chicken breasts into the hot oil and let them fry on each side for 3-4 minutes. Take the chicken out of the pot and let them cool on a plate (NO PAPER TOWELS! Mark said this will cause the chicken to get mushy). Cut each chicken breast in to 4 pieces and split among 16 biscuit halves.
8 Eggs – Fried or Poached
Spicy Hollandaise
4 Egg Yolks
1 Tbs. Lemon Juice
1/2 cup Simmering Water
1/2 cup of Melted Butter
Salt and Pepper
Hot Sauce to Taste
Get your water simmering in a small pot. Crack your yolks into a large metal bowl and add the lemon juice. Whisk the yolks until they have slightly firmed up and doubled in size. While continuing to whisk, place the metal bowl over the simmering water and have a friend pour the melted butter slowly into the yolk mixture. Make sure to keep whisking to make sure the eggs do not start to cook and scramble! Once all of the butter has been incorporated, remove the bowl from the stove top add salt and pepper to taste, as well as your hot sauce! NOTE: You tend to need to add a lot of hot sauce to fight through that buttery goodness. Make sure you taste test! Top each biscuit with a good helping of hollandaise and get to work eating it all up!
Recipe from Bunny Baubles Blog
Honey Broiled Grapefruit
Ingredients:
4 Grapefruits
4 Tbs. Honey
1 tsp. Ground Ginger
Preheat your oven to the broil setting. Cut up the grapefruits into halves and slice the fruit around the edge and between all of the pieces at the membrane so that they come out easily when being eaten. Place the grapefruit halves on a baking sheet. Drizzle the honey over each grapefruit half and sprinkle a little ground ginger on each, as well. Place the grapefruits into the oven on the top rack for about 6 minutes. or until the tops are just slightly browned.
Recipe from Bunny Baubles Blog
Sew Bake Decorate 
THIS IS AMAZING. I had no idea Mark was such a cooking aficionado!! Yeah this is all-around so impressive. Love!!
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Thanks so much Erika! And he seriously is! He kept adding amazing ideas to the dish and I was like, Mark you seriously overestimate my normal cooking routine here haha 🙂
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