Welcome to the second instalment of Facsimile Friday MoFo's. Last week saw me whipping up a noochy tofu scram from Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse in Austin and today sees me re-creating the best Benedict I've ever eaten. The Benedict in question is on the menu at Cafe Blossom on Carmine in NYC which is approximately 3473 miles away.
The Benedict itself comes with house-made cornbread, ham and grilled asparagus and I described it in my review as both "Brilliant" and "One of the best meals I've ever eaten". High praise.
If I woke up and decided, what the hell, I'm having this for brunch, it would cost around £1556 including transfers and tips. This is obviously ridiculous so I decided to have a crack at making it at home instead.
My version includes home-made cornbread, bologna, grilled asparagus and a homemade hollandaise.
It is not as pretty as the one from Blossom neither was it as delicious but I think I had a damn good crack at it and it was obviously way cheaper to make than flying to NYC just to eat the original would be.
I used the Chipotle Scallion Double Cornbread recipe from Vegan Diner, Yves Bologna slices (fried in a little olive oil), a simple tofu "egg" recipe which involves dredging the tofu in equal parts apple cider vinegar and olive oil plus seasonings and then baking for 15 minutes each side, the Hollandaise recipe from Vegan Brunch was next and then I topped it off with braised asparagus cooked in a little oil, white wine, salt and pepper. We also coated the cornbread in breadcrumbs and fried that for good measure.
I'd say that I'd definitely make the egg, hollandaise and asparagus components again but I'd probably replace the Yves bacon with Redwood veggie bacon and the cornbread with a simple wholewheat English muffin just to make the whole meal quicker and easier which, at brunch, is important.