The other night I made a delicious Caprese Chicken Bake and we had a couple of leftover breasts. Not enough for a full meal and I already dinner plans for the next couple of days. So I decided to turn them into brunch. Lloyd and I firmly believe that you can turn anything into brunch with a side of bacon and eggs.
They looked pretty good at dinner time. But by the next time and a night spent in the fridge they were decidedly unappetizing. The challenge was going to be heating them up without drying out the breasts. The oven would have dried them out so I just put them in a non-stick pan and covered them.
See, not particularly pretty. But stay with me, it does get better! While the chicken was being reheated I put the last of my delicious Woodbury Farms bacon in the oven. I prefer to cook bacon in the oven because it’s a no muss, no fuss situation this way.
Another little trick I like to use when making a meal with a couple of different items coming off the stove/oven at different times is heating my plates in the microwave and storing food in their while the next item is being prepared.
Once the chicken was heated through I put that in the microwave and checked on my bacon. Poor little lonely guy all alone. Don’t worry buddy, your friends are coming.
When it was about five minutes from being ready I started making eggs. I used my Woodbury Farms eggs. Don’t mind the straw, not washing them keeps them fresh on the counter for much longer than washed eggs will hold up in the fridge.
Now I had bacon, eggs and a reheated chicken breast. But I still had this plate of soggy chicken juice leftover from the pan the night before. It was tasty if gooey-looking but what was I going to do with it?
I decided to reduce it down with a healthy splash of white balsamic vinegar and use it as a sauce over my eggs. The balsamic also balances out your caprese flavors. I cranked the heat right up in my pan and added the vinegar. I use Figone’s white balsamic vinegar. If you ever find yourself in Sonoma, CA I would head to their tasting room and check them out!
I stirred constantly because I didn’t want this to burn and in about a minute it had thickened up and was nicely sticky. Once you see these great big bubbles and your sauce has achieved a uniform color you know it’s ready.
Now take your plate with the chicken, bacon and eggs and just spoon it on!
To make a long story short, anything can be brunch as long as you add bacon and eggs. Remember that.
Ingredients:
- Last night’s chicken breasts
- Last night’s chicken sauce
- Bacon
- Eggs
- White balsamic vinegar
Recipe:
- Place bacon on a rack and put in cold oven set to 400 degrees fahrenheit. As the oven heats, so does the bacon given you a perfect cook on your bacon. This usually takes about 20-30 minutes.
- Heat chicken breasts (covered) in a non stick pan and then place on heated plates in the microwave.
- Cook eggs in same pan and place on plates in microwave.
- Reduce chicken sauce down with some white balsamic vinegar. Try to use a ratio of 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 of your sauce.
- Once sauce is bubbling spoon onto the eggs and add your bacon to the plate.
- Serve with salt, pepper and hot sauce if that’s how you roll.
One thing that I love about Sundays is waking up and having the luxury of time to make a special breakfast. But, by the time I get around to getting in the kitchen it’s really more brunch time. Since neither of us in the house are big on a sweet breakfast we usually end up craving something savory for our first meal of the day. And on a cold, rainy February morning we also want something hot and filling. But the best part is relying on whatever just happens to be in the kitchen to put my meal together. This morning I decided to go for a savor brunch oatmeal. I know most people think of oatmeal as something reserved for dried fruit and brown sugar. But not in my house. We take chopped up chicken sausage, onions, bell peppers, spices and cook it down until glistening. Then add in your rolled or stone ground oats and cook in some low sodium chicken stock until everything is perfectly cooked. Add in a dash of cream and cheese and top with a fried egg. The best thing about this simple recipe is how endlessly versatile it is, today I used andouille sausage and there was a definite cajun kick. In the past I’ve used sweet fennel sausage and pesto for a more Italian kick. Korean sausage with scallions and sesame seeds was another combo I found delightful on a cold winter morning.
The Llavender Llama 