Egg, Ham and Parmesan Herb Polenta Breakfast Stack with Cayenne Scallion Bechamel

A delicious modern stack presentation breakfast!

   
     Breakfast should be taken seriously, just like lunch or dinner.  Too many fine dining restaurants do not bother serving breakfast or lunch.  To be honest, many fine dining chefs are rather snobbish about cooking breakfast.  In the old classic days of fine dining, fine creative breakfast recipes were as important as great dinner recipes.
     It seems like many modern chefs lack a classic breakfast food education.  I have worked for chefs that have graduated from great cooking schools and those chefs tend to write breakfast menus of regular, run of the mill, boring breakfast fare that is not creative at all.  It is like cooking school instructors now stick their nose up in the air when breakfast is mentioned too.  Breakfast is the time to think outside of the box, if you are a creative chef!  In Las Vegas, breakfast is not boring or average!
     The best chefs realize that breakfast customers are tired of the same old boring breakfast.  My blog has many creative breakfast recipes and some of the most recent recipes have some nice modern presentations.  I have posted traditional international breakfast recipes that are very interesting too.  America is not the only country in the world that eats breakfast, so why do most American chefs refuse to learn international breakfast recipes?  Brainwashing by elitist chefs and snobbish culinary instructors that deny that breakfast can be a fine dining experience is why!
     When it comes down to the bottom line, most fine dining restaurant chefs are just to lazy to bother with breakfast or lunch.  This trend has been going on for nearly 40 years and now most of the fine dining restaurants have completely locked themselves out of the breakfast and lunch game!  Reality sets in during a bad economy like the one we currently are in.  Income from a fine breakfast or lunch would have saved many fine dining restaurants that recently closed their doors.
     Honestly, breakfast does not have to be simple and boring!  Breakfast used to be a fine dining experience!
   
     Herb Polenta Recipe:
     Spoon bread and corn meal mush used to be breakfast items a long time ago.  Polenta is nothing more than a fancy corn meal mush!
     Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pot over medium high heat.
     Add 3 pats of unsalted butter.
     Add 1 pinch of chopped basil.
     Add 1 pinch of oregano.
     Add 1 pinch of marjoram.
     Add 1 pinch of tarragon.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Slowly add 3/4 of a cup of fine ground corn meal, while whisking constantly.
     When the polenta mixture just starts to thicken, reduce the temperature to medium/medium low heat.
     Whisk the polenta, till it becomes creamy and smooth in texture.  The polenta should have the texture of thick mashed potatoes.
     Add 1 tiny handful of grated parmesan cheese, while whisking.
     Stir till the cheese melts into the polenta.
     Transfer the hot polenta into a star tipped pastry bag.
     Keep the polenta warm on a stove top.
   
     Cayenne Scallion Bechamel Recipe:
     Place a small sauce pot over medium/medium low heat.
     Add 2 pats of unsalted butter.
     Add an equal amount of flour, while constantly stirring.
     Constantly stir the roux, till it becomes a white color.
     Add 1 cup of milk while whisking.
     Whisk the sauce, till it starts to thicken.
     Add 1 pinch of cayenne pepper.
     Add sea salt and white pepper.
     Reduce the temperature to medium low/low heat.
     Simmer and reduce the sauce, till the sauce becomes a thin cream sauce consistency.
     Add 1/2 of a thick sliced green onion to the sauce.
     Keep the sauce warm over very low heat.
   
     Egg, Ham and Parmesan Herb Polenta Breakfast Stack with Cayenne Scallion Bechamel:
     Cut 3 medium thin slices of ham, so the ham slices are about the same width as a poached egg.  (The ham slices should be no bigger than 3" wide.)
     Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat.
     Add 2 pats of unsalted butter.
     Grill the ham slices on both sides, till they become lightly caramelized.
     Set the grilled ham slices aside and keep them warm.
     Poach 1 egg in gently boiling water with a pinch of sea salt in a shallow pan over medium/medium high heat. 
     Pipe a 3" wide round shape of polenta onto the center of a plate.
     Set the grilled ham slices on top of the polenta.
     Pipe a flat 3 inch wide round shape of the polenta on top of the ham.  Be sure to make a flat top on the polenta to set the egg on.
     Set the poached egg on top of the polenta.
     Spoon the cayenne scallion bechamel around the stack of polenta, ham and poached egg.
     Garnish the poached egg with green onion slivers.
    
     Why settle for a boring breakfast when you can have a nice looking breakfast like this one!  This is a great combination of flavors for a nice start of a day!  Yum!  ...  Shawna