The tulips in the garden
Are wearing yellow hats;
The pussywillows by the brook
Have fur like any cats’.
The bee is honey hunting;
The robin’s chirp is gay;
And all the world is singing,
“Oh, happy Easter Day!”

–Author Unknown
 
 
 
Wishing all celebrants a joyous and delicous Easter.

[1] Nordic “Eggs Benedict” with skyr “hollandaise” sauce. [2] A bowl of plain skyr. You’ll also find it in vanilla and fruit flavors. [3] A container of plain skyr. [4] Don’t want the bread? Here’s another eggs and smoked salmon recipe with skyr. (all photos courtesy Icelandic Provisions).

You want something festive for breakfast, but not so rich that you’ll be weighted down for Easter dinner.

Here’s a tip to trim Eggs Benedict—laden with ham and egg-rich hollandaise sauce—into a streamlined Nordic version: Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict With Skyr “Hollandaise.”

Authentic hollandaise is made with egg yolks and butter, and seasoned with lemon juice, salt, pepper and often, a dash of cayenne. (Here’s a recipe.)

Hold the eggs, hold the butter: The skyr “hollandaise” is turned into a flavorful sauce with skyr and seasonings by Icelandic Provisions skyr), a major producer of skyr.

They removed the fatty ingredients yet deliver an even creamier, flavorful sauce. We should call it “skyr sauce,” but few would understand what that means.

Which brings is to:

What is skyr?

Skyr (pronounced skeer) is a densely concentrated (thicker than Greek yogurt but similar in texture—see photo #5 below), protein packed, cultured dairy product with a thick, creamy texture and mild flavor.

It has been a dairy staple in Iceland for more than a thousand years. The Vikings ate it.

In Iceland, skyr is typically fat-free because all the cream from the milk has been removed to make butter.

Icelandic Provisions uses 200-year-old heirloom skyr cultures from Iceland, making it the only traditional Icelandic skyr available in the U.S.

How does skyr differ from yogurt, another cultured product? We’ll get to that below. First, the recipe.
 
 
RECIPE: NORDIC EGGS BENEDICT

Prep time is 10 minutes, cook time is 6 minutes.

Ingredients For 2 Servings

For The Skyr “Hollandaise” Sauce

 
For The Eggs Benedict

 
Plus

1. COMBINE the skyr, lemon juice, mustard, turmeric, paprika, and sea salt in a small bowl. Whisk together until emulsified. Set aside.

2. BREAK one egg into the strainer over a bowl. Tip it around to help separate the thin part of the egg white from the thick part of the egg white, and tap the strainer against the side of the bowl. The thinner part of the egg white will fall through and the thick part and the yolk will remain. Pour the egg into a ramekin and set aside. Save the thinner egg white in storage container for separate use. Repeat with each egg.

3. BRING 4 inches of lightly salted water to a boil in a medium size saucepan. When the water reaches a boil, turn off the heat and slide each egg, one at a time into the water. Let them cook until egg whites are slightly firm about 2-3 minutes. The yolks will be runny.

4. TOAST the English muffins while the eggs are poaching.

5. REMOVE the eggs with a slotted spoon. Place them on a clean plate and set aside.

6. ASSEMBLE: Place the spinach, a tomato slice, 1/4 of the smoked salmon and a poached egg on the bottom half of each English muffin. Pour 1/4 of the skyr mixture over each egg, and sprinkle some dill on top before serving. Serve immediately.

IS SKYR YOGURT OR CHEESE?

If you look for information on skyr, you may find it referred to as a cheese. So is it yogurt or cheese?

It depends on the recipe of the individual producer.

The difference between a cheese and a cultured milk product like yogurt or sour cream is that cheese, by definition, is set with rennet. Fromage blanc and quark are examples of this type of cheese.

Each cheesemaker has his/her own recipe and process. Some skyr makers began to leave out the rennet. The Icelandic Provisions brand, made in the U.S., is made without rennet.

Skyr is made from unique skyr cultures that are different from yogurt cultures. Most skyrs contain more than 20 grams of protein per cup, and flavored yogurts have less sugar* than Greek yogurt; and 30% more yogurt than a non-Greek, custard-style yogurt (also called French or Swiss style) and sundae-style yogurt with the fruit on the bottom.

The recipe arrived in Iceland from Norway in the Middle Ages, originally made as a cheese, with rennet.

The difference between a cultured dairy product, such as sour cream or yogurt, and a fresh cheese that looks just like it, such as fromage blanc or quark, is the addition of a coagulant, such as rennet.

With cottage cheese and ricotta, you can see the curds. With fromage blanc and quark (and most other cheeses), you can’t, because of the particular recipe.

Also, don’t confuse these fresh cheeses with yogurt cheese like labneh. Yogurt cheese is regular yogurt, strained of its water to a thick consistency. It may be called cheese, but it’s the same cultured product as the yogurt it’s made from.

SKYR & YOGURT DIFFERENCES

 
YOGURT DIFFERENCES

Check out our Yogurt Glossary for much more on the different types of yogurt.

________________

*According to the company website, on average, the flavored varieties of Icelandic Provisions skyr contain 33% or ¼ teaspoon less sugar and 20% more protein than the flavored varieties of the top 5 leading brands of Greek yogurt.

[1] The Sansaire Sous Vide Immersion Circulator. [2] The back and side of the Sansaire, showing the clip that attaches to any pot. Step 1: Attach Sansaire to pot filled with water (photos 1 and 2 courtesy Sansaire. [3] Step 2: Season your food and place it in a cooking bag. [4] Place the bag in the water and set the time and temperature (photos 3 and 4 courtesy Williams-Sonoma). [5] Voilà: Cooked to your exact wishes. (Photo courtesy Frankie Celenza, Frankie Cooks | You Tube. Watch the video to see him cook the meat). [6] Before Sansaire, a sous vide machine was this big (photo courtesy Sous Vide Supreme).

COOKING SOUS VIDE WITH SANSAIRE

You’ve no doubt heard about sous vide (soo VEED) cooking. You may even have heard other home cooks say it produces the moistest, tenderest, most succulent and flavorful food, cooked to perfection.

So why haven’t you tried it?

Maybe it’s the lack of counter space for a sous vide machine (photo #5, about 14″ x 11″ footprint); or maybe it’s the price tag (up to $400, even $800)?

Now, you can spend less than $200 and cook sous vide with pots you already have, with Sansaire’s Sous Vide Immersion Circulator.

There’s no bulky countertop machine, but a far smaller device that stores and travels easily.

Sous vide cooking uses precise temperature control to achieve perfect, consistent results, portion after portion, time after time.

Foods are cooked evenly from edge to edge, to exactly the doneness you want. Temperature control keeps water within one degree of its ideal setting—a process that can’t be replicated by any other cooking method.
 
 
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A GOURMET COOK

Sous vide cooking is an easy way to prepare any everyday dish as well as fancier ones. One of our editors even cooks his scrambled eggs sous vide to his desired consistency. (It also poaches and makes hard-boiled eggs.)

The sous vide technique was developed in France to easily cook fine meals on trains, many portions at a time. Sous vide guarantees, for example, that a steak or piece of fish will turn out exactly as the client wishes.

The quality of the food it produced attracted fine French chefs and caterers. Sous vide machines quickly appeared in some of the world’s best restaurants.

It took a number of years for a home version to appear (photo #5), and just a couple of years after that for Sansaire’s conveniently small model that simply clips on to your pots.

It’s not just for dedicated home cooks: It’s for those who don’t cook more often because they don’t have the time to cook and clean.

Treat yourself to a Sansaire sous vide for $168, on Amazon.

Give one as a Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or graduation gift.

You can also give it as a new baby gift! It heat milk or formula to precisely 98.6°F for worry-free feeding.

Is sous vide cooking an adjustment to your process? Yes, but a very small one, like switching to an induction cooktop. You get the hang of it in very short order.

 
THE BENEFITS OF SOUS VIDE COOKING

We love sous vide: consistency, perfection, precise, predictable results. Plus no pots, pans, grills or ovens to clean. The only thing your pots contain are water, and sealed bags containing individual portions.

Sous vide tenderizes tough cuts, keeps poultry juicy (no dry white meat!), cooks fish to perfection, retains the nutrients of vegetables, and uses less fat without sacrificing flavor. It makes perfectly poached eggs (or other style) every time.

You can turn out perfect filet mignon and duck confit, but also everyday dishes from breakfast eggs, grain dishes, vegetables, sides, fish tostadas, chicken tikka masala, to dulce de leche.

You can pasteurize raw eggs for mousse, Caesar salad, steak tartare and other recipes.

There’s no cooking food to check and re-check. The machine keeps the water at a specific temperature for a specific time, at the end of which your food is ready to eat.

More blessings of sous vide cooking:

 
 
ADD-ONS

To ease yourself into sous vide cooking, consider:

 
For a large number of portions, consider:

Enjoy the era of sous vide cooking. Who knows what the next better-faster technique will be…but it sure won’t be for a while.
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*Standard ziplock bags are fine and contain no BPA. S.C. Johnson, the company that makes both Ziploc brand bags and Saran Wrap, states on its website that it does NOT use BPA in the manufacture of these products.

[7] Start with the Sous Vide At Home cookbook (photo courtesy Ten Speed Press). [8] Consider reusable plastic pouches (photo courtesy TopsHome). [9] Sous vide salmon (from the Sous Vide At Home cookbook).

[2] Bunny rabbit rolls. Too cute to eat? Nah! Here’s the recipe (photo © Artisan Bread In Five).

What’s on tap for Easter breakfast? How about eggs in crispy hash brown nests (photo #1).

If you want to make the adorable bunny rabbit rolls to serve with them, bake them first. You can make the dough the night before, and bring to room temperature before baking.

See the tip on when to use dark- versus light-colored baking pans, below.
 
 
EASTER EGG NESTS FOR BREAKFAST

We adapted this recipe from one in Cooking Light. Prep time is 10 minutes, cook time is 30 minutes.

You can also place a bacon or ham surprise on the bottom of the basket.

Ingredients Per Serving

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Combine the shredded potato, carrot and optional onion, and lightly season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

2. MAKE the nests: Coat the muffin cups with cooking spray. Spoon 1/4 cup of the mixture into each muffin cup. Press it into the bottom and up the sides of the cup, to above the rim. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. Once baked…

4. SPRINKLE the top with a dash of salt and garnish the egg and the plate with the chopped herbs.
 
 
WHEN TO USE LIGHT VS. DARK COLOR BAKING PANS

Depending on your age, all of your mother’s and grandmother’s baking pans were aluminum, a metal that absorbs and conducts heat evenly and is not reactive or corrosive.

Then, test kitchens discovered that food browns better (e.g., the bottom of a baking sheet and the bottom and sides of a cake pan). This is because dark pans absorb more heat and thus, more heat radiates off the surface.

For foods you want to brown (pizza, pie crusts, potato wedges, roasted vegetables), darker metal baking pans, sheets, and pie plates give you an edge.

For recipes where you don’t want the extra browning on the bottom (breads, cakes, some cookies, muffins), use a light-colored pan, which absorbs less heat.

That being said, we don’t know why Cooking Light specified a light muffin pan. There is no comments section on the page so we couldn’t ask; but we wouldn’t mind a browner potato nest (as opposed to a browner blueberry muffin).

You don’t have to get rid of your pans. According to Cooking Light, if you bake in either dark metal pans or glass dishes, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and check for doneness early.
Here’s an interesting article on the history of cookware and bakeware.

________________

*1 package (19.7 ounces, 560 grams) yields 6 egg nests.
 
 
  

How can you make your grilled cheese sandwiches more complex, more creative, more…celebratory?

Campbell’s did just that, creating four new approaches—if not exactly simple ones—to that American lunch favorite, grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Kudos to Chef Eli Kirshtein’s recipe curation: We love the flavor combinations and fun factor.

And we never would have thought of any of them!
 
 
RECIPE #1: GRILLED CHEESE BENEDICT

This riff on Eggs Benedict places the egg on top of a grilled cheese sandwich, and turns the hollandaise sauce into a tomato hollandaise with their iconic tomato soup.

It makes this Grilled Cheese Benedict recipe we published in 2015 look so tame.

Ingredients Per Sandwich

 
For The Hollandaise

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the hollandaise. Whisk the egg yolks and white wine over a double boiler until you have a ribbon consistency. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the melted butter.

2. WHISK in the tomato soup slowly. Taste and season.

3. MAKE a traditional grilled cheese sandwich with the bread and cheese. Cut in half. (Here’s a basic recipe and tips).

4. FRY two eggs sunnyside-up and place eggs on top of grilled cheese. Top with hollandaise and garnish with basil.
 
 
RECIPE #2: GRILLED CHEESE BREAD BOWL WITH TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients Per Serving

 
Preparation

[2] Another view of Grilled Cheese Benedict.

[3] A sourdough bread bowl (recipe below)

[4] America’s favorite tomato soup (photo © Larry Lamsa | CC BY 2.0 License).

2. PLACE the bread in the oven until all the cheese is melted and browned. Let the loaf cool to room temperature.

3. SLICE off the top of the bread and reserve. Carefully scoop out the inside of the loaf, with care not to puncture the bottom.

4. PLACE the soup concentrate in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir in the fresh thyme; then pour the soup into the bread bowl.

5. GARNISH the top of the soup with chives. Place the reserved top back onto the bread and serve immediately.

[6] The drinking man’s/woman’s lunch (photos courtesy Campbell’s).

Ingredients Per Serving

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F.

2. DEFROST the puff pastry and lay on flat surface. On two pieces, place the cheeses in the center, leaving a half inch border.

3. MAKE the egg wash: whisk the eggs with a splash of cold water or milk until they are pale yellow and completely integrated. Lightly brush the egg wash around the edges of the pastry.

4. PLACE the remaining sheets over the top, pressing the edges to create a seal. Trim neatly with a knife, and use a fork to impress a pattern (crimp) on the edges. Brush some additional egg wash on top of the pastry.

5. BAKE for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Meanwhile…

6. REDUCE the tomato soup concentrate slowly in a sauce pan, until thick and dark red. Serve the pastry hot, with the tomato sauce on the side.

Pronounced mee-cha-LAH-dah, a michelada is a Mexican “beertail” (beer cocktail) made from beer, tomato juice, hot sauce and lime, served over ice in a salt-rimmed glass.

This “adult” lunch gives you a michelada with a Mexican-style grilled cheese.

If you’ve never had a michelada, here’s some more information.

This recipe requires a panini press or a George Foreman-type grill.

The recipe can make one tall drink or two in rocks glasses.
 
Ingredients For The Michelada

For The Rim

 
For The Drink
1 can Campbells Tomato Soup concentrate

 
Ingredients For The Grilled Cheese

 
Preparation

1. CREATE the rim garnish by combining equal parts of salt and chili powder in a small dish. Or if you have Tajin seasoning, use it straight. Place the juice of half the lime in a shallow dish. Twist the rim of the glass in the juice, and then twist it in the dish of seasoning. You can use a Collins glass or a beer mug (or two rocks glasses). Set aside.

2. COMBINE the drink ingredients except the beer; set aside in the fridge.

3. MAKE the grilled cheese. Slice the roll open and toast the inside. Place the cold cheese inside the roll, press it into the bread somewhat so the layers adhere. Add slices of jalapeño to taste.

4. BUTTER the outside of the roll lightly and, using a panini press or in a pan on the stove top, toast it until the cheese is melted. While the cheese is melting…

4. COMBINE the beer and the michelada mix over ice and garnish the glass with a lime wedge.

5. TO SERVE: You can serve the sandwich, halved, on the side, or quartered on a long toothpick or skewer over the michelada.