Bring The Royal Portfolio Dining Experience Home.
As many of our guests stay at home to combat the spread of Covid-19, we wanted to share some of our Executive Chefs’ favourite recipes for you to try at home.
Breakfasts in The Granary Café are the perfect way for our guests staying at The Silo Hotel to start their day. When guests are looking for something a little more indulgent, Executive Chef Veronica Canha-Hibbert always suggests her Cheese Scones Benedict. Replacing the traditional English Muffin with a decadent cheesy scone is the perfect way to turn an ordinary morning into a great one.
CHEESE SCONES BENEDICT
Cheese Scones
225g self-raising flour (plus extra for dusting)
2g salt
1g cayenne pepper
8g baking powder
55g chilled butter (cut into cubes)
120g grated mature gruyere
90-100ml milk (plus 1 tbsp for glazing)
Hollandaise
180g unsalted butter
2 large egg yolks
15ml fresh lemon juice
2g salt
1/2 tsp lightly packed, finely grated lemon zest
Poached Eggs
4 XL eggs (chilled and very fresh)
15ml white vinegar
To Finish
60g English spinach
240g bacon
Preparing the Cheese Scones
Heat the oven to 180°C. Sift the flour, salt, cayenne pepper and baking powder into a bowl, then sift again to make sure the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add the butter to the bowl and combine with your fingertips to make breadcrumbs. Sprinkle 100g of the cheese into the breadcrumb mixture and rub together until evenly distributed. Try not to mix too much as the heat from your hands may start to melt the butter. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in enough milk to give a fairly soft but firm dough. Do not pour in all the milk at once as you may not need it all to get the right consistency. Lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough to approximately 2cm thick. Cut out the scones with a medium (about 8cm) cutter, then put on a sheet of baking parchment, glaze with a little milk and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Slide onto the hot oven tray. Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until golden brown and cooked through.
Preparing the hollandaise
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and let stand for a few minutes off the heat. Don’t stir it—you want the milky solids to fall to the bottom and the clear yellow butterfat to float to the top. Skim off any milk solids still on the surface with a spoon. Pour the butterfat into a measuring cup, leaving the milky-watery layer behind. Keep warm. Heat up a double boiler. Put the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1salt, and 30 ml. water in a stainless-steel bowl that will fit over the double boiler without touching the water. Put the bowl over the pan and whisk vigorously until the mixture is thick and frothy and the whisk leaves a trail in the mixture, 2 to 5 minutes. Scrape around the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula from time to time so that the yolks don’t stick or overcook and curdle. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk for another 30 seconds, letting the eggs cool down a bit. Lay a folded kitchen towel over a cool saucepan off the heat and nestle the bowl into the pan to hold the bowl steady. Slowly drizzle in the warm clarified butter, whisking constantly, until all the butter is added and the sauce is smooth and creamy. Whisk in the lemon zest and more salt and lemon juice to taste. Serve immediately or keep warm for up to 30 minutes.
Preparing the poached eggs
Half fill a straight-sided pan with water. Stir in vinegar. Bring to a full boil, then reduce heat until the water is just barely simmering. Crack an egg into a dry measuring cup and gently lower the egg into the water. Repeat with remaining eggs, leaving room between them in the pan and allowing each white to coagulate slightly before adding the next egg. Use a slotted spoon to gently move eggs in the pan a few times so they don’t stick to the bottom. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until your desired doneness is reached. Transfer eggs to the bowl of hot water while you make the hollandaise.
To serve
Place 2 rashers of bacon on top of a warm scones. Sauté the English spinach and top the bacon with the warm spinach. Remove eggs from the warm water with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Top the spinach with an egg and a small ladleful of hollandaise. Gratinate the hollandaise under the grill and serve immediately.
