Amazing summertime breakfast, which can be made in the winter as well.

Alright, this is about the best, relatively simple breakfast yet...Now I know most of you probably don't have a problem eating hollandaise sauce, but I frequently eat breakfast with a young lady who finds the yellow, creamy stuff deplorable.  This caused a little problem when having lazy-morning killer breakfasts, since my idea of killer breakfast usually involved biscuits and gravy (hard to get out and do anything after that one) or some form of eggs benny.  Alas, a solution was found in the "tower of power" breakfast.  I'm not kidding any more, next time you wanna wake up slow and have a killer sunday morning breakfast and another pot of coffee, try this.  Kyrstan found the recipe at a blog called My New Roots, which I would also recommend checking out.  It seems that the lady running it used to be of lesser notoriety, and her recipes were simpler, not she seems to be changing styles to the slightly more gourmet side, but fun to check out either way.  For the record, when she says serves four, it means four considerate, or otherwise "light" eaters.  I would plan on an extra half sweet potato and doubling up the poached eggs for four keck-style eaters.

Veggie & Egg Tower of Power

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 giant sweet potato (750g / 26 oz.)

200 grams / 7 oz. cherry tomatoes

4 generous fistfuls of baby spinach (approx. 150 grams / 5 oz.) 

2 medium red onions

4 eggs

1 Tbsp. vinegar

ghee or coconut oil (or butter/oil sez Andy)

extra virgin olive oil (optional)

sea salt & pepper

chili flakes  

Directions:

1. Start by caramelizing the onions. Peel and slice the onions into rounds. Heat some ghee or oil in a skillet, add onions and a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally (not too often, or they will not brown) until dark, soft and sweet – approx. 30-45 minutes. Do not wash pan after use. 

2. Preheat oven to 400 °F/200 °C. Slice sweet potatoes across their width into ¼”/6 mm round discs. Coat with a little ghee or oil, place in a single layer on 2 baking sheets, leaving one sheet with a little space for the tomatoes. Wash and slice tomatoes in half. Place on one baking sheet with sweet potatoes, and roast in the oven for 20 minutes or so, until everything is soft. Keep in the oven until ready to serve.

3. Once the onions, sweet potatoes and tomatoes have all finished cooking, put a shallow saucepan of water on to boil, stir in 1 tablespoon of vinegar. 

4. Wash spinach, but do not spin dry, as the water will serve to steam the leaves while cooking. Add spinach to the onion pan on low heat and stir occasionally until wilted (3-4 minutes). 

5. While the spinach is wilting, poach the egg. 

6. While the eggs are poaching, assemble the plate: place 6-7 slices of roasted sweet potato on the bottom, followed by the wilted spinach and caramelized onions. Scatter the roasted tomatoes around the base with a drizzle of good olive oil. Place the poached egg on top of the stack, sprinkle with chili flakes if desired, and a generous grind of sea salt and black pepper. Serve immediately.    

Andy