Fried Green Tomato Benedict on Buttermilk Biscuits with Buffalo Hollandaise
This all American eggs Benedict variation harnesses the beloved flavors of the South with its buttermilk biscuit base and fried green tomato toppers. It's finished with spicy Buffalo Hollandaise for an epic brunch option.
2medium to large green tomatoescut into eight ¼-to-½-inch-thick slices, tops and bottoms discarded
½cupall-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1large egg
1tablespoonwater
A few dashes hot saucesuch as Frank’s Red Hot
½cuppanko bread crumbs
½cupyellow cornmeal
Vegetable oilfor frying
Buffalo Hollandaise:
3large egg yolks
2tablespoonshot saucesuch as Frank’s Red Hot
1tablespoonlemon juice
1tablespoonwaterplus more as needed
6ounces(1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted, clarified, and kept warm over low heat
Kosher salt
Assembly:
8large eggs
2tablespoonsdistilled white vinegar
Instructions
To make the biscuits: Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the cold butter and work it into the flour mixture, using your fingers or a pastry cutter, until the mixture resembles coarse pea or dime-size crumbs. Be careful not to overwork the mixture or the butter will soften too much. Add the buttermilk, and use your fingers to combine it into the dough. Powder your hands with flour if the dough gets too sticky. The dough should just come together, do not over mix.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form it into a ball. Lightly knead the dough 2 or 3 times until combined. (The biscuits can be baked the next day, if desired. Dust a sheet pan and the top of the dough with flour and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, overnight. Then bring the dough back to room temperature.)
Pat the dough into a ¾-to-1-inch thick rectangle. Use a 3-to-3 ¼-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits (do not twist the cutter, cut straight down). Place them on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Gather the dough scraps, smooth them out (lightly knead if necessary), and pat the remaining dough into another ¾-to-1-inch thick rectangle or circle. Cut out more biscuits, and then repeat again if necessary to use remaining dough. Do not over work the dough each time, or the final biscuits will be tougher. You should have 4 fairly large biscuits. Lightly dust the tops of the biscuits with a sprinkle of flour.
Bake the biscuits, rotating the pan front to back halfway through, for 22 to 24 minutes, or until they are golden brown and cooked through. The biscuits can be kept warm in the oven while preparing the other components.
To make the fried green tomatoes: Set up a breading station as follows. In one shallow bowl add the flour and season with salt and pepper. In another shallow bowl beat the egg with the water, hot sauce, and salt. In a third shallow bowl mix together the panko and cornmeal.
Meanwhile, coat the bottom of a skillet with about ¼-inch of vegetable oil and heat over medium to medium-high heat. One at a time, dredge the slices of green tomato first in the flour mixture (shaking off the excess), then into the egg mixture (allowing extra egg to drip off), and finally into the panko/cornmeal mixture (making sure that the green tomato slices are well coated). Gently shake off excess coating and place breaded slices into the hot oil, cooking each for a couple minutes on each side or until golden brown. Crumbs that fall off the tomatoes while frying will start to burn, so be careful to remove them if you can between batches. Remove the fried green tomatoes to a paper towel-lined sheet pan to soak excess oil. Sprinkle with salt and set aside (these can be kept warm in the oven along with the biscuits).
To make the Buffalo Hollandaise: Fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. In a medium stainless steel bowl (that will fit comfortably over the saucepan without touching the water), whisk the egg yolks with the hot sauce, lemon juice, and tablespoon of water.
Place the bowl on top of the saucepan and continue to whisk constantly. Use a potholder, if necessary, to hold the bowl with your other hand, as it will heat up from the steam beneath. Lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and steam. You do not want to curdle the eggs. After a couple minutes of whisking, the eggs will start to thicken and become creamy. Remove the bowl occasionally from the heat source to keep the temperature from getting too high. Continue to whisk off the heat and then place the bowl back onto the saucepan (you can keep going back and forth throughout the process to maintain a stable and comfortable heat).
When the eggs have thickened a bit, you can start to add the butter in a thin, steady stream while continuing to whisk. Slowly the butter should emulsify into the egg mixture. Feel free to take short breaks to remove the bowl from the heat and continue whisking. Be gentle with your Hollandaise; too much heat can cause the eggs to curdle or the sauce to break. Continue whisking in the butter until it is completely emulsified and the sauce is thick (fyi: the more butter you add, the thicker the mixture will get). Adjust seasoning with salt. Keep the sauce over the double-boiler on low heat, whisking occasionally, until needed. If it thickens too much as it sits, whisk in room temperature water by the tablespoonful until it thins out to your desired consistency (vigorously whisking in water is also a great trick to fix a broken Hollandaise).
When your biscuits are baked, green tomatoes fried, and Hollandaise prepared (and all kept warm either in the oven or over the double-boiler on low heat), now you can quickly poach your eggs and assemble (or technically you can even poach your eggs in advance and then reheat them in simmering water, so plan your cooking based on what works for you). Fill a medium to large, shallow saucepan about halfway with water. Add the vinegar and bring to a simmer over medium heat (you can get the water going while prepping the other components).
Crack 1 egg into a small bowl. If you have several small bowls on hand and don’t mind getting them dirty, it saves some time to crack an egg into each bowl and have them all ready in advance. If not, you can do one at a time, reusing the same bowl. When the water is simmering, but not boiling, gently lower 1 egg at a time into the water.
If you feel confident, add more eggs, one at a time, into the simmering water. Just remember the order in which you add the eggs so you can remove them in the same order. Each egg should take about 3 minutes. The whites should be cooked through but the yolks should remain runny. When you remove an egg with a slotted spoon, it should feel fairly firm right where the white meets the yolk, but it should still have some give when you move closer to the yolk.
Remove each egg with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel if you’d like to soak up a bit of the water. Meanwhile, split the biscuits and top each half with a fried green tomato slice. Then top each with a poached egg and several spoonfuls of the Buffalo Hollandaise. Serve hot.