The photo isn’t the best because my bacon wrapped asparagus is not as visible as I would like. The bundles were beautiful coming out of the oven! This recipe is going to require a bit more skill, specifically due to the hollandaise. Worth the effort, quite a tasty breakfast!
Paleo and Whole 30 eggs benedict
Ingredients:
2 servings
Asparagus
1/2 pound asparagus, ends trimmed
1 package nitrate free so sugar added bacon (you only need 2-3 strips) or nitrate free prosciutto (2 slices per asparagus bundle)
Extra virgin olive oil
Pepper
Kosher salt
Poached eggs
Water (1.5 inches deep)
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. white vinegar
4 large, fresh, cold eggs
Hollandaise
3 fresh egg yolks
1/2 tsp. water
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
8 tbl. ghee
2 tbl. lemon juice (should get this much from one lemon)
Method:
Asparagus
Preheat oven to 400°F. Snap the woody ends off of your asparagus (and discard them) then toss the spears with olive oil, pepper, and kosher salt to season. Make 2-3 bundles of asparagus and wrap each with one piece of bacon or two pieces of prosciutto. Lay on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through so the bacon/prosciutto crisps on all sides. I diced the extra bacon and cooked it in a skillet over medium heat until crispy, moving to a paper towel to drain excess fat.
Hollandaise
In a small saucepan whisk 3 egg yolks with 1/2 tsp. water, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. cayenne vigorously for 1 minute. Place the pan on and off low heat (for me low was the 3rd tick mark on my electric burner) and whisk constantly for 3 minutes, until the egg yolk is the consistency of custard. By on and off I mean about 10 seconds on the heat and 10 seconds off the heat over the course of the 3 minutes. You don’t want the egg to heat too quickly nor do you want it to overheat. You’re aiming for 140-145 degrees as your final temp. Once you have achieved the custard consistency whisk in 1 tbl. lemon juice. While whisking add 1 tbl. ghee every 30 seconds until you reach 4 tbl. Now add another 1 tbl. lemon juice and 1 tbl. ghee every 30 seconds until you’ve incorporated all of your ghee. Season the hollandaise to taste with salt or more lemon juice. This recipe makes more hollandaise than you will need for your eggs. Store the remainder in a tight jar in the fridge. You can put it on other veggies or even some chicken. Just be careful reheating you don’t want the hollandaise to break. I would recommend warming over very low heat with constant whisking or placing in a double boiler with constant whisking.
Poached eggs
Alton Brown has a tutorial for perfectly poaching eggs at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/perfect-poached-eggs-recipe.html. Personally I find that having the water perfectly still when adding my eggs prevents too much feathering of the whites, so I ignore Alton’s recommendation to stir the bubbles off the bottom of the pan (see video in link).
Place your poached eggs on top of your cooked bacon/prosciutto wrapped asparagus, top with hollandaise and more crispy bacon pieces.
Approximate macros for 2 bundles of prosciutto wrapped asparagus with 2 poached eggs and 1 teaspoon of hollandaise:
Calories: 264
Fat: 16g
Carb: 10g
Protein: 25g
Delicious Primal Cooking 
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