When it's cold out, certain foods can brighten the mood.
This breakfast salmon strudel was just what I was looking for. But first off, don't let the word strudel stop you in your tracks. There's no making your own strudel dough, and the labor intensive rolling and stretching by hand that goes along with it.
This strudel is made using phyllo dough, which makes it a lot easier. Using the phyllo, while not the same as some traditional strudel, gives you crisp flaky layers. Yes, it's like working with pieces of wet tissue paper, but the beauty is even if you mess up, melted butter fixes mistakes.
I was armed with about half a roll of phyllo in the freezer eager to use it up. The rest was also easy because I had plenty of eggs and some smoked salmon planned for appetizers that didn't get made.
The original name of this recipe, Breakfast Salmon Strudel, is a little misleading. While it's terrific for breakfast, it's also ideal as a brunch dish, lunch or dinner served with some mixed greens. As a brunch dish you can assemble these up to 12 hours in advance. When you're ready to serve, just pop them in the oven and bake for minutes.
There's one caveat with this recipe: overcooking the eggs. Just like hard-cooked eggs can have a green or grayish tinge when overcooked, so can scrambled eggs. While they may look unappetizing, the green tinged eggs, sources say, are safe to eat.
Beside overcooking, having the heat too high and holding the cooked eggs for too long can cause the color change. To prevent this all together, whisk in a small amount of lemon juice into the raw eggs before scrambling. Also, use a rubber spatula when cooking the eggs to gently stir and push the soft curds to ward the center as they cook.
With today's recipe, be sure to undercook the egg scramble because it continues to cook in the oven.
The bright citrusy flavors in the Lemon Chive Sauce is a great match for the eggs and salmon encased in the phyllo. This month plenty of citrus starts rolling in. It's the one bright spot in the produce section during the doldrums of winter.
The chive sauce is similar to a hollandaise sauce _ minus the egg. However, you can easily skip making the sauce and instead use a packet of hollandaise sauce mix.
