RECIPE: Lamb & Fennel Scramble with Roasted Garlic-Tarragon Hollandaise

If you read my post from earlier today, you’d know that the hubby and I had an amazing Valentine’s Day dinner at home last night, featuring braised lamb shank, fennel salad and roasted fingerling potatoes. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

But the best part was the fact that there was so much meat leftover! I knew before dinner had even ended last night that I wanted to make a lamb scramble for breakfast this morning. It was a GREAT decision!

Our leftovers transformed into a lamb and fennel scramble with sweet potato home fries and topped with roasted garlic-tarragon hollandaise.

While this meal works best if you have leftover lamb, you could definitely just sauté some ground lamb to make this if you don’t already have cooked lamb shank sitting in your fridge.

Here’s how you can make this breakfast of champions in your own kitchen:

• 1 sweet potato, chopped into small pieces (about 1/2-inch)
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 3 tbsp cooking fat (we used bacon fat, but butter, ghee or even olive oil would also work)
• 1/4 cup fennel, diced finely
• 2/3 cup cooked lamb, chopped
• 1 cup fresh spinach leaves
• 5 eggs
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted
• 2 cloves garlic, roasted (we did this the night before and just kept them in the fridge)
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees (this will serve to keep your food warm as you make all of the pieces of this dish).

Place your 3 tbsp. of cooking fat into a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, and once the fat is hot add the sweet potatoes to the pan. Stir the sweet potatoes until they are evenly coated with the cooking fat. Add in the seasoned salt and paprika, stirring to combine, and then cook the potatoes, stirring only every minute or two, until they are cooked through and crispy on the outside (about 5 minutes). Place the sweet potatoes in a baking dish, oven-safe plate or tinfoil packet and put the oven to keep warm.

In the same pan used to cook the potatoes, cook the diced fennel until softened slightly over medium-high heat, about 2-3 minutes. Additional cooking fat can be added to the pan if needed. Then, add in the cooked lamb and sauté with the fennel, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes, or until warmed through. Add in the spinach leaves and cook, stirring, for about  one minute. Turn the heat down to low, to keep the mixture warm while preparing the eggs.

Separate three of the eggs, placing the yolks of these three eggs into a small glass bowl. Place the three egg whites into another small bowl. The remaining two eggs can be added to the bowl with the egg whites. Set this bowl aside.

Over medium heat, boil about an inch of water in a small pan. Note: The bowl of egg yolks needs to fit on top of this pan without touching the water. To make the hollandaise, place the bowl of yolks on top of the pan with boiling water, whisking continuously until the yolks begin to thicken, about 2 minutes.

Once the yolks begin to thicken, remove the bowl from the pan of water (keep the pan of water on the hot stove, but turn the heat down to low). In a small dish, mix the melted butter and the roasted garlic until well-combined. Slowly add the garlic butter to the egg yolks, whisking continuously. Add the lemon juice and half of the chopped tarragon to the hollandaise, continuing to whisk. If the mixture seems too thick, you can add a bit of water to the sauce. Place the bowl of sauce back on top of the pan of hot water to keep the sauce warm.

Returning to the pan of the lamb and fennel mixture, turn the burner back up to medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add in the egg whites and egg mixture, scrambling with the lamb mixture until cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Remove the potatoes from the oven and split the potatoes between two plates. Top the potatoes with the lamb scramble, then pour the hollandaise on top of everything. Lastly, sprinkle the remaining chopped tarragon on top of the pile of glorious food.

This was definitely a breakfast that took awhile to make, but with another blizzard making its way through New Hampshire, the longer I spend making breakfast, the longer I get to wait to shovel. #WorthIt

Hope I inspired you to turn your dinner leftovers into amazing breakfasts! What’s your favorite way to use leftovers? I’d love to hear your ideas!