Aaaah!  The aroma of baking puffed pastry, scrambled eggs and garlic spinach cream.  It's sweet smell of redemption.   My Egg SNAFU last week was beyond rescue, so I feel relieved to carry out this recipe pretty smoothly.  (Click here to read more about Egg Snafu).  Amazing what you can get done when you don't try and do 5 things all at once and just focus on the task at hand.  Whew!

This savory and filling breakfast is a creation of the Rabbit Hill Inn located in Lower Waterford, Vermont.  It's a simple, quick and elegant recipe that would  make a perfect savory pairing with the heart shaped strawberry stuffed French toast for romantic Valentine's Day breakfast in bed.

And speaking of romance and Rabbit Hill Inn, Peter Greenburg said, "Your room could act as an aphrodisiac,"  and Cooking Light Magazine stated they had, "sensual amenities to set the mood."  Whoa.  And I was just considering going up for just a plain ole cooking class.  I'm such a kitchen dork.  But then again ... a cooking class could be hot!

If you haven't yet made Valentine's Day plans, here's a way you can bring one of Travel & Leisure Best 100 Hotels Worldwide into you're own home.

Let's start with the puffed pastry.   Yes, this is what my groggy eyes at 6 am mistook for pie crust when I created an Egg Snafu.  So here it is in all it's glory ... Puffed Pastry.  You can find it in your frozen foods section at your local grocer.  Just don't mistakenly pick up pie crust.

Start with a dozen eggs scrambled with about a 1/2 cup of heavy cream.  If you've never had scrambled eggs made this way ... taste a little bite.  You'll never make them without heavy cream again.  Ever.  It's the secret to making them creamy, fluffy and light.  BUT ... not light on the calories.

And "Cooking Light" wrote about Rabbit Hill?  How do they make these delish recipes without some serious calories!?

Cook them until they're set ... but still a little wet.  You're going to bake them too and don't want them to dry out.

Spoon your scrambled eggs into the center of a puffed pastry sheet.  This pastry sheet seemed a little small for a dozen eggs, so next time I'll either cut the recipe in half or make two strudels.

Cover in shredded cheddar cheese.

Roll the pastry into a cylinder.  I had imagined that this would come out more like a spiral of puffed pastry rather than a burrito shape.  Perhaps I need a longer pastry sheet for that effect.

Take a pastry brush and "glue" the edges together with just a touch of water.

Then brush with melted butter and set in the oven to bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Next ... the spinach.

When we tried this with the Egg Snafu, I wrote down the recipe.  I should have printed it because I missed one vital word ... blanched.  Now, I must admit, I didn't quite know what "blanched" meant.  So I googled it.  I google everything I make in the kitchen.  I found this lovely step-by-step instructions on blanched spinach.

And then I blanched my own ...

Start with boiling water.  Add a whole bag of spinach.  Yes, I said a whole bag.  It dwindles down to nothing when you're done.

After the spinach has turned a bright green, about 30 seconds to 1 minute, remove the spinach with a slotted spoon and add to an ice bath.

Sounds fancy and pampered to give food a bath, doesn't it?  Well, maybe "tortured" spinach is a better description.  This whole process reminded of my last ski strip to Steamboat Springs, CO, where we did some of hot-tubbin and snow-dippin.  That's when we've had one or two beers in the hot tub and think its smart to run out and dip our bathing suit clad bodies in freezing cold snow.  Or similar to sitting in a bath tub full of ice and water after a 22 mile run.  I can only imagine the spinach wants to yell and scream profanities as loudly as I did.

Remove the spinach from the ice bath with clean hands and squeeze all the water out until you are left with a ball of spinach.

Add the blanched spinach to a food processor with 1 cup of heavy cream.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I also added a pressed garlic clove.

Blend.

Add the puree to a sauce pan on medium heat and reduce by 1/3 of it's volume.

The strudel bakes to golden perfection during the time it takes to whip up the Spinach Cream.

Slice and serve.  Mmm.

Now, about those cooking lessons with Chef Matthew ...

--Rachelle

Cheddar Egg Strudel with Spinach Cream

from the Rabbit Hill Inn, Lower Waterford, VT

Ingredients

1 sheet puffed pastry, room temp

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup heavy cream

12 eggs beaten with 1/2 cup heavy cream

2  tbls melted butter

1 cup blanched spinach

salt & pepper to taste

For the Strudel

1) Preheat oven to 350 (convection oven) or 400 (standard oven.

2) Heat 1/4 cup canola oil in a large non-stick saute pan.

3) Cook eggs over medium high heat scrambling them until barely set.

4) On a small sheet or cookie pan lay out puff pastry.

5) Place eggs straight along center of pastry sheet.

6) Top with cheese and roll pastry into a cylinder.

7) Brush with butter and bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

For the Spinach Cream

1) Puree 1 cup of spinach with 1 cup of heavy cream.

2) Add salt and pepper to taste.

3) In a sauce pan, reduce by 1/3 the original volume.

4) Serve over strudel.

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