Rocking Breakfast – Recipe #13

By now you must all be familiar with Josh Coletto and his monthly pop up breakfasts at The Low Beat in Albany. Well, after a break in December, he’s back for Rock N Roll Brunch XX this Sunday. And I’m thrilled that he’s come back to the FLB to share another one of his recipes to help get you excited for the event.

If braving the crowds at this perpetually popular pop-up doesn’t thrill you, perhaps you will be interested to learn of the dinner that Josh will be presenting on January 30 at Nibble in Troy. The menu is unmistakably a modern winter feast, and Josh has kept it intentionally ambiguous so that those who come can be surprised and delighted. To see what I mean, check out the menu here.

Now I’ve got a bit of a spoiler. One of those dishes is a soup. Bet you can’t guess which one.

But back to breakfast. Had I been able to go back in November, I probably would have had the goat and waffles. However, I’m also a sucker for red flannel hash. That means I probably would have missed out on the Buck Rarebit. Never heard of it? Well, I’ll let Josh explain.

A dish from the last brunch I hold dear is Buck Rarebit. This UK dish is essentially the same as Welsh Rarebit, with the addition of an egg. The dish is basically cheese toast, hard to beat. This month’s recipe is the cheese sauce that I made to pour over everything. I served it on top of house made sourdough, sous vide eggs and topped it with pickled red cabbage. Pour it on anything you desire to spice up your life.

Welsh (or Buck) Rarebit sauce

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons Flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 pint guinness (or other dark beer)
2 shakes of worcestershire
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons hot sauce (of your choice, i like using something vinegary for this)
1-2 pounds of funky aged cheddar, grated (I used the cave aged Jasper Hill/Cabot collab)

Directions:
1) Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and saute garlic and shallot until it is real soft and translucent.
2) Sprinkle over the flour and cook a couple minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.
3) Slowly whisk in the beer until combined and lumpless.
4) Continue whisking and add worcestershire, mustard and hot sauce.
5) Adding a little at a time, whisk in the cheddar until it has the desired cheesy taste.
6) Pour over toast, eggs, or whatever you feel like making taste a little better.

Well, that seems easy enough. Maybe I can get the kids to go for it sometime. But it certainly sounds like a great way of combatting the blahs of winter. While I won’t be making sous vide eggs at home, I’m quite competent in poaching to produce tender whites and runny yolks.

If you do go on Sunday, I’d say to go early, because the fried chicken and grits sounds amazing. Local grilled grits, happy chicken, and harissa? Sign me up. The burnt carrot puree and eggs are just icing on the cake. Here’s the rest of the menu if you’re curious.

We’ll see if I can do it. Saturday is going to be a late night for me. There’s the Hattie’s Mardi Gras Soiree, followed by the official after party at Hattie’s, and the totally unofficial after-after gathering at Esperanto (aka Daniel can’t leave Saratoga Springs without a doughboy). I’m told there will be tickets available at the door for the SPAC benefit on Saturday, in case you’ve been waiting until the last minute to decide.

But you should go to Josh’s brunch. And you should take pictures to make me jealous. If I’m lucky, Josh will share his harissa recipe next month. Or maybe we’ll be treated to the secrets of his cotija french toast. Who knows.

What I do know is that I’ll also be missing another great event this weekend. Tonight is the 2nd annual winter IPA Festival at Shmaltz Brewing in Clifton Park. Besides serving their own IPAs, they are also bringing in some other New York breweries like Finback, Rushing Duck, and more.

A Friday IPA festival. A benefit for SPAC on Saturday. Rock N Roll Brunch on Sunday. What an amazingly delicious weekend to be a food lover in the Capital Region. Hope you enjoy it.

Cheers.