At a great little neighborhood brunch place in Chicago, I skipped the eggs benedict and tried something new–a mushroom tart.

Much like quiche, but less the egg custard filling, this tart had a nice flaky, buttery crust, as any tart should. In it was a mixture of sautéed wild mushrooms and apple cider-braised pork, with a few slices of prosciutto for good measure. On top of it was a perfectly poached egg. At the first bite, when the egg yolk cracked and oozed into the tart shell, I realized that this was a great meeting of two very classic brunch items–eggs benedict and quiche.

The tart shell, a necessity to quiche, substituted the English muffin of eggs benedict. The filling could easily have found its way into a quiche and the prosciutto was a fine alternative to Canadian bacon. Along side of it was a spicy lentil salad (cold), and a small pile of greens (watercress and arugula) slightly tossed in a white wine vinaigrette. While neither of these things have anything to do with quiche or eggs benedict, they did not interfere with my new discovery.

The only thing that was missing was the hollandaise sauce. Maybe that could have turned into a creamier salad dressing? Or maybe I am taking this idea a bit far…?

Filed Under: Food Talk