Treat of the Week: Eggs Landers and Metzger's Field Cupcakes

 

In celebration of this year's "Ham for Miss Lander's Day" my mother came up with a truly brilliant new recipe which would incorporate Miss Landers' ham into the holiday in an ingeniously savory way.  

We'll call the new treat "Eggs Landers," a tasty take on Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine which combined beautifully poached eggs (done the proper way, just in boiling water, and not with one of those compartmentalized contraptions), rosemary ham, sauteed spinach, freshly-made hollandaise sauce, and an English muffin.  Lovely, lovely, lovely.  I'm a great fan of poached eggs in general, and enjoy them as often as possible.  This combination was quite perfect and an ideal way to celebrate this most important of holidays.  

The egg dish was served with individual salads which included greens, blue cheese, nuts,  berries, and, of course--pineapple.  After all, what celebration of an early-1960s heroine (involving ham) wouldn't also include pineapple?

For dessert, my mother added classic homemade cupcakes to the menu.  Baked from scratch, these yellow-cake cupcakes are piped with beautiful homemade icing--chocolate and vanilla and dressed with soda fountain sprinkles.  

In honor of Miss Landers, the cupcakes were served in a checkerboard pattern before her portrait and a martini glass of "Chuckles" fruit candy because...because that's what one does.

The cupcakes would be perfect to pack in your picnic basket as you go to watch Wally pitch a home-run game at Metzger's Field or to bring to Mrs. Mondello's house as part of a sympathy platter after Larry's gall bladder operation goes horribly wrong.  June Cleaver wasn't the best cake-icer, so, she'd probably buy hers at a bakery, but you can make your own.

Here's wishing all of you the happiest "Ham for Miss Landers Day."  Remember, don't let Eddie Haskell get you down.  Remember that if Judy takes down your name when Miss Landers isn't in the room, Miss Landers won't read the list.  And, most of all, when you need it, Hoss will always bring you a ham from the Ponderosa.