Special to the Star-Bulletin
Gloria Merkle welcomes guests to Gloria's
Spouting Horn Bed & Breakfast on Kauai.
A Kauai breakfast
treat wins national
recognition
Gloria's Spouting Horn
By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
makes the list of top B&Bs
Star-BulletinA television series on America's finest bed and breakfasts -- showcasing an award-winning isle-style Eggs Benedict with Mango Salsa -- premieres at 1 p.m. Sunday on KHET. Gloria Merkle's recipe, which placed fourth in this month's Jones Dairy Farm Bed & Breakfast Recipe Competition, airs in the Christmas week segment of "Country Inn Cooking with Gail Greco."
Sunday's first segment features the 19-unit Plantation Inn in Lahaina, with elegant poolside breakfasts prepared by Gerard's Restaurant.
The two B&Bs are the Hawaii establishments highlighted in the 26-part series. A companion cookbook, "More Country Inn Cooking with Gail Greco," with recipes from the series, can be ordered through the show.
"I am pretty well known for my breakfast," said Merkle, a Chicago native who's operated Gloria's Spouting Horn Bed & Breakfast since June 1986. "Probably one of the most popular dishes is peach French toast.
"I also have a lovely seafood frittata that's excellent. Banana pancake pizza with baked banana/sour cream topping is wonderful, too. Another pretty popular dish is crispy potato quiche. Those probably are the ones I enjoy making."
On the show she'll prepare the pancake pizza dish, papaya bread pudding with papaya cream sauce, and the eggs benedict. For the latter recipe, she won $400, a professional set of Regal Cookware, an array of Jones meat and sausage products and a trip to the Milwaukee cookoff.
The American Bed & Breakfast Association gave its highest -- and Hawaii's only -- four-crown rating to Merkle's B&B at Poipu, Kauai. In "Best Places to Stay in Hawaii," authors Cheryl and Bill Jamieson wrote of Gloria's: "Easily the best oceanfront B&B in the state, probably in the whole of the United States, it attracts more return guests than Elizabeth Taylor's weddings."
Order a free cookbooklet with all the finalists' recipes from the 1997 Jones Dairy Farm B&B Recipe Competition. Send name and address to: Free Bed & Breakfast Recipe Booklet, Jones Dairy Farm PR Dept., P.O. Box 23848, Milwaukee, WI 53223-9729.
Check out the recipes at web site http://www.jonessausage.com or email orders to jonesdairy@wodsi.com
Merkle compiled her recipes in a handsome, three-ring "Gloria's Breakfasts & Collected Recipes" cookbook. Order by sending a $20 check made to: Gloria's Spouting Horn Bed & Breakfast, 4464 Lawai Beach Road, Koloa, HI 96756.
Island Eggs Benedict
(By Gloria Merkle of Gloria's
with Mango Salsa
Spouting Horn Bed & Breakfast)3 English muffinsTo prepare mango salsa: Toss all ingredients gently but thoroughly. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled. Makes 3 cups.
18 large fresh spinach leaves
6 slices Canadian bacon
6 slices large fresh tomatoes
Dash paprika, optional
Mango salsa:
2 large ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 medium red onion, peeled and diced
1 jar (4 ounces) roasted red bell peppers, drained and diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 to 2 tablespoons juice from pickled jalapeno peppers
Salt to taste
5 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
4 tablespoons butter, divided use
2 tablespoons flour
1-1/2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, slicedTo prepare eggs benedict: Dice egg whites and mash yolks until crumbly; set aside.
In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter and stir in flour. Add milk slowly, stirring until thickened. Add cheese, sour cream and mustard, stirring to blend.
Saute mushrooms in remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter; add to sour-cream sauce along with diced egg white, stirring to blend. Remove from heat and cover.
Toast 6 muffin halves. Top each with 3 spinach leaves, 1 slice Canadian bacon and 1 tomato slice; then ladle on mushroom sauce, top with crumbled yolk and sprinkle on paprika, if desired. Serve with mango salsa. Makes 6 servings.
