Breakfast Sausage Stack (AKA “Breakfast for Tyler”)
It was the very first culinary challenge on the Great Food Truck Alaska! We were told that we needed to prepare our most creative breakfast for Tyler Florence, and he would be choosing his favorite of all the trucks. It needed to be hearty, something to warm up Alaskans on a cold day. This was definitely a full circle, surreal moment for me. I have watched Tyler on Food Network for 20 years and I’ve learned so much from his cooking shows. Who wouldn’t want to cook a dish for one of their culinary idols someday? For me, today was that day, no pressure.
As a team, we decided on a California meets Alaska themed dish and we incorporated one of their local breakfast favorites, reindeer sausage along with a touch of freshness from CA with the lemony arugula. Our delicious Breakfast Sausage Stack started off with a cheesy, crispy seasoned tater tot waffle as the base. We wanted to prove that although we weren’t a breakfast themed truck like BFD (Breakfast for Dinner) or Some Like it Tot, but we were there to compete in the culinary space, regardless of the challenge! Stacked on the tater tot waffle, we placed the butterflied reindeer sausage, a handful of lemony dressed arugula and a fried egg on top, garnished with chives and a sprinkle of salt. Since reindeer sausage is not found commonly down here in the lower 48, you can substitute any cooked sausage of your choice. This was the first time I had tasted reindeer sausage and it was pretty tasty, it reminded me of something similar to a kielbasa sausage with a slight hint of spice.
We took longer than we wanted to get Tyler his breakfast after chipping our truck keys out of the ice block. But, this was the first time we were cooking a dish for Tyler Florence...it had to be nothing short of perfection! He wasn’t super happy that we made him wait a little longer in the cold Alaska weather but when we presented our California meets Alaska Breakfast Sausage Stack to him, we assured him it would be worth the wait, we had saved the best for last. Luckily, he agreed and we won the challenge! He loved our dish, calling it “spectacular” and “insanely delicious”. I had never felt more relieved and elated all at the same time as I was in that moment. To have the opportunity to create a dish for someone who I’ve looked up to for so long and hear him rave about the dish we created was a pretty amazing feeling. We may have had a slow start, but we were so proud of the dish we created, and we felt confident we had set the tone for the Meatball Mamas in the competition. We were there to compete (and hopefully win the whole thing) and we had succeeded in setting our food at the front of the pack from day one.
This Breakfast Sausage Stack has a few components but is fairly easy to put together and all the layers of flavor are delicious. If you’re making a few tater tot waffles, set your oven on the lowest setting to keep them warm while you work in batches, then you can assemble them all at once. I’m so proud that we won the very first culinary taste challenge, what an honor for our team!
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Total Time
30 minutes
Course
Breakfast/Brunch
Cuisine
American
Servings
4 servings
Ingredients
1 bag frozen tater tots, thawed in the fridge overnight
1 tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
Veg oil or cooking spray
1/3 cup grated sharp white cheddar, divided for each waffle (or cheese of your choice)
2 Tbsp. chives, divided (for waffle and garnish)
4 cooked sausages, butterflied
1 cup baby arugula, divided into a small amount for each waffle
1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Tbsp. squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp. butter
4 eggs
Instructions
Mix thawed out tater tots with spices in a bowl, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, kosher salt and black pepper. Preheat waffle iron.
Spray or oil waffle iron and place tots in the waffle iron, sprinkle with grated sharp cheddar (or cheese of choice) and chives, arrange so that tater tots are touching in a single layer. Cook for about 5 mins. until golden brown and crispy. Preheat oven to 200 F if making a few tater tot waffles to keep them warm while you cook the rest.
In a skillet, brown the sausage on both sides and reserve.
In a small bowl, toss a handful of arugula with EVOO, a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Heat a small skillet over medium low heat, add butter, heat for another minute until it melts. Add eggs, reduce to low and cover to steam baste the eggs until whites are just cooked through. Approx. 2 mins.
Assemble with a tater tot waffle, sausage, small mound of dressed arugula, top each with a fried egg, a sprinkle of salt and the remaining chives for garnish.