If you’ve read the “about” section of this blog, you may have noticed that I said I cook and eat mostly vegetarian meals. Although I don’t usually cook meat or fish for Eric or myself anymore, I still eat meat occasionally and experiment with recipes for my parents. Sometimes you will see these experiments on the blog, like these bagels I made my Mom for Mother’s Day. These are sure to satisfy all of your brunch dreams!

This bagel looks and tastes like a million bucks, but trust me—it’s so easy to put together! Let me break it down for you, because there are a lot of different textures and flavors going on.

I know the smoked salmon is the star ingredient of the bagel, but I have to take a moment to gush about these scrambled eggs. If you’ve never put ricotta cheese in your eggs, prepare to be blown away. A few years ago, I discovered that a few dollops of ricotta cheese and a handful of chopped fresh chives do magical things to scrambled eggs. These eggs are so incredibly silky. I make these eggs every single time I do a brunch spread. They are seriously delicious!

Next we’ve got this herbed cream cheese. Everyone knows that smoked salmon + bagels + cream cheese are a match made in heaven, but I wanted to spice it up with some fresh herbs and lemon zest. The dill, parsley, chives, and lemon zest perfectly complement the richness of the salmon and give you a light spread for the bagel.

Finally, it’s all topped off with a small mountain of peppery arugula, simply dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. What more could you want in a bagel sandwich?

 

Lox Bagels with fluffy ricotta-chive eggs, herbed cream cheese, & arugula

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 bagels (I used everything bagels), cut in half and toasted

8 slices of high-quality smoked salmon (I used Scandinavian-style Gravlax)

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 heaping cup of arugula

1 tablespoon olive oil

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon butter

2 heaping tablespoons ricotta cheese

Pinch of sea salt

 

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 20 seconds. Add in the dill, parsley, lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons of the chopped chives. Season with salt and pepper. Beat again until everything is nicely combined. Set mixture aside.
2. In another medium bowl, toss the arugula with the olive oil, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (about ½ of a lemon, depending on how juicy it is), sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper. Set aside.
3. Scramble the eggs: beat the eggs in a medium bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons of chives. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the eggs to the skillet and gently pull them across the skillet using a spatula as they begin to set. When the eggs are almost done, turn the heat off and fold in the ricotta cheese. Sprinkle the eggs with sea salt, and stir everything together until eggs are light and fluffy and the cheese is nicely incorporated.
4. To assemble the bagels, spread cream cheese on each bagel half. Top each bagel bottom with 2 slices of smoked salmon, a large spoonful of eggs, and a pile of arugula.