Due to popular demand, chef Gene Cisewski will gradually add recipes to this page for your enjoyment at home. These are just a few of the dishes served at the Anton-Walsh House Bed & Breakfast Inn of Hurley, Wisconsin.

Wild Rice Pudding with Cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Mix the first seven ingredients thoroughly. Then stir in the heavy cream. Pour the entire mixture into a large, flat casserole (or individual ceramic bowls). Sprinkle the top with the cinnamon & sugar mix. Bake for one hour. Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving. Serves six very hearty appetites or a dozen for dessert (also, reducing everything in proportion works for a smaller batch).

It is important that the wild rice be fully cooked and tender before mixing into this dish. This is our "house dish" and makes a great main dish for breakfast served with a side of nicely browned Swedish potato sausage. It also is good cold and as a desert in smaller portions.

The wild rice, maple syrup and cranberries are traditional foods of the Ojibwa people and other native peoples from the southern shores of Lake Superior.

Eggs Da Vinci

This is a more detailed version of the recipe created by chef Gene Cisewski and featured in Best Recipes from American Country Inns and Bed & Breakfasts, edited by Kitty and Lucian Maynard, Rutledge Hill Press, © 2004. It really doesn't take too long to make if you read through it and get everything prepped ahead of time so that you can do a few tasks at a time.

In an omelet pan, fry the prosciuto until slightly crisp. Remove the ham to a small plate with paper towel. In the same pan, reduce the heavy cream by about half on medium heat. Add the nutmeg, cooked prosciuto, and black pepper and bring to a light simmer for a minute. Add the spinach, turning often to coat it with the seasoned, reduced cream. Cook only lightly until the spinach has wilted, but not gotten soggy and overdone. Set aside on very low heat ... or none at all ... until you finish the following tasks.

The Hollandaise: whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice and cayenne in the top section of a double boiler (or better yet, in a stainless steel bowl that can be set onto a pot of simmering water - I find this method works better than a double boiler). Add 2 pieces of the butter and set over the simmering water. Whisking constantly, add more pieces of butter as the other pieces melt into the sauce. When the sauce has thickened, remove from the heat and set aside (you'll probably have some this hollandaise leftover - refrigerate it and top some salmon or another dish you'll serve in a day or two by gently warming it in a hot water bath or short shots in the microwave on the defrost mode).

The Muffins: at the same time you're making the sauce, lightly butter your split English muffin halves. Place them on a cookie sheet and slide them under the broiler to toast. Watch carefully ... you just want them lightly browned. Often times it's best to place them one rack lower than the top rack for more even broiling.

The Poached Eggs: while you're making the sauce and toasting the muffins, poach your eggs. I use a large chicken frying pan filled about half way with water and a tablespoon of vinegar. When the water starts to bubble and is between 180º and 190º, gently slip your eggs into the hot water. Egg yolks become firm when they reach 190º. Do not boil! If you do, you'll have something that resembles egg drop soup without the broth. Just gently bring the temperature back up to 190º for a full minute or two - depending upon how firm you want your yolks - after you've slid the eggs into the hot water. I use little rice bowls into which I break the eggs. It's easier to gently slide them from the bowl into the hot water. But if you have a different method for making poached eggs, go for it. When it's time to put the dish together, use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs (and shape them by cutting off straggling bits along the side of the pan). Have a plate with a few paper towels on it to set the spoon with egg so that you remove any water and don't drip across the floor to where you're assembling this tasty feast.

On each plate, arrange two of the toasted English muffin halves. Top them with the creamed spinach and prosciuto. On top of that, place a poached egg. Top the egg with the hollandaise sauce. Sprinkle the tops of each with the shredded asiago cheese. Serves four.

A nice garnish on the plate with this dish are a couple of bright nasturtium flowers (they are edible) and a sprig of Italian parsley. This is a tasty merger of Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine with a twist.

Gene's Stuffed French Toast

Loaf of French Bread, sliced thickly (about 1 to 1¼ inch thick) with a pocket cut into each slice from the bottom (I find an electric knife can work well for this if you're careful).
Batter:
¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg (a little more if pre-grated from the store)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
dash of sugar
Filling:
8 oz. Mascarpone cheese (room temp)
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ cup ground or finely chopped pecans
zest from one orange (or two, if you like orange)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

Blend the filling (this can be done the night before and refrigerated very nicely - in fact, it's easier to handle if you do it ahead of time and it makes life so much easier in the morning). Stuff it in the bread. Soak the bread in the batter. Fry on a griddle like ordinary French Toast.

Special note from October 17, 2009: I just tried this recipe for guests using whole wheat French bread and it was incredible!

Banana Heath Bar Muffins (replacement ingredients for cranberry orange muffins in parenthesis)

Dry ingredients: Mix the next 4 ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add the liquid mixture and the Heath chips to the dry ingredients and stir just until mixed. (Also good if you add 3 or 4 mashed bananas at this time).

Wet ingredients: whisk the eggs, then whisk in the sugar. together the first four ingredients in a large bowl. 

Put into muffin cups (6 jumbo size or 12 standard size) or 8 mini loaf pan that has been coated with a non-stick spray. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes for smaller muffins, 30 minutes for the jumbo ... but just until tops are golden brown.

Gene's Low-Carb Almond-Poppy Seed Muffins

1 cup unbleached flour
1 cup almond meal/flour
1 tablespoon baking powder (I prefer Rumford - it has no aluminum in it)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Whisk together these dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Then, in another bowl:

2 eggs, whisked (I use jumbo but large or extra large are fine)
1¼ cup Splenda^®
1 tablespoon pure almond extract (or a little more if you like)
1 cup heavy cream
1 stick (¼ pound) melted, unsalted butter (if all you have is salted butter, eliminate the salt & baking soda from the dry ingredients)

First whisk the eggs well. Then whisk in the Splenda^®. Then add the extract and cream, whisking well. Finally, whisk in the melted butter until you have a nice emulsion. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold it together with a spatula. Don't beat it. Fold it. It's perfectly fine to have a few lumps in the batter ... you just don't want runny liquid and firm batter ... it should be consistent.

Put into muffin cups (6 jumbo size or 12 standard size) or into an 8 mini loaf pan that has been coated with a non-stick spray. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes for smaller muffins, 30 minutes for the jumbo ... but just until tops are golden brown.