This year Joan and I had brunch together for Easter instead of dinner, and we made Eggs Benedict.
You probably know that the basic structure is some kind of bread, some kind of protein, a poached egg, and Hollandaise sauce. The canonical version uses ham on an English muffin. A good brunch restaurant might have several varieties of “Benedict”, with different kinds of bread and protein (wiki lists 21 variants!). The one pictured here is Joan’s favorite, with smoked salmon on a bagel.
It’s kind of a pain to get all of this assembled with everything hot at the same time but not overcooked, which is one reason I eat this in a restaurant more often than I cook it. Learning how to correctly execute poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce reduces the pain.
Keys to poached eggs are:
- Add a couple tablespoons of white vinegar to the cooking water.
- Break each egg into a cup, then pour it gently into the water.
- Once the white is completely cooked, serve as soon as you can.
Key to Hollandaise sauce is:
- Use an immersion blender.
I followed this procedure and will never do it any other way.
Hollandaise Sauce
serves 2 to 4 — from The View From Great Island
- 3 large egg yolks (reserve one of the whites in case it's needed to thicken a thin sauce)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup (or 8 Tbsp) butter
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Put the egg yolks, salt, and lemon juice in the bottom of a wide mouthed pint mason jar.
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Melt the butter in a small saucepan and let cool slightly.
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Add the melted butter to the mason jar and immediately insert your immersion blender and blend for several seconds until the sauce is thick and creamy. As you are blending gently lift the blender slightly so you get all the liquid emulsified.
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Taste to adjust the seasonings. You can add more lemon juice or even water to thin the sauce if it is too thick. If your sauce is too thin, try blending in the reserved egg white.
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I don’t have a plan yet. What’s for dinner at your place?
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