Eggs Benedict

Nothing beats Eggs Benedict if you have a little bit of time to spare. Now there are two ways of doing Eggs Benedict – the easy way, and the hard way. Running a B&B it doesn’t make sense to make things difficult for myself when there are hungry guests waiting for breakfast, so here’s my favourite way of doing things.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter – margarine if necessary
• 1tbsp milk or water
• 1 1/4 teaspoons white wine vinegar or lemon juice
• 4 rashers of thick cut bacon – smoked if possible
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 2 muffins
• baby spinach leaves (optional)

Method

1. Warm the grill/broiler, and pour boiling water an inch deep into a large frying pan and put the pan over a medium heat so it is simmering.
2. Put the bacon under the grill.
3. Start toasting the muffins.
4. If your pan is large enough, carefully break four eggs into it without breaking the yolks.
5. To start the Hollandaise, melt 1/2 cup of butter in the microwave.
6. Whisk the three yolks, milk and vinegar/lemon juice in a glass bowl.
7. Check the butter, if it is melted, dribble it onto the yolk mixture while steadily whisking the contents.
8. If it hasn’t thickened enough, put it into the microwave and cook at 1/2 power (I do 40%) for about 20 seconds then take it out for a whisk before doing another 30seconds at 1/2 power before whisking again. It might look like it’s not quite done, but eggs carry on cooking after they’ve been taken from the microwave, so they should thicken up as you are whisking. If they are still a bit thin after a minute of whisking, put them back under for another 15 seconds. Remember, you don’t want them to become scrambled!
9. Now you just need to plate up, so muffin at the bottom, cut the bacon in half and place on each bun in a cross. Add few spinach leaves and then the eggs (trimmed of the thin white) before pouring the hollandaise over the top and a bit of black pepper.

There you have it. All of it done in the amount of time it takes to fry some bacon.

Variations

• Replace bacon with smoked salmon and add a dill garnish for Eggs Pacific.
• Replace the bacon with ham for a traditional Eggs Benedict.
• Replace the bacon with a grilled flat or portabello mushroom for a vegetarian alternative. You could also try a thick slice of grilled aubergine. Remember to sprinkle the vegetable or mushroom with olive oil.

Notes

• If your hollandaise looks like it isn’t going to thicken, add another yolk or two – it’s possible you have small yolks.
• If the hollandaise is too thick, then whisk in a little water.
• If your hollandaise looks like it’s going to curdle, whisk like hell until it comes back together. If that doesn’t work, add a teaspoon of water and whisk again. If it’s still causing you a problem, either start again or get the ketchup and enjoy a great bacon and egg muffin!