by Felicia - Eggs Benedict
I spent many years cooking brunch and next to soup it's my favourite thing to go out and eat. Doing brunch at home takes a little bit of work, but I think the results are worth the effort. I am using cornbread as my base today but you can use the traditional english muffin or really anything you desire. Special shout-out to PROVINCIAL PUB for serving one of my favourite brunches in town, they uses fresh baked, toasted croissants. If this was on my menu at River City Revival House, I’d of named it…
friends with Benedicts
EGGS BENEDICT w/ HAM, TOMATO & AVOCADO
TOOLS NEEDED:
2 pots of water, a stainless steel mixing bowl and a whisk.
FEEDS 4
FOR THE HOLLANDAISE SAUCE:
Eggs: 3
Clarified Butter: ½ cup
Lemon Juice: 1 tbsp* more to taste, see note
Hot Sauce: few drops or to taste
Salt: pinch
White Pepper or Cayenne: pinch
Few drops of hot or cold water depending** I will explain in the directions
FOR THE BENEDICT:
Cornbread Squares: 4
Ham: 4 slices
Tomato Slices: 4
Avocado: 1, skinned, pitted, cut into slices
Vinegar: splash
Poached Eggs: 8
HOLLANDAISE DIRECTIONS:
Put on a pot of water to boil. Use a size that can fit a small - medium stainless steel over it.
Separate the 3 egg yolks from the whites into a stainless steel bowl.
Add the lemon juice and whisk.
Put a bowl over a pot of boiling water, careful to not let the bowl touch the boiling water itself. You want to indirectly heat the bowl.
Whisk vigorously until a thickened bubbly froth has happened.
Very slowly drizzle in butter. Let your egg mixture thicken between each pour. Later when you have a strong emulsion you can pour the oil in faster and at larger quantities but first you need to start the emulsion.
**Continue whisking and pouring in butter. At this point you are playing a temperature game. You want it to stay lukewarm, if it gets too hot it will scramble, too cold or the butter goes in too fast and it will split. You can use drops of cold or hot water from the pot to adjust the temperature slightly as needed at this point.**
When all the butter is incorporated your hollandaise should be quite thick and voluptuous. Almost the consistency of mayonnaise.
*At this point you add in the hot sauce, salt, pepper and if needed a bit more lemon. A drop or two of hot water will thin the sauce a bit to the final consistency you desire.*
BENEDICT DIRECTIONS:
Bring a pot of water to a simmer with a splash of vinegar in it. The vinegar will help the egg white coagulate around the yolk.
Drop in your eggs and poach to desired doneness.
Warm up your cornbread and ham in the oven.
Assemble your Benedict. I chose to layer it ham, avocado and then tomato and eggs just because the tomato slice gave me a non-rolly surface to place the eggs but the order is really up to you.
Pour a scoop of hollandaise over your eggs, garnish with paprika and serve.
BELOW IS THE SONG THAT INSPIRED THE NAME…