Eggs Benedict, Hollandaise Sauce, and Homemade English Muffins

I make this every New Year's Morning and serve it with fruit salad and champagne. What a way to start the year! The recipe is from Julia Child & Company. The Hollandaise is much more lemony than any restaurant sauce I've had, so if you're used to fairly bland Hollandaise, you might be shocked. It's by far the best I've ever had.

EGGS BENEDICT
(serves 6)

12 toasted and buttered English muffin halves
12 rounds of boiled ham or Canadian bacon, lightly sauteed in butter
12 poached eggs
About 1 1/2 C. hollandaise sauce

Optional toppings: Either slices of truffle or minced fresh parsley or minced cooked ham; salt and pepper (I don't use any toppings on mine-- it's gorgeous plain)

Just before serving, place 2 hot toasted muffin halves on each plate and top each with a piece of ham or Canadian bacon. Place a poached egg (blot with a paper towel if really wet) on each ham-topped muffin. Spoon a large dollop of hollandaise on top. If desired, finish with optional topping. Serve immediately.

HOLLANDAISE

3 T. fresh lemon juice, 3 T. water and 1/2 t. salt in a small saucepan
1 whole egg and 2 egg yolks in a small stainless-steel saucepan
8-oz warm, but not bubbling hot, butter in a small saucepan

Shortly before serving, bring the lemon juice, water and salt to a simmer. Meanwhile, vigorously beat the egg and yolks in their pan with a wire whip for a minute or so until they are pale and thick. Then set the yolk mixture over moderately low heat and whisk in the hot lemon juice by driblets. Continue whisking, not too fast but reaching all over bottom and corners of pan, until you have a foamy warm mass; remove from heat just as you see a wisp of steam rising. (Do not overheat or you will coagulate the egg yolks) Immediately start beating in the warm butter by driblets, to make a thick, creamy sauce.

NOTE: I put the lemon juice mixture in a pyrex measuring cup and bring it to a simmer in the microwave. I also melt the butter in the microwave in a measuring cup. Makes this whole sauce a lot easier, and you don't end up with all your small saucepans dirty from the process!If you're really ambitious, you can make your own English muffins. I usually don't bother--store-bought aren't too bad.

ENGLISH MUFFINS

1 T. dry active yeast dissolved in 1/2 C. tepid water
2 T. instant mashed potatoes softened in 1/2 C. boiling water
1 C. cold milk, plus driblets of water, if needed
2 1/2 C. flour in a 3-quart mixing bowl
To be added after first rise: 1 1/2 t. salt dissolved in 3 T. tepid water
2 to 3 T. butter, softened

Into the instant potatoes, beat the cold milk and stir it along with the dissolved yeast into the flour. Beat vigorously for a minute or so with a wooden spoon to make a smooth, loose thick batter, heavier than the usual pancake batter, but not at all like conventional bread dough. (Beat in driblets of water if batter is stiff rather than loose) Cover with plastic wrap and let rise, preferably at around 80 deg. F. until batter has risen and large bubbles appear in the surface (usually about 1 1/2 hours).

Stir the batter down, then beat in the salt and water, beating vigorously for a minute. Cover and let rise until bubbles again appear in the surface-- about 1 hour at 80 degrees F.

Brush insides of English muffin rings (or cat food or tuna cans about 3" in diameter with tops and bottoms removed) generously with butter. Butter surface of griddle or frying pan lightly and set over moderate heat. When drops of water placed on the pan surface begin to dance, the heat is about right. Spoon or scoop batter into the ring--batter should be about 3/8" thick.

Cook the muffins slowly on one side until bubbles pierce through the top surface and until almost the entire top changes from a wet ivory white to a dryish gray color; this will take 6 to 8 minutes or more, depending on the heat (regulate heat so that the bottoms of the muffins do not color more than a medium or pale brown). Turn the muffin rings over on the griddle and lift the ring away from the muffin. Continue cooking the second side until lightly browned and dry (probably less than 1 minute). Cool the muffins on a rack. Split in half horizontally with a table fork.