Recipe: Eggs Benedict, Hollandaise Sauce, and Homemade English Muffins

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." - author unknown

EGGS BENEDICT
(serves 6)

12 toasted and buttered English muffin halves (recipe follows)
12 rounds of boiled ham or Canadian bacon, lightly sauteed in butter
12 poached eggs
About 1 1/2 cup Hollandaise Sauce (recipe follows)
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 SAUCE

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

Shortly before serving, bring the lemon juice, 3 tablespoons water and salt to a simmer in a small saucepan.

Meanwhile, vigorously beat the whole egg and egg yolks in a small stainless steel saucepan with a wire whip for a minute or so until they are pale and thick. 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!

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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 tbsp. dry active yeast
1/2 cup tepid water
2 tbsp. instant mashed potatoes softened in 1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup cold milk
2 1/2 cups flour
Water (as needed)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. tepid water
2 to 3 tbsp. butter, softened

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup tepid water.

Into the instant potatoes, beat the cold milk and stir it along with the dissolved yeast into the flour in a 3 quart mixing bowl. 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 degrees 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 salt dissolved in 3 tablespoons tepid 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 tuna cans about 3-inches 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. Place the muffin rings on the griddle and spoon or scoop batter into the rings - batter should be about 3/8-inch 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.

Adapted from source: Julia Child and Company by Julia Child