How can anyone resist a good ole eggs benedict? The yummy Hollandaise sauce, runny poached egg, together with smoked ham and English muffin….This is my all time favourite for breakfast.

Today I am going to have sauteed asparagus as sides with my eggs benedict but you can just have a simple mix salad as side too.

Smoked ham can also be replaced by smoked salmon if you like.

There are 4 components to this dish. The English muffin, the ham, the poached egg and most importantly the HOLLANDAISE sauce.

The most important and challenging component of this dish is the hollandaise sauce. While it is not the most time consuming, it requires the most skill to prepare as it involves combining oil and water. We are going to emulsify egg yolks and butter over a gentle heat so that the water and lemon juice will incorporate seamlessly into the the velvety, heavenly sauce.

Do not be intimidated by the preparation of this dish. It really is not that difficult. You just need to time it right.

Ingredients: Serves 2
olive oil
1 lemon
1 English muffins
2 eggs
100 g wafer-thin smoked ham

For the hollandaise:
100 g unsalted butter, melted
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
White wine vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

Hollandaise Sauce
1. Put the egg yolks into a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk with a squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 tbsp) and the mustard. Whisking constantly (otherwise it will split).

2. Pour the melted butter into the egg mixture slowly. Do not pour all the melted butter in all at once. Keep whisking and when you see it well combined continue to pour more melted butter and whisk. Repeat this till you pour in all the melted butter. Add a splash of water to loosen, if needed.

3. Whisk in a splash of vinegar and season. Turn the heat off and keep warm over the pan of water, stirring occasionally, and loosening with an extra splash of water if needed

The aim is to achieve a golden, airy foam (called a sabayon), which forms ribbons when the whisk is lifted.

Poached Egg
1. In a saucepan, bring some water to the boil and add the vinegar.

2. Break the eggs into 2 separate small bowls (or one at a time into the bowl just before cooking while waiting for water to “re-boil”).

3. Lower or turn off the heat (do not try to poach the egg in bubbling hot water), swirl the vinegared water briskly to form a mini whirlpool. Add the egg. Carefully drop the egg into the center of the whirlpool. The swirling water will help prevent the white from “feathering,” or spreading out. It will curl round and set to a neat round shape.

4. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and set your timer for 3 minutes. Don’t touch the egg in any way. Cook one egg at a time, re-swirling the water as you slide in the egg.

5. Remove the egg with a slotted spoon. I place it on the paper towel to to get rid of any water in between the nooks of the eggs.

Make sure the eggs are fresh else it would not turn out well.

Now we can start setting up our dish.

1. Half the muffins, dash of olive oil on the rough side of the muffins. Toast the muffin on your frying pan. Remove them when you start seeing the side down turning brown.

2. Placed the waves of smoked ham on top of the muffins.

3. Carefully placed the poached egg on top of the smoked ham

4.Spoon a good spoonful of hollandaise over each one, then burst the eggs open and enjoy.