I love Eggs Benedict. My mom has made it for years. I remember, as a kid, watching her go through the complicated ritual of preparing everything so that it all came out at the right time. My brother and I started out with just the toasted English muffins with ham, and then when we were ready for it, we got the whole thing. It was our special occasion breakfast – birthdays, Christmas, when we had visitors.
My mom now makes it when we come to visit, and my kids are delighted, because they love it too. I think Ari’s just about ready to graduate to having the egg and sauce, and it’s got me all excited. I make this dish for my family every couple of months, and I never tell the kids I’m going to do it. I love the look of excitement on their faces when they realize what’s for breakfast.
All in all, the individual components of Eggs Benedict are easy to make. Put a little butter on an English muffin half, put a little bit of Black Forest ham on it and stick it under the broiler until edge of the English muffin are toasted and the ham is starting to curl slightly. Poach the eggs. Make the Hollandaise sauce. Assemble and serve.
The difficult part is getting the timing right. Everything gets cold pretty quickly, so you don’t want anything to have to be sitting around. My trick is to preheat the broiler and get the water heating for the eggs. When I’m ready to start, I put the ham and muffins in the broiler and then the eggs go into the water. While the eggs are cooking, I make the Hollandaise sauce. If I’m going to use a packaged mix for the sauce, I make that first, and keep it warm on the stove, then deal with the muffins and the eggs. By the time the eggs are cooked, the muffins are ready.
With all that said, I woke up with a craving for it this morning. It’s not the first time this has happened, but I’ve never attempted it before because of the Hollandaise sauce. A regular recipe makes way more than a single person can eat, and the sauce simply doesn’t reheat well at all. But the internet came to the rescue. A quick Google search turned up How to Make a Quick Low-Carb Hollandaise Sauce with your Microwave. It turned out pretty good, though next time I might use a little less butter – go with 2 teaspoon rather than 1 tablespoon because the mouth feel was a bit greasy for my liking, but the taste was good. The recipe didn’t call for any salt, and I think it needs it. Just the barest of pinches would do it.
Eggs Benedict For One
1 English muffin
butter
white vinegar
2 slices thinly sliced Black Forest ham (I used Black Forest Turkey this time)
2 eggs
1 batch of Hollandaise sauce
Preheat your broiler. Put enough water in a skillet to cover the eggs when yuo poach them. If you’re not using a non-stick pan, be sure to spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray before you put the water in. Put half a teaspoon of white vinegar into the water – this will help prevent the egg from spreading out all over the pan when you put it in the water. Heat the water to a simmer.
While waiting for the broiler and water to get to temperature, separate the English muffin into two halves. Lightly butter each one, then arrange a slice of ham on each so that it makes a kind of nest to hold the poached egg. Put them on a broiler safe pan.
When the water is the right temperature, put the muffins under the broiler and put the eggs into the water.
While the eggs are cooking, make the Hollandaise sauce.
When the eggs are done, turn off the heat and remove the muffins from the broiler. Put the muffins on a plate. Remove the eggs from the water using a slotted spoon, and let as much water as you can drip off before placing the egg on a muffin (one egg per muffin half). Top with the Hollandaise sauce and serve immediately.
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by Dana Carpender.
