Everyone loves a great Eggs Benedict…it’s the perfect brunch dish. Rich, creamy, eggy, and with just the right amount of tang in the hollandaise sauce (assuming it’s made well). There have been innumerable variations on the dish, which I’m sure you’ve seen on restaurant menus over the years. Things like Crab Benedict (with crab meat), Steak Benedict (a thin slice of steak rather than Canadian bacon), Irish Benedict (with corned beef hash instead of ham and often whiskey added to the hollandaise), Lobster Eggs Benedict (lobster meat rather than ham), and so many more. With the advent of Spring,
I got inspired to create my own variation. Spring Benedict! In my version, I substituted the hollandaise with an herb sauce and added a slice of sweet, ripc tomato to the usual stack of toasted English muffin, a slice of Canadian bacon and poached egg. Topped with the bright green herb sauce, it makes for a colorful, beautiful dish that looks just like the perfect Spring dish.
You can use any combination of herbs that strikes your fancy, but I’ve listed here the herbs I used most recently. I think tarragon would be a lovely addition to this recipe…I’ll be giving that a try next time around.
Herb Sauce:
1 bunch of fresh chives, roughly chopped
4 scallions, roughly chopped
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup fresh oregano leaves
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
salt & pepper
Other ingredients:
8 English Muffin halves
8 eggs at room temperature
8 slices of Canadian bacon
8 slices of ripe tomato
Make the herb sauce by blending all listed ingredients in a blender. If it’s too thick, add a tablespoon of olive oil, blend again, and repeat until you reach the desired consistency (it should be thick enough to stay together as you spoon it on the eggs). Taste and adjust lemon, salt & pepper to taste. Set aside and prepare the remainder of the dish.
Toast the English muffin halves and butter, placing 2 on each of 4 plates. Prepare an egg poaching pan or poaching insert (here is an example of each), by putting 1″ of water in the bottom of the pan and a small bit of butter in each cup. Cover and bring the water to a high simmer. Add the eggs to each cup in the pan, and cover. Cook until whites are opaque and not too jiggly, but yolks are not cooked through, approximately 4 minutes. While the eggs are cooking, warm the Canadian bacon slices in a large skillet over low heat.
When the eggs are done, put a slice of Canadian bacon atop each English muffin half. Place a slice of tomato on top of the bacon, then the poached egg. Top with a generous scoop of the herb sauce and garnish with chopped fresh chives if desired. Serves 4.
Bon appetit and happy Spring!
0 Comments