Free Recipe Friday. . .Uhhh

Hello Friday...it's time for another installment of Free Recipe Friday. 

What on earth will be revealed this week??? 

Oh let's see....ummm, Eggs Benedict anyone??? (with a twist, of course!)

Don't worry about the old fashioned, fancy name....

there's a reason this recipe has never been forgotten!

This Free Recipe Friday installment will consist of

not only one, but two, yes two free recipes....

first, we will learn how to make hollandaise sauce and

THEN how to poach an egg (without any fancy pans)!

I will start off by saying I have never EVER made hollandaise sauce before

nor have I poached an egg in this fashion...SO, no excuses people!!!

Secondly, I will state for the record that after this meal,

I can STILL say that I have never made hollandaise sauce

or poached an egg in this fashion.

How can she do this you say???

Well, you see, we happen to have a resident Sous Chef around here.

And she cooked this whole meal!  Kids are great aren't they?!???

If you ever get flustered because all your kids want to watch on tv

is the Food Network, DON'T!!!! It will pay off! ;)

Thank you Shelby!

What an amazing treat!!!  Especially because life here is so crazy.

But your life doesn't have to be crazy

just to enjoy this recipe!

It makes a great breakfast, lunch, dinner or meal on the fly!

THE HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

*This recipe is from none other than Tyler Florence*

(a Food Network 'founding father').
This is the yummiest sauce EVER.

For a family of four, we doubled the recipe below. 

We prefer more than a spoonful of sauce,

so by doubling the recipe, it was just barely enough

for the quantity that we prefer....

so adjust according to your needs!

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)

Pinch cayenne

Pinch salt

WHAT TO DO...

Vigorously whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together

in a stainless steel bowl until the mixture is thickened and doubled in volume.

Place the bowl over a large saucepan (or stockpot, as we did here)

containing barely simmering water (or use a double boiler)

the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl.

Continue to whisk rapidly and continuously! 

Be careful not to let the eggs get too hot or they will scramble.

Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and continue to whisk

until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume.

Remove from heat, whisk in cayenne and salt.

Cover and place in a warm spot until ready to use for the eggs benedict.

If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in a few drops of warm water before serving.

POACHED EGGS

The Poaching Water:

2 Tbsp vinegar in about 10-12 cups of simmering water.

Bring to a boil

Add salt to taste (about 3 tsp or more)

Bring back down to gentle simmer
(*salt and water ratios are just as you would do for boiling pasta)

 

The Poaching Process:

Crack egg into a small bowl, then pour into a ladle

Gently plop (technical term) egg into the water.

Poach for approx 5 mins each

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Eggs Benedict, traditionally call for a poached egg,

 a slice of ham/canadian bacon and a toasted split english muffin...

with a spoonful of hollandaise sauce on top.

Our Eggs Benedict meal was done with a twist...because

WE just so happened to have some left over chicken AND bagels.

No english muffins or ham at all, but, we had SMOKED chicken!

A rottisserie chicken would be SO easy and perfect for this

if you wanted chicken.  We used chicken because we

do not usually have canadian bacon on hand...do you?!?

This is one of those recipes that is perfect for using up those

leftover meats from Sunday lunch as we did....

just as the variations listed below show...the sky is the limit!

So, toast your bagel, english muffin or whatever you decide to use.

Place toasted bread on a serving plate and layer your ham

or whatever meat you choose to use, top with your

poached egg, then top with some hollandaise sauce...voila!

ENJOY!

Variations of Eggs Benedict you might like to try...

---Eggs Florentine - replace the ham or bacon with spinach.

---Eggs Maryland - remove the ham and serve poached eggs

    drizzled with Hollandaise sauce on top of crab cakes.

---Waldorf Style Eggs - replace the English muffin with toast

     and serve with poached eggs, sautéed mushrooms and mushroom sauce.

---Norwegian Eggs - replace the ham or bacon with thin slices of smoked salmon.

---Artichoke Eggs - replace the English muffin with cooked artichoke hearts.

---Eggs Blackstone - use streaky bacon (regular bacon)

     instead of back bacon (canadian bacon) and add a slice of tomato.

---Asparagus Eggs - substitute the ham with asparagus spears.

---Country Eggs Benedict - Replace the bacon or ham with sausage slices

     and cover with sausage gravy instead of Hollandaise sauce.