Mother’s Day is right around the corner (May 9th), so it’s time to brush up on your Eggs Benedict skills. This dish is trickier than I remembered. Not only do you have to make a Hollandaise sauce (which doesn’t hold well), you have to poach eggs. And, have everything timed to be served hot together. I know. It seems like some sort of trick, devised by moms to get us back for all the crap we pulled in high school. I firmly believe this is a trap, but we should be prepared anyway.
General wisdom dictates two preferred methods for poaching eggs (three if you count McDonald’s hockey puck). One is in a shallow pan of water, the other is a deep stock pot. After careful analysis, I did neither. Partly to enhance the street cred of my ‘rogue cook’ status and partly because I don’t believe in witchcraft. I went with a medium pot, half full of water. I figured since I am new at this, the more constrained the egg cooking environment is, the more control I have over it’s shape. With a slotted spoon, I give the water a couple of stirs to start a vortex to keep the egg in one place. At a simmer, they took two minutes to cook. Transfer them to an ice bath to stop the cooking (pictured above).
Hollandaise is basically egg yolk, clarified butter and lemon (no wonder we love it). Find another medium-sized pot of simmering water and place a bowl over it to make a Double Boiler. Whisk a couple egg yolks and a splash of water till it takes on a smooth consistency. Slowly whisk in the clarified butter until your desired buttery-ness is reached (around four ounces for me). Squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper. When you are ready, re-heat the poached eggs in the hot water that cooked your Hollandaise. Moms are happy and you’re off the hook till next year.