I’VE MENTIONED BEFORE that I usually have the same breakfast every morning. It’s a pretty simple and basic breakfast that is quick to prepare and to consume.
I’ve recently discovered what my favorite breakfast is, though, and it takes a bit more time. I pretty much only have time to make it on the weekends.
I’m excited to announce that my favorite breakfast is a version of eggs Benedict.
I first had this delicious meal around the Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival a few years ago at a restaurant here in Port Angeles.
Naturally, it was served with crab instead of ham.
A culinary delight
My eyes (and stomach) were opened to the amazing culinary delight that is an English muffin with a poached egg, a slice of ham (or some crab meat) and hollandaise sauce.
Insecure with my egg-poaching abilities, I didn’t attempt to make this breakfast until recently after I had another variation at a different Port Angeles restaurant.
This one was a croissant with poached egg and ham.
A new food craving was born. I simply had to have this meal more often but I wanted to make it myself.
Now, I should point out that I’m not actually super fond of English muffins. They always seem dry to me and a bit flavorless. Also, the day I finally made eggs Benedict at home, I didn’t have any croissants, so I improvised with half an onion bagel.
How to poach an egg
Throughout the past year, I’ve experimented with poaching eggs and found two ways I’m OK at performing the task.
The first way to poach an egg I found was to do so in a pot with boiling water. It’s pretty simple: You crack the egg into a long-handled measuring cup (or something similar), boil some water in a pot, pour the egg into the boiling water and allow it to poach for about three minutes (or a little longer if you like a very solid yolk).
It’s not very difficult, although it’s surprisingly easy to separate the yolk from the white, so I’m still perfecting that part.
The second way to poach an egg came courtesy of a gift from my mother: a Progressive Prep Solutions microwave egg poacher.
This plastic contraption basically does all the work for you.
You just crack an egg into each section of the holder, center the yolks and add 1 teaspoon of water over each egg.
Then pierce the white and yolk with a fork, snap the lid into place and follow your microwave’s instructions for cooking on medium power.
I can’t figure out how to cook on medium power on my microwave, so I just cook the eggs for 50 seconds on full power and hope the poacher doesn’t pop open and explode my eggs.
Which has happened. That was not fun to clean up.
Another note on this recipe is that, because I’m still very new to the whole cooking thing, I used a hollandaise sauce mix I bought at a store. I’m sure there’s a way to make the sauce using spices at home, but I don’t know the spice mix or the proportions. If you do, please share.
Also, I didn’t have any ham in my house the morning I made this breakfast, but I did have imitation crab meat, which I think is super-yummy.
And a final note, I sadly have an allergy to lactose (butter doesn’t seem to bother me, but all dairy milk does), so I cooked my sauce with almond milk and it tasted simply delicious.
Eggs Benedict
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
One packet hollandaise sauce mix
In a small saucepan, whisk together 1 cup milk and sauce mix, blend until smooth.
Add 1/4 butter or margarine. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat.
Once the sauce has reached a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring for 1 minute.
On a plate, place an English muffin (or croissant, or onion bagel, or baked good of your preference) and top with a slice of ham (or crab meat, or imitation crab meat, or whatever your imagination desires) and a poached egg.
Cover the combination with hollandaise sauce. I top it all with a sprinkle of paprika.
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Emily Hanson is a copy editor/paginator for the Peninsula Daily News. She is also a beginning baker and clumsy cook. She can be reached at 360-452-2345 ext. 560-50 or ehanson@peninsula dailynews.com.
