Eggs Benedict Adventure

Eggs Benedict combines two of the things I have been most scared to cook... poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. But I vowed to keep cooking new (and healthy) things, and eggs benedict meets at least the first of these criteria! And they are deeelicious! Carbs topped with cholesterol topped with fat. YUM!

I came across this recipe and thought it looked delicious enough to give it a try at home.

First, I read the recipe and realized I needed vinegar. White wine vinegar to be precise. When I went to the store they had a gallon of vinegar for about $4, but it was not white wine vinegar. I had no idea what the difference was, but felt like I should get the stuff that the recipe called for, which came in an 8.5 fl oz bottle and was made with pinot grigio (oooooooh) and cost twice as much. This is now the fanciest food item in my cupboard, and needless to say I will not be using it to clean the sink.

Ingredients assembled, I began today's breakfast. Ben played with the girls while I started the hollandaise.

He observed my ingredients, and his first comment was "Is that butter? Are you trying to kill us?" I took that as a compliment...

I followed the instructions and soon I had a creamy, beautiful hollandaise.

Success!

Then I got the eggs going. I have never made poached eggs before and I was sure there were going to be a few disasters, but the 2 tbsps of fancy vinegar must have done the trick because when I dropped the egg in, this is what it did...

I would be lying if I didn't say that this moment was one of my greatest achievements. Birth of two children... check! Successful poached egg... check! My work here is done.

While it was cooking I toasted a muffin, and layered on some yummy smoked salmon. I scooped out the egg, laid it on the salmon and topped it with the lovely hollandaise.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm. I did not have chives to sprinkle on top. Let's not get too crazy here.

Sadly, this one was for Ben because I can only poach one egg at a time. Then... DISASTER STRUCK! In the four minutes it took to poach the second egg, I think I bumped the heat on the water keeping the sauce warm, and it curdled. I could have cried. It was made even worse by Ben's noises of pure joy while consuming his own breakfast, and comment of "oh, that's so sad, the sauce is SO GOOD!". Waaaaaah.

It turns out that a poached egg without hollandaise just looks kind of... naked.

And I felt a little guilty slicing into its tender perfect whiteness and spilling its yolk without a layer of sauce to cover it and protect its dignity...

But it was very tasty nonetheless, and now I have a good excuse to make it again! I just need to figure out how to poach multiple eggs and serve them up before the sauce goes wrong...