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...

April Resolutions

I know the traditional time to make resolutions is January 1st, but Ben and I seem to miss the boat by a few months each year and our resolutions usually are made in April instead. Last April we resolved to try not eating meat and we've been doing that for over a year now (we still eat fish, but no mammals or poultry).

This April I decided I wanted to do more cooking, and make better food. I have been feeling guilty for a while about the lack of healthy, home cooked meals that come out of my kitchen, and wanted to make better food for Ben and I, and for the girls. Although Fiona is a big fan of toast and frozen pizza, I'd like to branch out a little :-)

I was given the 12 best foods cookbook as a wedding gift, and after reading it like a novel for a few years but never trying any of the recipes, I decided to cook something from it! It's full of recipes made with some of the healthiest, most nutritious foods. For my first attempt, I chose the salmon and creamed corn chowder. Salmon is a really healthy seafood choice because it's full of Omega-3 fatty acids. These fats are thought to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, help to lower blood pressure, and may benefit people with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

First we went to the local Co-Op to shop for ingredients for food for the week, and to search for things I've never bought before, like hot smoked/kippered salmon. The difference between this and the usual kind of smoked salmon is that it's more cooked, is solid, and can be flaked easily. The co-op is a fun place to shop because they have more organic foods, and tell you which items are local so you can choose foods which are produced/farmed nearby and not shipped from thousands of miles away.

Here's the salmon after flaking it...

And here's the finished product...

I asked Ben to rate it out of 10, but he had a hard time choosing a number. He said compared to other soup it was an 8. I love soup, so I think compared to all other food it was also an 8. In the scale of 'disaster, questionable, good, repeat, and make for company' it was a 'make for company'. Clearly this is a very scientific scale

It was very quick to make, and really delicious. I'm glad I took the plunge into trying a new recipe and new ingredients. I'm excited to make more new things, and I'm hoping to write about one new meal we tried every week. I was going to call this "meals on Monday" but it's already Tuesday... Oh well.