Benedict Salad

Eggs Benedict is a lovely breakfast item, pity that we don't get it very often on the menus locally. It's made up of English muffin, poached egg, Hollandaise sauce and bacon/ham. The one I've tried at Jones' The Grocer over at Dempsey was sufficiently good, however. I suspect the problem lies with the relative complexity of the dish - out of the ingredients, 2 of them (poached egg and Hollandaise) require a fair bit of skill to prepare, and must be done fresh. Here's my re-interpretation of this classic breakfast dish, in salad form.

Poaching eggs is tricky business indeed. There are many variations on how best to poach eggs, but so far the "traditional" method works best for me and yields the most consistent results. A poached egg is cooked only in hot water, such that the white is cooked and wraps around a warm, slightly runny yolk. Unfortunately, eggs usually refuse to behave, and end up getting dispersed in water - this is when a small tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice works wonders. There are many other methods out there being advocated, including using cling-wrap, but so far all of these have ended up being major disasters for me. Maybe I'm just doomed to doing things the old-fashioned way. To poach the perfect egg, bring a pot of water to the boil, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar, then turn down the heat so that it only just simmers. Use a ladle/spoon/chopstick to swirl the water around in 1 direction, creating a vortex. The "eye" of the vortex in the middle is what prevents the egg from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Crack a whole egg into a bowl, then pour it into the middle of the vortex, while still stirring gently. Ideally the egg should remain in the middle of the vortex while spinning around its own axis. After the whites have cooked (1 minute), use a slotted spoon to remove the egg, rinse briefly in a bowl of lukewarm water to wash away the vinegar, and set aside. Easy! (OK, not exactly.)

Hollandaise is another pain in the a*se to make! Once again, there are plenty of short-cut methods being preached, but I did it the plain old way and it turned out beautifully. Mind - if you're on some low-fat diet, Hollandaise is NOT for you. This thing is Fat Reincarnate, and brings you close to heaven in more ways than one. Making Hollandaise requires you to cook egg yolk at just above the point of coagulation, so that you end up with a thick, cooked yolk rather than scrambled egg consistency. To do this, make use of a bain-marie (or water bath in lab terms). The connoisseurs will tell you that Hollandaise is made from clarified butter, not just butter. What this means is that any milk solids in butter have been removed. To do this, melt half a stick of butter in a skillet and allow to heat till boiling point. At this stage, turn down the heat and allow to stand for the next 5-10 mins. Scoop off the whitish scum at the top and use only the clear butter in the middle layer for the Hollandaise.

In the meantime, prepare a water bath using a pot of boiling water, with a smaller pot sitting on top the that first pot. For this recipe don't let the smaller pot touch the boiling water, just using the ensuing steam will be plenty. Beat 3 egg yolks together with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Place into the smaller pot in your bain-marie, and whisk continuously. The consistency of the yolks should start to thicken very slowly over the next 5 minutes so that you end up with a yoghurt-like material. If it's thickening any quicker than this, you're risking getting scrambled egg instead - lift the smaller pot away from the steam to regulate the temperature. I know, this is no hard science, but then there's a reason why it's called the art of cooking. Once you have the lovely yoghurt consistency, set the small pot away from the water bath. While whisking continuously, dribble in the warm clarified butter - one teaspoon at a time. I really can't emphasize this enough. If you try to be quick, you will ruin the Hollandaise as it will start to separate (or "split"). Remember to keep the Hollandaise warm after making it, or it will again misbehave.

You know the moral of the story? Be thankful - be VERY thankful - the next time you eat an Eggs Benedict, for all the effort the chef had to put in. =)

Deconstructed Eggs Benedict Salad

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

100g assorted salad greens

100g baby spinach leaves

4 eggs (1 for each person)

1 tablespoon of vinegar

Focaccia bread

Bacon, 5 strips (I used back bacon, which is less fatty)

Hollandaise:

Butter, half a slab

3 eggs

Juice from half a lemon, or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Wash and dry the greens. In a skillet, gently brown the bacon slices until fragrant but not crispy. Transfer bacon to a plate, and tear into small bits. Slice the focaccia into thin 1cm strips, and add to skillet together with remaining bacon drippings under low heat until bread is warm and very slightly crispy. Prepare Hollandaise as described above, and keep warm in a food warmer or at 40-50C in an oven. Poach eggs as described above.

Warm up your serving plates, and heap a generous serving of greens in the middle and sprinkle with bacon bits, a good pinch of salt and some pepper. Place the warm focaccia to a side and slide a poached egg atop the bread. Finally, drizzle a good portion of your painstakingly-made Hollandaise over the salad, and serve with a tiny hint of a tastebud-tickler like sweet relishes or capers (as I have done above) at a side. A perfect breakfast salad, if ever there was such a thing!