Eggs Benedict

lets start with a little background on my distaste for Eggs Benedict: well, I guess that's just it, I don't enjoy Eggs Benedict.  more specifically, I don't enjoy Hollandaise sauce.  (or Canadian Bacon and this recipe called for it- I'm not sure if this is a traditional ingredient for Eggs Benedict.)  I have nothing against English Muffins or poached eggs.

that said, one of my favorite dishes I have ever had is at Alki Cafe in West Seattle, their Cafe Benedict: English Muffin, Crab Cakes, Poached Eggs and Swiss-Asiago cheese sauce.  OMG.  I MUST figure out how to make this sauce and master it by the time I get into my I Love Crab Cakes! cookbook.

the ingredients:

4 slices Canadian Bacon

2 tsp. Kosher Salt

2 tbsp. Distilled White Vinegar

2 Egg Yolk @ room temperature

2 tsp. Heavy Cream @ room temperature

1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt

1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. Unsalted Butter

2 tsp. fresh Lemon juice @ room temperature

1 tsp. White Wine Vinegar

Sugar

2 English Muffins

4 Eggs

I started off making the Hollandaise.  apparently it requires A LOT of melted butter:

check me out, using a double-boiler!

the recipe said to use your blender to make the sauce, I was pretty thankful for that because I wasn't in the mood to whisk the darn stuff together.  that said, it sounds amazingly awesome written on paper- but this has got to be one of the messiest things I have accomplished in the kitchen!  they want you to use your appliance at full-speed-ahead, but I just couldn't do it without wearing the sauce, so I cut it back a few and it still seemed to work.

at this point, I wasn't enjoying the scent of vinegar from the sauce and already decided I wasn't going to like it.

here's the time that I say, "shut up Pam, and just try it."  as you can tell, I didn't cover mine in the sauce- I put it on the side.  (but I did try it.)

HOLY SMOKES!  WHAT A TASTE-SENSATION!!!  I made a face the entire time I had my first bite, clearly assuming I didn't like it.  BUT- I went back for more, and then some more and then finished the whole thing!  beside the sauce smelling obscenely like an open vinegar bottle, it didn't taste like it.  it was rich and creamy and smooth and had a great bite to it.

I'm pretty sure I gave myself a verbal "good job, Pam!" when it was all over.

lesson learned from this recipe: you probably do like it- so you should just try it.

~pam

p.s. I hope there's a recipe for English Muffin Pizzas...