It’s a gray, chilly day up here in Massachusetts and I’m finding it even more depressing than I usually do.  I had the pleasure of attending the American Planning Association conference in sunny New Orleans last week and the difference between the golden weather there are the blue-gray weather here was too much for me.  A 65 degree day that would have felt like a heralding of spring last week feels dismally cold this week.

Fortunately, as I’m sure you already know, today is National Eggs Benedict Day (what? you didn’t know this? what sort of cruddy calendar did you get for New Years?) and nothing makes a day more golden than a breakfast of fluffy poached eggs and buttery hollandaise sauce.

Eggs Benedict can be a frustrating meal to prepare since both poached eggs and hollandaise are notoriously tempermental recipes.  Once when trying to make the dish for a special brunch I got so frustrated by the eggs turning into a watery version of egg drop soup that I chucked my favorite pan at the wall.  But I don’t want to put you off making this delicious dish; I learned from my mistake and you can too.

If you’ve never experienced the joy of eggs Benedict let me entice you with a description.  You start with a toasted English muffin, dotted with butter or drizzled with olive oil.  This you can choose to top with some sauteed spinach for a Florentine-style eggs Benedict or you can go classic, skip the spinach, and place atop the English muffin a slice of ham or Canadian bacon.  Next comes a perfectly poached egg.  This egg is dolloped with the hollandaise and dusted with paprike.  The resulting tawny and saffron work of art is then gratefully devoured by you and your guests.

So, how do you make this excellent breakfast that will warm you on the coldest spring days?  Here’s a recipe that will serve four hungry breakfasters.

Ingredients:
For the eggs

• 4 cups of water
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 very fresh eggs*

For the hollandaise

• Yolks of 3 eggs (save and freeze the whites for omelets or angel food cake)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted but not boiling hot
•  1 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar
• Pinch salt
• Pinch cayenne

For everything else

•  2 English muffins, split
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 slices English or Canadian bacon
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or tarragon
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika

Instructions:

To poach the eggs…

1.  In a small (3 or 4 quart) saucepan, heat the water, vinegar, and salt to a boil and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer so that bubbles lazily break the surface.
2. Break one of the eggs into a small shallow bowl or saucer.  Gently slide the egg into the simmering water and don’t freak out if the edges seem to immediately float apart an get ragged.  This is natural, even for professionals.
3. After just a minute or so, once the white of the first egg is somewhat set, add the second egg and repeat until all four eggs are simmering.  Each egg should simmer for 3-5 minutes, until the white is set and white and the yolk of the egg is filmed over by the opaque white.
4. If you want to wait before serving the eggs and you have a candy thermometer (or an instant read thermometer plus a binder clip) you can hold the eggs in a water bath at 150 degrees.  Otherwise you can remove the eggs from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels.

To make the hollandaise…

1. In a small but deep pan heat the egg yolks and water over very low heat (if you have an electric stove top you may want to separate the bottom of the pan from the burner with some folded up tinfoil to keep the transferred heat low).  Whisk the yolks and water constantly for 3-5 minutes.
2. Remove the egg yolks from the heat and whisk in the warm butter one tablespoon at a time.  Continue whisking the yolks and butter until they are completely combined and then return it to the heat.
3.  Add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
4. Serve immediately if possible.  If not, keep it over very hot water in a double boiler for up to half an hour.  If the sauce breaks or curdles (and it does sometimes for even the best of chefs) you can try to fix it by putting the sauce back on the heat and slowly adding in a tablespoon or two of boiling water while whisking vigorously the whiles time.

To construct the eggs Benedict…

1. Toast the English muffin halves until golden brown and brush with a little leftover melted butter or olive oil (you can also leave the muffins dry, it’s not like this breakfast is lacking in fat).
2. Sear the English or Canadian bacon in a pan with a little butter or olive oil until it’s just gettng brown and is a little crispy.
3. Assemble the egg sandwiches as described in the blog post above:
4.  Start with a toasted English muffin half and top with a slice of English or Canadian bacon.  Next comes one of your perfectly poached eggs.  This egg is dolloped with the hollandaise and dusted with minced dill or tarragon and paprika.

*If you’re worried about salmonella then getting very fresh eggs, preferably from a farm is a good idea.  The fresher the egg the less time for anything to grow in it.  Wipe the eggs with a clean wet cloth to clean the shells.  Dn’t be concerned about the fact that the shells may be mottled or oddly shaped, real eggs from real chickens have a lot of variation that you don’t normally see in the grocery store.  When in doubt, try the water bath method of holding the eggs at 150 degrees for at least 5 minutes.  This should kill anything that might make you ill.