Dad’s Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is a real crowd pleaser that doesn’t take a whole lot of kitchen talent to make. But folks are always incredibly impressed by it. The key is multitasking. You want all of the different pieces to come together at more or less the same time.

1. Put the stick of butter in a small sauce pan over medium low heat. Let it melt (NOT boil) while you complete the remaining steps.

2. Poach your eggs. To do this, you’ll need an egg poacher. (If you want to do it the old-fashioned way without an egg poacher, you’re a better person than I am.) Fill the bottom of the egg poacher with water and place over high heat. Spray each individual cup with a light cooking spray, and crack one egg per cup. It ought to take roughly 8 to 10 minutes once your water is boiling. The white should be firm with only a little jiggle in the center.

3. While the eggs are doing their thing, toast the muffins. Butter them with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter.

4. Fry your Canadian bacon to get a little crispiness. If you’re not picky, you can microwave it for 15 seconds. The real point is to get it nice and warm without drying it out.

5. At this point, everything should be coming together. It’s time for the magic: Hollandaise! Plop your egg yolks into the blender. Add the Tabasco sauce (to taste) and lemon juice. Pulse the blender until those ingredients are combined. Now turn back to the melted butter (which you made sure not to boil). Pop the middle out of the top of the blender, and while the blender runs on a middle-high setting (I think I use “whip”), SLOWLY pour in your hot, melted butter. The sauce should come together almost instantly, thickening and turning a nice medium yellow color.

6. Each plate gets two muffins halves. Each muffin half gets a slice of Canadian bacon and a poached egg (make sure to run a small rubber scraper around each egg so it will easily turn out of its cup). Divide the hollandaise evenly between the two plates, pouring it directly over the eggs. This recipe allots a very generous amount of sauce per serving. You may want to use less. But I use more! And I’m not sorry for it.

7. Finally, sprinkle with paprika. Enjoy!

Notes: You can swap out the Canadian bacon for smoked salmon (picture shown). Sometimes I add avocado. Yum.