Poached to Perfection

Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie Num Num.

Poaching eggs in free-boiling liquid was something that I had done in the past, but not something I enjoyed. Both Mike and I LOVE a good poached egg with the yolk running all over our plate and needing to be mopped up with a good crunchy piece of toast. Because of that, my mother-in-law gave us a wonderful poaching pan similar to this one. It is wonderful and really eliminates all of the mess you sometimes get in your pan if your eggs aren't as fresh as ideal.

But for this challenge, I went back to the pan of boiling water. Of the recipes listed by The Daring Cook, I chose to do Eggs Benedict. So breakfast for dinner it was. I looked in my fridge and saw some cilantro, avocado, asparagus and bacon. Perfect!!

I did use the Alton Brown recipe and technique for poaching, but I used the Hollandaise Sauce recipe from Tyler Florence. The eggs turned out wonderfully.

With a garnish of cilantro, dinner was served!

The dinner was delicious, enough so that it made our list of things to make for breakfast this Christmas. Mike's parents are coming out and so we decided that along with the traditional Cinnamon Rolls, we will be serving our "California" version of Eggs Benedict.