Classic Egg Benedict & Egg Florentine

Guys, these 2 recipes are from my ICCA (my culinary school) diary and if i managed to perfect it during my initial classes, I guarantee you that by the time this home quarantine is over, you’ll never want to go to restaurants to pay for these dishes.

I’m talking about world famous- EGG BENEDICT & EGG FLORENTINE!

Yes guys, as you would be thinking, the key to these recipes are perfectly poached eggs. But don’t worry, I’ve got a crucial chef’s tip to help you with this!

 I know I don’t have to tell you why this recipe is special, but yeah let’s think about it again- it’s fancy, it’s nutritious, it’s yummy… after all it tops a egg lover’s dream breakfast list!

. Protein- eggs, dairy & spinach/ bacon are all rich in choline, albumin,..& a good lot of vitamins…

. Poaching- I must say, even if you people screw up with the gourmet sauce recipes to complete these 2 dishes, you’ll still be able to get perfectly poach eggs for breakfast.

Its said that Egg Benedict was named after Lemuel Benedict, a diner who happened to order a toast, poached eggs , bacon and hollandaise sauce , all separately, purely out of coincidence -which made Chef Charles Ranhofer thinking about how great this combination could work !

And naming of Egg Florentine was nothing of a story. It’s associated with a French phrase ‘A La Florentine’, associating spinach with Florence.

For poached eggs-

. 2 good quality eggs

. 2 teaspoons vinegar

. 1 teaspoon salt

. 1 litre water

For toast-

. 4 teaspoons butter

. 2 square slices of your favourite bread or English bread muffins, as you prefer.

. Salt & pepper (optional)

. 2 strips of bacon

. 30g of spinach

For Bechamel sauce–

. 10g flour

. 10g butter

. 200 ml milk

. 1 piece (~30g) small onion

. 3 cloves

. 1 Bay leaf

. Salt & white pepper- As required

For Hollandaise sauce–

. 1 fresh egg yolk (15g)

. 125 ml butter

. 15 ml water

. A pinch of Cayenne pepper powder

. Salt – as required

. Lemon juice- if required

. 15 ml Vinegar

. 1 or 2 pinches of crushed peppercorns

 Blanched spinach- Put washed spinach in boiling  water and remove onto an ice bath when wilted. Drain well.

Fry the bacon strips.

For toasts- Spread butter on the slices of your favourite bread and toast it till browned according to your preference .

Top each slices of bread with spinach and bacon respectively.

For Bechamel sauce–

-Heat the milk along with the clove studded onion and bay leaf – to infuse the flavours. But do not allow to boil. Set aside.

-Make a white roux buy melting the butter and the flour stirring constantly to avoid lumps (under a very low heat ). Be careful so that the roux does not start changing colour. Cool it slightly after cooking it for 3-4 minutes.

-Whisking continuously, add the milk into the roux under a very low heat , avoiding lumps. Continue this till it reaches a boil.

-Simmer this mixture for 10 minutes, stirring/whisking- until raw taste is gone.

-Pass this through a chino sieve (rechecking to avoid tiny lumps) and season with salt & white pepper.

For Hollandaise sauce–

-Clarifying the butter- Heat butter under a low flame and remove the white milk solids that settle on its top , once the melted butter is cooled .

-In a small sauce pan heat vinegar with the peppercorns and reduce to 1/3rd. Strain it into a clean bowl.

-Add a fresh egg yolk into this and whisk until the reduced vinegar and egg yolk has turned into a nice pale yellow mixture that has doubled in volume.

-Add the clarified butter little at a time to this mixture, continuing to whisk (to avoid curdling) to emulsify.

-Finish with lemon juice, pepper & salt to taste.

For poached eggs-

-Break open the eggs one at a time & drop it carefully into 2 small seperate bowls.

-In a deep thick bottomed pan , heat water adding vinegar and salt, till it reaches reaches boiling point -100 degree Celsius (starts boiling- be patient) and then simmer to a simmer a bit suddenly, so that the temperature is maintained slightly below boiling point – 95 to 98 degree Celsius.

-Now gently drop one egg slowly into the centre of the pan with water and cook for ~ 2 minutes (it’s perfectly when u can see the whites formed together into a good enough ball structure).

-At this point you should carefully gather it with a big (blunt) spoon and place onto the prepared toast.

-Do the same with the second egg.

Pour a laddle each of Hollandaise sauce and Bechamel sauce on the bacon- egg stacked toast and the spinach- egg stacked toast respectively (just enough to cover and coat the poached eggs)

Sprinkle with cayenne and black pepper powders respectively.

. The way of controlling water temperature by first boiling it and then lowering the flame (from 100 to 95/98) is a chef tip that’s the only tip you’ll ever need to cook the perfectly poached eggs by never struggling for the right temperature.

. Blanching of spinach avoids overcooking your greens without loosing its bright colour and nutritional content along with it.

. Never over cook your eggs. A runny yolk covered in supple white is what is expected from a poached egg.

. I use cayenne pepper, black pepper & micro greens to garnish these dishes so as to make it look fancier.