Benedictine Breakfast
March 5th, 2007 at 2:00 pm (Physical)
I love to make a big breakfast every Saturday morning for me and my boyfriend, the Record Store Romeo. He’s vegetarian and, on top of everything else, he can’t eat sugar or he gets terrible migraines. That means that many of my favorite breakfast options — pancakes, bacon, muffins, waffles, sausage biscuits — are out. I generally make something egg-y. Omelettes, breakfast burritos with veggie sausage, and veggie scrambles have featured prominently in recent days, and are generally paired with a light version of country potatoes (we like a mix of red potatoes and sweet potatoes) and a fruit smoothie made with chopped and frozen fruits.
This weekend, though, I was wanting to mix things up a bit. I had been craving eggs benedict but, never having been a fan of ham, I thought I’d do a veggie version. This would require, however, the dreaded combo of poaching eggs and making a hollandaise sauce — both of which I have heard horror stories about.
Of course I did my research and found all sorts of tips for accomplishing what should be a simple task — dropping an egg into boiling water and having it cook. Unfortunately, unless you want egg drop soup you need some technique.
This entry over at Chocolate and Zucchini contains comments which pretty much summarize what I read during my internet research on poaching. In the end, it took me 5 attempts to create the perfect, perfect poached egg. That was great, since I had 2, RSR had 2, and the dog got the ugly, broken one.
In the end, I used vinegar in the water and the “tornado/vortex” method and came out with a pretty sweet poach.
The Veggie Benedicts were then assembled with 100% whole wheat english muffins, a slab of heirloom tomato, two generous slices of ripe avocado, the egg, and a dribble of hollandaise sauce (made from a mix this time, but from scratch next time since I have now mastered the poaching). Topped it off with fresh ground pepper. Ate. Drooled. Moaned.
It was wonderful (and clocked in with a grand total of less than 10 points).
Jen said,
March 5, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Though I’ve never had the urge to try Eggs Benedict, your veggie version sounds good, or at least the tomato and avacado do.
I read your post about the interview and we’re living parallel lives! I just bought a pinstriped suit I loved and had to buy a smaller size in the bottoms than I wanted, AND bought my first pair of Spanx (though I went the cheaper route and got Assets). I think you made the right choice, too, and from the pics it doesn’t seem like there really is a fit problem. Hope the interview went (or goes) well!
Rachel said,
March 5, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Those look so EFFING good! Mmmmm! Come live with me…
the veggie paparazzo said,
March 5, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Ohhhhh that looks sooooo gooooooood. I love me some eggs benedict. Hollandaise and me . . . such a delicious, fattening combination.
lisa jane said,
March 6, 2007 at 2:44 am
that looks yum,ive never tried hollandaise sauce,my friend had eggs benedict at breakfast the other day and i was eyeing off her plate wanting to pinch some,but decided it would be bad manners!
Zanitta said,
March 6, 2007 at 5:26 am
I’ve never tried eggs benedict, something about a mix of eggs and hollindaise sauce freaks me out just a wee bit, I will say that your picture makes it look gorgeous though.
PearShapedGirl said,
March 6, 2007 at 8:02 am
Hi Mal, that breakfast looks drool-worthy! Mmmmm, I love eggs benedict! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I really appreciate comments from new users because it brings a fresh perspective. You had a great point about losing AND gaining being part of the process. Best of luck to you… I’ll read through your archives and catch up on your story!
Take care,
PSG
metamorphose said,
March 6, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Uh, yummy!
Anabell said,
March 7, 2007 at 8:39 am
Those are some pretty poached eggs. I always get a mess (my dog gets a very yummy breakfast though)
Kimberly said,
March 11, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Eggs benedict was my very first cooking venture on this diet, before which my specialty was hot dogs with Velveeta melted on top. In the microwave. Anyway, I used canadian bacon on my eggs benedict, but I too used the packaged sauce. I think when you make it from scratch, you’ll end up with more than 10 points though :)