Breakfast for Dinner

Tonight, I was looking for something quick since we both got home a little later than usual. I turned to my menu and saw my Breakfast for Dinner category, and thought, that's it! So, I pulled out the ingredients for New Eggs Benedict from the Stonewall Kitchen Favorites cookbook.

"Old" Eggs Benedict is one of my favorite things, but it's pretty much the OPPOSITE of good for you, and definitely not something you'd want to consume a few hours before bedtime, but this recipe was quite a bit different. First of all, there's no hollandaise sauce - and that's where are the calories lie! The sauce for this recipe did call for some butter, but only a couple of tablespoons...along with some lemon zest, lemon juice, chives, salt and pepper. That makes a world of difference, and actually tastes really fresh, not heavy and fat-laden!

From Flickr - by bef_

I used English Muffins as a base (I tried to find wheat ones, but they were out of them when I went to the store, so I used regular ones) and piled some sauteed spinach on top. The spinach was quickly cooked in a little olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper so, nothin' bad there! I piled on a piece of smoked salmon - mmmm....yummy! - and then, the tricky part...poached eggs.

I think people are intimidated by poached eggs but it's not THAT hard! So, crack an egg, and put it in a small bowl. In a small pot of boiling water, stir until you get a little whirlpool and then drop the egg into the middle of the swirl. Drop one egg in at a time, let it swirl for a minute, keep up the whirlpool and add a few more the same way. I wouldn't poach more than 4 at a time. You should pull them out when the whites are stiff but the yolk still looks "wiggley." Maybe 2 - 3 minutes in a rolling boil.

A perfect poach!

I piled those poached eggs on top of the English Muffin, spinach and smoked salmon and then spooned a little bit of sauce over each one...and guess what, it took me about 15 minutes, TOTAL! And now I'm here talking to all of you lovely aspiring chefs! Looking forward to Friday and the weekend - we're going to visit some friends in Vermont...and I'm hoping we'll make it to the Farmer's Diner...all local and fresh, and if we go - you know you'll be hearing about it!