Eggs Benedict

Its a public holiday in Sydney today. Which means.. A) We get to sleep in... and.. B) I actually get to spend sometime in the kitchen (on a weekday) to make some breakfast brunch.

I had quite a bit of sauce left over from the eggs florentine recipe I made yesterday afternoon. Since I don't want to let it go to waste, I wanted to make brunch with the leftover sauce. So I went for the next closest thing... Eggs Benedict. But substituting the traditional Hollandaise sauce with the mornay sauce I had left over. Is it still called Eggs Benedict if you don't have it with Hollandaise sauce ?! Not too sure about that one. Anyone ?

Anyways, here's the recipe for my non-so-traditional take on eggs benedict.

Eggs Benedict a La Astrogirl
(with spanich & béchamel mornay sauce)



Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 4 large free range eggs
• 2 large pieces of lightly buttered bread (toasted)
• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 batch of warm mornay sauce (originally hollandaise sauce)
• 1 bunch of boiled spinach (optional - i had some leftover from yesterday)

1. Bring a medium-size pan with water (about 3 inches) to the boil and add the vinegar & salt. Break the eggs into separate small bowls.
   
2. Gently slide in the eggs from the bowl into the water. Place a lid on top of the pan and turn the heat off. Leave lid on for about 2-3 minutes. The eggs will set into a neat round shape. Remove with a slotted spoon. Hold the spoon above the pan for a couple of seconds to let any water clinging to the egg drain off.


3. Butter the toast, place two slices of bacon on top, add boiled spinach, then top with two eggs. Spoon over the remaining sauce and serve at once.
   
   
   

Oeufs Mollets Florentine

While googling around for a eggs florentine recipe online to make for brunch today, I stumbled across this.. It was basically a soft-boiled eggs florentine. Or an eggs benedict but with spinach instead of ham.

The recipe calls for a Bechamel cross Mornay sauce with Spinach and Soft-boiled eggs to about 5 mins topped with breadcrumbs then finished off under a hot grill in the oven.

The recipe looked rather complicated for the desired output... hey.. its just eggs with spinach !! e.g. For the spinach alone, it asks for it to be boiled, drained, cooled, squeezed, and then sautéed.. **ahem... ???!?!?

After reading through the recipe, the key to success was about timing and getting the eggs right. Remember.. soft-boiled eyes.. not hard boiled eggs.

This is the order I found it easier to tackle this recipe:

1. Spinach: Boil water in saucepan, add spinach and let boil for about 1 min. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Season with a sprinkle of salt. (I went for the boiled only option).


2. Butter the gratin dish


3. Bring water to boil in saucepan: just use the saucepan you boiled the spinach in.


4. Sauce: make a roux, add milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg & djion mustard. Then cream & egg yoke. Then lastly the cheese.


5. Slowly drop eggs into simmering water: keep eggs in slow boiling water on a medium-heat for 5 mins. Remove from heat. Run eggs through cold tap water. Peel.


6. Assemble gratin dish: Place spinach, then eggs, then pour sauce on top. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and some cheese. Dot with some butter and place under a hot grill for about 3 mins. Or until cheese has melted.

Oeufs Mollets Florentine
Adapted from Whisk: a food blog

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs (or about 2 eggs per person)
• Salt
• 2 bunches of spinach (or use 1 bunch per person)

Mornay sauce:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup cold milk
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard (my addition - original recipe doesn't call for this)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup of cheese (grated)

Topping:

• butter for dotting
• cheese (grated)
• Breadcrumbs

Serve with some hot toast. Enjoy :)

Molten Chocolate Baby Cakes

The thing I've made most often with my muffin baking tray is not muffins. Its these Molten chocolate baby cakes. This recipe is from Nigella's book - How to be a domestic goddess and can also be found on her website here. These baby cakes are really easy to make and they taste .... well... like rich molten chocolate. :)

Molten Chocolate Baby Cakes
Originated from Nigella Lawson's recipe

• 6 individual pudding moulds, buttered (I used a muffin tray)
• baking parchment
• 50g soft unsalted butter (plus more for greasing)
• 350g best dark chocolate (I used 70% dark Lindt Chocolate)
• 150g white sugar
• 4 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 50g plain flour

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Butter the muffin tray and trace the bottom of the muffin tray onto the parchment and cut out the circles and press into the bottom of the buttered moulds.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Set aside and let it cool slightly.

Beat the sugar and butter together, until its gone lighter in colour. Gradually beat in the eggs and salt, then add the vanilla and then the flour.

Gradually fold in the chocolate until its all combined. Divide the batter between the 6 moulds and place in oven for about 10 mins. As soon as you take them out of the oven, run a knife around the outsides of the cakes, then tip out the babycakes and place into small plates or shallow bowls. Best served with vanilla ice cream and a cup of hot tea.

These babycakes can be made in advanced and the batter kept in the fridge. If you are making these in advance and using cold batter, leave in the oven for an extra 2 mins. Enjoy :)