I had never poached eggs until this weekend and holy moly – it’s a lot easier than I thought it would be.
My favorite egg style is sunny-side up followed by over easy. I won’t pass up a frittata or an omelette though. Scrambled is fine, but I guess to me, it’s a bit too plain.
I never seem to get the timing just right on hardboiled eggs no matter how many times I try and while I’ve improved, I’ve ripped a number of omelettes in the flipping process – trust me, it wasn’t pretty.
I started including salmon in my diet a few years ago after I had tried smoked salmon and to my surprise – enjoyed it. I’ve tried salmon steak and salmon burgers, and liked them all.
It’s common to use smoked salmon on a bagel or toast with cream cheese, which is probably my favorite way to have it other than sushi, but feeling creative, I wanted to see what else other breakfast dish I could make with it.
First of all, I looked at a few different sites to poach an egg and I wish there had been more consistency because some were just awful. The first one resulted in an egg in the trash – so sad. Thankfully, after reading through more recipes I was able to get it right, but I mashed up a few suggestions.
What You’ll Need for Poaching
- Water
- Vinegar
- Whole eggs
- Medium pot
- Slotted spoon
Directions
- Fill a medium-sized pot with water and set to medium high heat. You want to get the pot to a low boil.
- Once, the water is at a boil, add 1 to 1 and a half tablespoons of white distilled vinegar.
- Crack an egg into a cup or small container that you can use to help slide the egg into the boiling water and turn the temperature down a little.
- Once the egg is in the water, set a timer for 2 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, gently scoop the egg and shake off any water.
The vinegar helps prevent the egg whites from separating and as the water boils the whites start to cook into themselves and appear as though they were cooked in the shell of the egg.
What You’ll Need for Hollandaise Sauce for 2
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon of water
- 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- Salt
- Pepper
- Small pot
- Whisk
Directions
- In a regular bowl (what I call a cereal bowl), beat egg yolks only with 1 tablespoon of water and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Mixture will be a bit fluffy and frothy.
- Transfer mixture into a small pot over medium heat. Allow pot to warm up and then start stirring or whisking. I have a small whisk, a traditional size whisk may be too big and you may want to use a fork.
- Continue to whisk for about 5 minutes or until yolk mixture has appear to slightly cooked. As your whisking, the mixture will become more fluffy and increase in volume. The coloring will also darken.
- Once it appears that is has cooked, remove from heat and mix in butter.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add cayenne for spice – JP tops his with hot pepper sauce instead.
Assembly
If you want to add a grain, I would recommend toasting it so that it’s sturdy. You could also eliminate the grain and add starch like a baked or roasted red potato or sweet potato and that would be equally fabulous. Think homefries!
- Layer sliced salmon on top of toasted English muffin.
- Gently place poached egg.
- Finish off with a spoonful or two of Hollandaise sauce.
Notes: You can also change out the butter for ghee if you wanted and would still have a similar taste and texture.
