We have been holed up at the Farm this week waiting on lambs and the snow plow to arrive. By the end of the week our provisions were looking pretty slim. After surveying the contents of the fridge and pantry, I decided the only thing I really had plenty of was time. We had a package of smoked salmon and some dill leftover from a party dip recipe, eggs (the girls are laying 6-7 per day) and flour. Now seemed as good a time as any to try my hand at hollandaise sauce and egg poaching.
I used the Williams-Sonoma "Classic Eggs Benedict" recipe for the basis of my hollandaise sauce.
My adaptation of the ingredients (based on what I had and to conserve ingredients in the event something went terribly wrong) are as follows:
2 egg yolks
1/2 T white wine vinegar
1T orange juice
pinch of salt
(although, due to the saltiness of the smoked salmon, salt could probably be omitted)
pinch of ground ginger
few drops of Sriracha
1 stick (8T) butter, melted
2 crumpets (recipe to follow)
6 oz. smoked salmon
2 eggs
The English Crumpets recipe is from epicurious. My only adaptation was 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour for the 3 cups white flour requirement.
Contents of the refrigerator.
Contents of the pantry.
Crumpet dough just before cooking.
I did not have the proper rings to shape the dough so I used the lid rings from some canning jars.
The first side is coming along nicely.
Marking the temp for next time.
Perfectly puffing in the cast iron skillet.
Perfectly poached egg; not bad for my first time.
(Actually I was jumping up and down, clapping and may have even given a little fist pump when my recipe tester broke into the yolk and the golden lava flowed.)
*TIP* I poached these eggs in a simmering saucepot of water on the stove top as I do not have an "egg poacher." In order to keep the egg whites intact, I set the water swirling with my spoon just before dropping the egg in and continued to gently swirl the water while the egg was poaching.
The finished plate...
(forgot to get the hollandaise in for its close up) I was pretty proud of this first-ever endeavor too.
I present to you, straight from the farmhouse kitchen lab: Smoked Salmon Benedict.
And now, you should actually be salivating 'cause we are.
