Eggs Benedict with Greek Yogurt Hollandaise Sauce
Are you afraid of poaching eggs? I’ve latched on to other people’s perfect-poached-egg methods in the past, only to never ever reproduce them. They just weren’t quite perfect (or simple) enough.
That all changed this morning. I discovered a super easy way to egg-poach (that’s a verb now!), thanks to Alice Waters’ “In the Green Kitchen”
Before this, I was totally doing it wrong.
First of all: use a wide, shallow heavy-bottomed pan, with ample room for poaching two eggs at a time, instead of a taller narrow saucepan that annoyingly only has room for one. Also, forget about creating a vortex. The only thing a vortex ever did for me was send all of my egg whites spiraling out into an expanding galaxy of whispy white, and left me with a perfectly poached egg YOLK. Egg-poach fail.
Alice Waters reports that Angelo’s trick is to submerge the whole egg in simmering water for 10 seconds to “set the white just a bit” before cracking the egg into a bowl. And it works! First time my homemade poached eggs have included both egg yolk and egg white. Success! And with the awesome power of the egg poaching ability comes the awesome power to make homemade Eggs Benedict.
Now let’s just say you have mastered the poached egg, but are now intimidated by the Hollandaise sauce. I’ve made mayonnaise before, and it can’t be that different. But I want to share an even easier, healthier imitation Hollandaise sauce with you, that I’ve been improvising for a while now, and which uses Greek yogurt or Labne, instead of more eggs… Poaching perfect eggs inspired me to finally write down the ingredients and amounts for the sauce. Enjoy!
Side note: Eggs Benedict are also good with a plain old dollop of Greek yogurt on top (that was my gateway to the imitation Hollandaise sauce).
Print this recipe. (PDF)
RECIPE:
Eggs Benedict with Greek Yogurt Hollandaise Sauce
(Serves 2)
Ingredients:
~ 2 English muffins, halved and toasted
~ 4 eggs, preferably at room temperature
~ squeeze of lemon juice, or dash of white vinegar (optional)
OPTIONAL (Eggs Benedict Toppings):
~ 4 slices smoked salmon (for Eggs Norwegian / Eggs Atlantic)
~ 2 handfuls of fresh spinach, wilted (for Eggs Florentine)
~ 4 slices of ham (for traditional Eggs Benedict), or bacon
~ 1 avocado, sliced (for California Eggs Benedict)
~ chives, finely chopped, to garnish
Ingredients for the Sauce:
~ 4 heaping Tbsp. Greek yogurt or Labne
~ 1 Tbsp. butter, melted
~ 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (optional)
~ salt and white pepper, to taste
~ cayenne pepper, to taste
How to make it:
1. Make the Greek yogurt Hollandaise sauce by vigorously whisking melted butter into the yogurt. Add lemon juice as desired, to thin and smooth the sauce. Add salt, white pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. (Or save the cayenne to sprinkle over the eggs once the dish is finished, for a more colorful presentation.)
2. Poach the eggs: Heat 2-3 inches of water in a shallow heavy-bottomed pan, until the water is barely simmering. (Many miniature bubbles should be visible, but none should be breaking the surface; Do not allow the water to boil.) Use a slotted spoon to lower each whole egg, one at a time, into the barely-simmering water for 10-15 seconds, then remove. Add lemon juice or white vinegar to the water (or not!).
Mini bubbles!
Next, crack one egg into a small heat-resistant bowl. Holding the bowl by the rim, lower the bottom half of the bowl into the water, and hold there for several seconds. Then slowly and gently pour the egg into the water. The whites might spread out a bit, but should mostly coalesce around the yolk and begin to cook. Repeat with a second egg, if two will fit in your pan at once.
Allow eggs to poach, undisturbed for 4 minutes, or to taste; just make sure the whites are completely cooked. Then carefully remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel (especially if you are still planning to poach more eggs, or still assembling the rest of the breakfast).
3. While eggs are poaching, you can assemble your optional Eggs Benedict toppings on the toasted English muffins. (I used smoked salmon, with sides of fresh sliced tomato and avocado.)
4. Gently transfer the poached eggs on top of the English muffins, then generously spoon over the Greek yogurt Hollandaise sauce. Garnish with chives, and serve warm.
Print this recipe! (PDF)
Related Recipe Posts:
> Huevos Rancheros
> Homemade Mayonnaise and Garlic Alioli
> Parsi Tomato-Poached Eggs
Trackbacks
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spontaneous tomato 
This made my cereal *so* boring.
Haha, I’m sorry. :( I hope you at least had one fancy breakfast at some point during the three-day weekend!
that looks really, really delicious – I adore poached eggs :D. This makes my breakfast look boring too, but that’s never difficult.
Gorgeous! I love the idea of making a lemony yogurt sauce instead of hollandaise.
Thanks! Yes, it’s so tasty, and definitely healthier. As I said, I often top my poached eggs with plain yogurt, which is already kind of lemony-tasting. Thinning it out with lemon and butter just gives it more of a Hollandaise-like texture.
I really like that twist on Hollandaise sauce. What a great breakfast.
Sexy. Did I just call eggs benedict sexy? You bet I did!
Not a bad way to describe it at all.
Reblogged this on Van Vu and commented:
Nhìn ngonnnnnnnnnn lắm ý T^T
This looks heavenly. Will definitely have to try this some time.
Thank you for solving my poaching phobia! What a clever little trick. (:
You’re welcome! I’m mainly excited to have discovered a way to make two poached eggs at once! This changes everything… : )
This looks fantastic! Thanks for the trick of poaching eggs.
I tried your egg poaching trick and it works so well! Thank you! I would like to try the yogurt sauce sometime soon too. It sounds wonderful.
Awesome! I’m always glad to hear that this technique works great for others too :)
Sneaking some time during these busy holidays to relax whilst browsing some recipes. Discoverd some lovely ones you posted in the past. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas to you, your family and all your loved ones!
Oo that sounds nice! I love when I can take the time to browse through other food blogs—I don’t get to often enough. Thanks for stopping by to look through my old recipes—the photos are pretty bad on some of my older posts but I stand by the recipes themselves! :)
Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, too!
Very nice idea. It never occurred to me to make a fausse Hollandaise …cool:)
Thanks! Yeah, it’s much easier (and probably healthier… although I love real Hollandaise, too; I just like to make this version at home!).
Made the hollandaise this morning with a goat yogurt, delicious!
Yay, I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it! And soooo intrigued by goat yogurt… I love goat milk and goat cheese so I’m sure I would like it… :)
Liberte makes a great one, although I’d love to find one local. It can take a bit of getting used to if you have it plain on berries or something, but it is fantastic with savory preparations.
Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind. I do have one friend who has goats (that’s how I’ve gotten to try goat milk before), so I guess there’s a slight possibility they could make yogurt at some point, too!