Eggs Benedict with Whole Egg Hollandaise

When we go out for breakfast Lewis orders eggs benedict with the hollandaise sauce on the side.  Most of the time he takes a tiny taste of the hollandaise and then eats his eggs without it.  Which leaves me to happily eat my hash browns by dipping them in his hollandaise sauce.  So when I decided to make eggs benedict for Father's Day I really did not need to make hollandaise.  However without making it I felt guilty, like I was short changing the work needed for a special breakfast.  Plus, for me it is not eggs benedict without hollandaise and I was eating breakfast as well.

All the recipes I found for hollandaise called for a very simple list of ingredients and all of the them called for egg yolks only.  Personally I hate using only part of the egg, transferring the part you don't use to a container in the fridge where it will be forgotten.  Instead I used whole eggs that I pushed through a sieve before cooking.  One of the reasons to use egg yolks only, besides from the increased richness and fat, is the whites can cook up less smooth then the yolks on their own.  By straining the eggs before cooking the hollandaise you remove the chalazae, which is the protein strand that suspends the yolk within the white.

In the end the hollandaise I made had a light clean lemon flavor, was still rich and satisfying and even Lewis ate a very modest amount on his eggs.  Julian and Sebastian both declared it disgusting, so I know it retains its classic hollandaise qualities.

Whole Egg Hollandaise

2 whole eggs

1 Tbsp cold water

4 Tbsp butter, softened

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (or to taste)

Strain the eggs through a fine mesh sieve into the top of a double boiler of a bowl placed on top of a pan of hot water.  Add the tablespoon of cold water to the strained eggs and turn heat the pan so the water is hot but not boiling.  Beat the eggs and water with a wire whisk continuously until the mixture is light and filled with tiny bubbles.

Add the butter to the mixture a tablespoon at a time and whisk until the butter is fully melted and incorporated.  Check occasionally to make sure the water is not boiling.  Continue to add the butter a tablespoon at a time, waiting until the last piece melts and is incorporates before adding more and whisking it in.

Add the salt and part of the lemon juice and taste to see if you want more lemon juice.  The sauce will thicken more once it is removed from the heat.  Turn the heat off and set aside while you make prep the eggs and english muffins.

Eggs Benedict

serves 4

8 slices good quality smoked deli ham (I used Vermont Smoke and Cure)

4 English muffins, split and toasted

8 eggs

1 recipe whole egg hollandaise sauce

Place the ham on each English muffin half and set aside.

bring a large pot half filled with water to the boil with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar.  While the water is heating crack two eggs a piece into small ramekins or teacups.  When the water is boiling turn it off and add the eggs by submerging the side of the ramekin into the water and slowly tipping them in.  Once all the eggs are in the water turn the heat back on to the lowest setting and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place on top of the ham.  Serve with the hollandaise sauce on the side.

Sour Cherry Pound Cake

I don't really have much to say tonight.  Perhaps I should be more precise and say I don't have much to say that would be coherent, or even interesting.    So instead of a story of how hot it is or an anecdote of my children tying me up and locking me in the basement because I refused to buy anything from the ice cream truck (partially because this did not happen, yet...)   For tonight I am going to cut to the chase, leaving out the long winded tale of our lives and just tell you about the sour cherry pound cake I made with the cherries that did not make it into one of the many batches of sour cherry jam.

This pound cake is nothing more then a fruit substitution in the Blueberry Raspberry Kirsch Pound Cake I shared last summer.  It makes 2 loaves, every time I made the blueberry and raspberry version we froze one and enjoyed the other one right away.  The first time we thawed one and served it for breakfast the boys both looked at their plates and said, "Blueberries and raspberries, where did we get those?  It's winter."  How I love brainwashing!  While I love the blueberry and raspberry version the sour cherry one is even better, there are so many more layers of flavor and balances to it.  The cherries sweeten when they are baked while remaining tart enough to contrast with the sweet cake.  As a total surprise, everyone here, from 5 to 43, agreed with me.  This winter it will be wonderful to have both versions stored away for a taste of summer.

Sour Cherry Pound Cake
adapted from Orangette

5 large eggs at room temperature (you can just put them in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 Tbsp Kirsch
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for the pans
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plus 3 Tbsp white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup plus 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 Tbsp all purpose flour (for mixing with the cherries)
2 cups pitted sour cherries, juices drained and added to any Sour Cherry Jam  you are making


Generously butter a 9 cup Bundt pan or two 4.5 cup/1.5 Qt loaf pans and then dust it with all purpose flour, shaking out the extra.

Beat the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the flat beater attachment until thick and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the kirsch and the butter in 1 Tbsp sized pieces and beat until it is thick and fluffy. This should take a couple minutes, stop once to scrape down the sides. Add the baking powder and salt and mix to combine well. Add both flours and turn the machine on and off on low in short pulses until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
Toss the sour cherries in a large bowl with 2 Tbsp all purpose flour before using a spatula to fold them into the batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan or pans and smooth the top. Place in the center of a cold oven and turn the oven temperature to 300°. Bake until a knife or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. For both pans for me this took 1 hour and 25 minutes. Cool in the pan or pans for 5 minutes before inverting on to a cooling rack to cool completely.

If you wish to freeze the cake wait until it is cooled completely and then place the cake in a freezer bag, make sure to label it.  To defrost just allow to defrost overnight at room temperature.

Gingerbread Pancakes and Community

I have been thinking a lot lately about food and community. Lewis is reading A Papa Like Everyone Else by Sydney Taylor to the boys, and I am reading it to myself. In one chapter Mama and her daughters, Szerena and Gisella go to make their Passover matzoh at the synagogue. They bring the flour that was specially ground for the purpose and a basket to carry home the finished matzo in. In the synagogue they work with the other women of the community to make all the matzo they will need for the 8 days of Passover. The scene is one of shared talk and work, a joyful gathering.

A modern Jewish family does not need to make their own matzo, they can just go to the store and buy as many boxes as they need. Somehow I cannot help feeling that we have lost something, not just a connection to our food, but also one to our neighbors. On my street we don't make matzo together or help tend the community cattle but we do share our food and lives more then I think is the norm.

We have one neighbor whose kitchen is like an extended pantry for us. Many times when I am preparing dinner and I realize I am out of one of the required ingredients and I call across the street to check if my neighbors have any. When I call to ask if they have some cumin, vinegar, garlic, carrots etc to share they often have a similar request. Growing up in Manhattan we never asked a neighbor for a cup of sugar or a quarter cup of rice wine vinegar. We just went to the grocery store and bought that one missing ingredient. I prefer the method I have now, which is often accompanied with a brief conversation about our children and either the fiendish things they are up to or a funny story.

My street is made up of small houses that are built almost on top of each other. In the summer this might be a problem for some of my neighbors as my boys keep up a constant chatter at them over the fence. Sunday I made Gingerbread Pancakes for breakfast and my boys shared the leftovers over the fence as barter. They gave our neighbor, Paul, a pancake and in return he let them shoot arrows in his yard and then fed us dinner. Our kitchen was unusable as Lewis was getting it ready for a new dishwasher coming today. Somehow that involved tearing out the counter and sink.

When Sebastian first tried the pancakes he said, "We should make these more often." Which means I just have to make them again, as this was the first time we have had them. He doesn't need to worry though, they will appear again. Besides their value as barter they were delicious for breakfast and made a fine snack later. Our poor chickens did not receive any of the leftovers as they all got eaten.

Gingerbread Pancakes

Adapted from The Pancake Handbook

Just in case you don't always read all the way through a recipe before proceeding, please notice that the batter needs to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before cooking the pancakes. Before resting the batter will be too thin.

2 cups white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour (even if you hate whole wheat the strong gingerbread flavors will make this healthy flour boost completely unnoticeable)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup hot, freshly brewed coffee

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs lightly beaten (I did not beat mine before adding to the hot coffee mixture and they seemed to cook slightly but still incorporated fine)

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa powder and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl add the sugar to the hot coffee and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk, molasses, butter and eggs to the coffee sugar mixture and stir or whisk to combine. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just to blend without over mixing. Let the batter rest for 5 to 10 minutes so it can thicken. Before resting it should be thin and pourable.

Heat a skillet or griddle over medium high heat (an electric griddle should be set to 375°) and grease lightly (I used butter and rubbed it around with a paper towel to provide only the thinest surface to the griddle). Ladle 1/4 cup portions of batter on to the hot griddle or skillet leaving space between them. A skillet is hot enough to use when a drop of water dances and evaporates right away on it's surface. The recipe calls for cooking them for 3 to 4 minutes on the first side until the top side is covered with bubbles and the underside is brown. My pancakes needed 6 minutes on the first side. Flip over the pancakes and cook for 2 minutes on the second side, until the second side is browned and set.

Dust the pancakes with confectioners sugar and serve with a dollop of whipped cream. Leftovers make a fine snack just served plain and eaten out of hand. You might even be able to barter with your neighbors using them as payment.