The Art of Poaching…. Eggs that is….

Sorry for being missing in action lately… life has become chaotic… it’s not that I haven’t been cooking, oh I definitely have been putting fires out in my kitchen, but more of finding the time to write. So my friends, I am back to indulge you in my most recent kitchen antics, Chef Burrell’s recipes, and discovering interesting new cocktails to enjoy it all with.

While flipping through the pages of Cook Like a Rock Star…. I came across a photo that instantly made me salivate… Grilled Porcini with Poached Egg and Parmgiano. The poached egg looked heavenly… oh how I love runny eggs.. poached… sunny side up…. I just love dipping my buttery crispy toast into the smooth runny goodness of the egg yolk. This is it…. my new Burrell recipe victim.

Now, before just courageously heading to the store to figure out what type of mushroom is a Porcini… I had an issue… I have never poached an egg before. Eggs can be tricky you know. So, the task of poaching an egg must be the first step I take. The fact that learning to do this meant I could finally make my very own eggs Benedict added a little high kick and fist pump in all this! I mean eggs Benedict has to got to be one of my most favorite all time food dishes ever…. Whether it be with lobster, crab meat, Florentine with spinach, or with just some plain old Canadian bacon…. Eggs Benedict was something I could eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner… oh that smothering amount of hollandaise on top… Hollandaise sauce is one of those evilly delicious things that you are angry that someone created it but at the same time so in love with whoever did!

So, to the store I go for some English muffins (whole wheat 100 calories ones… gotta make up for that hollandiase sauce), Canadian bacon (thank you Canada!), eggs (going to be using a whole carton or two until I get this right), packet of Hollandaise sauce (let’s be honest people… I don’t even know how to poach an egg what makes you think I can make my own sauce..  maybe next year!), some fresh honey dew and blueberries for a side, and of course some Zing Zang Bloody Mary mix to go with my vodka… got to get in that Saturday morning breakfast mode!

After mixing my vodka and zing zang and taking three big gulps, I was ready to embark on my poaching journey… I literally just googled “How to poach an egg.” It was quite simple sounding and in fact it was, just requires a little bit of patience and definitely a bloody mary! All you need is a pan on high temperature filled with a bit of water and 1-2 teaspoons of vinegar added.  Just before the water starts to boil, you know when the little droplets of water are sitting on the bottom of the pan dancing and shaking because they are about to explode to the top, that’s when you crack open and drop in your egg slowly and gently. You use a spoon to keep pushing the egg together. Then, you turn off the heat and cover the pan and leave it to rest for about 4 minutes. A person had suggested on google to use the top of a mason jar in the pan to drop egg into to help keep it together. It’s a lovely idea, however, I don’t have mason jars sitting around that I can borrow the lids from. But I was able to keep my egg together and I carefully poached eggs one by one in order to get the right amount for our eggs Benedict creation.

Meanwhile, my bacon was cooking in the pan next to me, the English muffins were toasting, and the hollandaise sauce was cooking per packet instructions! First onto the plate is the muffin, then bacon, then gorgeously poached egg, followed by a ridiculous amount of hollandiase sauce… a little sprinkle of cheese (let’s be real.. cheese is good anytime of the day) and a little sprinkle of ground black pepper…

It was lovely how easily this worked out. I will admit though that recently I tried to poach an egg and I failed miserably. However, my patience level that day was not worthy for poaching eggs. I have come to the realization that I am an extremely impatient person… so I believe I have been treating myself to therapy while cooking…so maybe at the end of all this cooking I will become very patient.. either that or I will need some other sort of therapy or rehab with all my cocktails for that matter!

So, now onto the store I must go to figure out what a Porcini mushroom is and to put my poaching skills to the test with Chef Burrell’s Grilled Porcini and Parmigiano… to be continued…