Eggs Florentine and Eggs Benedict
Weekends are absolutely my favorite time, and for one reason in particular: breakfast! I. Love. Breakfast. For this breakfast, we decided to do something a little bit different than your typical pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. We made eggs Benedict and eggs Florentine mostly from scratch. So: homemade English muffins, Hollandaise sauce, and homemade toppings. For my vegetarian dish, I added sautéed spinach, and fresh tomatoes.
Breakfast is usually not a meal that allows for much individualization or personalization of dishes, but here it is easy for everyone to make their own eggs exactly as they’d like. I suggest making these English muffins on a different day and then saving them for a nice breakfast like this. Prepare all of the toppings first and set them aside, then poach the eggs. The warm eggs and Hollandaise will bring everything else up to temperature when you assemble.
For a long time we attempted to make homemade Hollandaise sauce every time we had this dish. Hollandaise cannot be saved or reused, it takes very precise temperature controls to avoid breaking the sauce, and I honestly have never found homemade Hollandaise to be that much better than packet Hollandaise. Suffice it to say, we don’t make it homemade anymore. This dish is already enough effort, and I find that you get more bang for your buck if you put the work into homemade English muffins, which you can freeze for later use.
Eggs Florentine and Eggs Benedict
Ingredients
- 1 large tomato
- 3 cups spinach
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 english muffins
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup Hollandaise sauce
- paprika and cayenne to top
- prosciutto or bacon optional
Instructions
Prepare the vegetables.
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Slice the tomato and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
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Wash the spinach and mince the garlic.
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Sauté the spinach and garlic in a bit off olive oil over medium heat until wilted, but still bright green (about 3 minutes).
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Sauté the tomato, if desired. (It will shrink and add less of a crunch to the Florentine, but brighten the flavor profile a bit.)
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Set the tomato and spinach aside until needed.
Prepare the English muffin.
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Wipe out the vegetable pan and melt the butter in it.
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Cut the English muffins in half and toast them in the butter, face down.
Poach the eggs.
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Fill a pot with three quarts of water and the vinegar. Bring it to a light boil, not rolling.
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Use a spoon to create a whirlpool by stirring the water in the center of the pot. Crack one egg and drop it in, using the spoon to gather the whites around the yolk as they cook.
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Cook for about 6-7 minutes before removing the egg with a slotted spoon. Repeat with remaining eggs. Eggs will look slightly runny, but will continue to cook.
Assemble
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Top each muffin half with vegetables and or meat, then an egg, followed by a generous helping of Hollandaise sauce.
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Sprinkle with paprika or cayenne and serve.
Recipe Notes
We use Hollandaise sauce from a packet, as we’ve never had much success making it from scratch.
