The king of all breakfasts has got to be Eggs Benedict. If you really want to impress a beau after a night of unleashed passion, look no further than this sexy, glossy, classy, noble dish. Make your own muffins for huge brownie points to boot.
TIP Although many people like to use Wiltshire ham made from happy pigs, I like to use Serrano ham.
For the English muffins (will make six)
225gr strong flour
110ml of buttermilk
1 tsp dried yeast
1 flat tsp sugar
pinch of sea salt
25 gr lard
25ml water
Hollondaise sauce (see recipe)
4 slices of Serrano
2 muffins
4 free range eggs
Make the muffins.
Heat the milk and water until just hot. Not boiling. Pour this into a bowl and add the sugar and the yeast. Whilst it is ‘frothing’, sift the flour and salt into a bowl and add your milk after about eight minutes. Mix till you get a rather soft dough. Knead for ten minutes and then place it back in the bowl and cover with a large bag. It should take about forty minutes to double in size.
On a floured board, roll out the dough till you achieve about a centimetre in thickness. Cut out your muffins with a pastry cutter and leave to rise again on a lightly floured baking sheet. Use a heavy based frying pan to cook the muffins for six minutes on each side. The heat should be on its lowest and make sure you use a little lard for each batch. Don’t crowd the pan. Fry them two at a time. They will keep for a couple of days so can be made in advance.
Take a large pan and fill it half with water and 2 tbs of malt vinegar. Bring to the boil. Halve your muffins and place in the toaster but don’t toast them yet. Crack the eggs into little ramekins. When the water is boiling, swirl it with a fork and gently lower in two of the eggs. They should take no longer than two minutes, depending on size. Remove with a slotted spoon and cook the remaining eggs. Now toast the bread whilst the second batch are cooking. For sheer piggery, butter all sides of the muffins, add a dollop of Hollondaise on top, arrange the ham on the muffins, top with the poached eggs and finish with another ladelful of yellow heaven. If that ain’t gonna do it, dump him.
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