For some reason I’ve been thinking about brunch a lot recently. I don’t know why but I have. And living in the middle of nowhere (sort of), there aren’t many decent options. Then it occurred to me that I’d never had poached eggs. So, as always, I decided to use my if-I-can’t-get-it-somewhere-then-I-can-make-it-myself philosophy. That’s how I ended up poaching my first eggs for Crab Eggs Benedict with a side of asparagus.
For the uninitiated — or rather me approximately a week ago — Eggs Benedict is an English muffin with ham and a poached egg with hollandaise sauce. Swap out that ham and add some crab meat and you’ve got Crab Eggs Benedict. It’s a classic brunch dish and there’s any number of variations on the standard.
Just to make sure this was a thoroughly homemade meal, I spent an afternoon making fresh English muffins. Having a fresh, fluffy, homemade English muffin really made a difference in the dish, I thought.
While I did make hollandaise sauce I wasn’t impressed. I cut the recipe in half and it didn’t work too well. But I learned something: with the runny poached egg, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by not having the hollandaise sauce.
Making a poached egg was probably the hardest part of the Crab Eggs Benedict and that’s not saying much. I found poaching to be really easy. Then quick and simple assembly. Start with half of a lightly toasted English muffin add some warmed lump crab meat and then top it all off with a freshly poached egg. We served it with a side of steamed asparagus.
Admittedly the dish is a bit of an indulgence with the crab. Crab Eggs Benedict is not something for every day or even every weekend. But it was a really nice change of pace.
