eggs benedictish

last week i made paneer and found myself with some leftover whey that i wanted to put to good use. i found a recipe for english muffins calling for whey so i thought i'd give it a try - fun! they are baked in a pan on the stove top - a bit of a slow process, waiting and flipping, flipping and waiting, for fifteen minutes per batch. but it was also a very satisfying experience when they turned out just like i remembered them, stacked two by three in those paperboard boxes.

so i woke up this morning thinking "eggs benedict"! (aah, the luxury of being self employed - waking up on a monday morning, well, afternoon, and having time to make brunch!) i was a bit too lazy for hollandaise sauce, but was ready for a first time, poached egg experiment. i decided that our benedictine stack would include creamed spinach and smoked salmon.

for the creamed spinach: saute half of a medium onion with a bit of salt in butter. add some chopped spinach and cook until wilted. add cream and cook on low till the cream thickens a bit.

to poach eggs: fill a pot with at least three inches of water, add about a tablespoon of vinegar, and bring to just a simmer. i put a thermometer in the pot to make sure the temperature didn't get over 200˚. crack each of the eggs into small bowls, and when the water is ready, slide them in gently. allow to cook for about three minutes. don't try to scrape them off the bottom of the pan until they've solidified a bit! at this point you can remove the eggs to another pot of water kept at 150˚, or in my simplified version, add cold water to the pot until it reached 150˚. keep it at this temperature for several minutes or until you are ready to serve. fish them out with a slotted spoon and drain off the water as best you can.

split, toast, and butter the english muffins. top with a bit of the spinach, the egg, and top with some smoked salmon. grind some salt and pepper to finish it off and enjoy!

(oh yes, and somehow my egg grew a horn when it landed in the simmering water. perhaps from a perfectly timed air bubble? i think i may have a future in making mock octopus out of eggs. mocktopus?)