Bacon Avocado Eggs Benedict

One of the great joys of the holiday season is creating and trying out new recipes, like this Bacon Avocado Eggs Benedict. I’d never eaten Eggs Benedict before we moved to Washington. I’ll confess that I have been fairly intimidated by runny yolks on eggs. It’s just one of those quirky things. As a kid, I absolutely hated eggs. I could sort of tolerate them scrambled, with plenty of salt and butter. My grandmother, who was a firm believer in eggs as a key protein, would make pancakes that were more egg than pancake to disguise the eggs, but still get me to eat them. I really thought that hard-boiled eggs were the absolute worst; they struck me as a rubbery abomination.

Fortunately, I grew out of my egg aversion with a vengeance. I started eating hard boiled eggs when I lived in the Marshall Islands. They were a cheap and easy source of protein and with enough salt on them, they weren’t too bad. My relationship with eggs really changed when I met Clay - he makes the most amazing fluffy scrambled eggs and when combined with fried potatoes and avocado in a breakfast burrito, I’m in foodie heaven. Of course, when we moved to Oregon and I started getting farmer’s market eggs, I learned that not all eggs are created equal. My first encounter with a really fresh egg with a deep golden yolk was transformative. Since then, I’ve been really curious about what people see in a runny egg yolk.

I eased into Eggs Benedict, starting out by ordering hard poached eggs. And then one day, I didn’t bother and experienced a lovely golden egg yolk running all over my English muffin. Oh, yum.

So this year, I decided it would be great fun to make my own hollandaise sauce, my own English muffins, and recreate my favorite Eggs Benedict dish with bacon and avocado. This Bacon Avocado Eggs Benedict would be the perfect way to start the New Year. Timing wise, this makes an ideal brunch.

The biggest challenge I encountered with this was the timing of all the parts. So here’s what I learned:

1. I recommend making your own English Muffins. My recipe is linked. You can start the dough the night before, taking it all the way through the first rise. Punch down the dough and put it in the fridge overnight. Take it out thirty minutes before you shape the dough into the English muffins and proceed as directed from there.
2. Cook the bacon in advance and reheat it.
3. Cook the Hollandaise and then set it aside while you poach the eggs. Reheat it gently over very low heat until it is lukewarm. Be sure to keep whisking it as you do this so the emulsion doesn’t fall apart.
4. If you aren’t into poached eggs, fry your eggs instead. You’ll never notice the difference under all the Hollandaise.

Most importantly, enjoy!