I might have mentioned it once or twice before but I absolutely LOVE💕 eggs !😍 Eggs Benedict (with ham or 🥓), Florentine (spinach 🍃) or Royale (salmon 🐟) are in my top 5 ways of eating them. The oozy yolk pouring out on the plate, mixing with the creamy delicious Hollandaise sauce is one of my simple pleasure in life 🤩 (Yes, I love food!). Being more calorie conscious nowadays though, I had to find an alternative to the luxurious but ho so very calorific buttery sauce to go with my poached eggs, which lead me to develop my delicious Fake Hollandaise 🤤

I make those in pair for a super quick lunch or dinner with a side salad or whatever veggies I have left in the fridge, it’s perfect and feel indulgent whilst cutting down on calories! It’s also a great item for a breakfast (I would only make one crumpet at that point) to get you through the whole morning.

For the recipe I’m sharing today, I have used smoked salmon but you can convert this to the Florentine version with some wilted spinach or few slices of ham to make them Benedict, your choice! I also sometimes just use avocado on top of the crumpet to rest my poached egg on (I’m not sure that combo has a name yet! (😏🥑🍳?)

Main thing is, use the freshest egg possible to get that lovely shape for the poached egg, otherwise you’ll end up with bits of floating white egg everywhere in your saucepan!

So here we go with the recipe:

Eggs Royale on crumpets with my fake Hollandaise 🍳🐟

Servings: 2

Time required: 20 minutes

Level of difficulty: Easy

Equipment required: slotted spoon

Ingredients

• 4 large fresh eggs
• 4 slices of smoked salmon
• 2 crumpets (I use the Sourdough ones from Waitrose)
• 1 handful of cress salad
• 1 tbsp of chopped chives

For the sauce:

• 2 tbsp of extra light mayonnaise
• 1 tsp of mustard (I use Dijon)
• 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar
• 2-3 tbsp of poaching liquid for the eggs
• Black pepper

Serving suggestions:

• Avocado sliced
• Breakfast radishes
• Plum tomatoes
• Seeds

Instructions

1. Prepare the base for the fake Hollandaise sauce by mixing all the ingredients together except the poaching liquid then set aside
2. Put the kettle on to boil 1L of water then place a medium size saucepan on a medium-high heat
3. Pour the boiled water into the saucepan and bring it to a gently simmer (don’t boil it) then add a good pinch of salt
4. Crack your egg in a small bowl then with a spoon, give the saucepan water a swirl to create a mini vortex in the middle then drop your egg in (it does shape the poached egg neatly around itself!)
5. You can cook the second one at the same time by gently pushing sideways the first egg after 20 seconds although you won’t be able to create a vortex
6. In the meantime, toast your crumpet, chop your chives thinly and be ready to serve
7. After cooking your egg for about 2-3 minutes, you can check if they are ready by lifting one out with the slotted spoon and check if all the white seems cooked through (no gooey giggly albumin left) and if it is, time to plate!
8. Put 2 crumpets on one plate then fold gently a layer of smoked salmon on each, followed by the poached egg
9. Add the simmering poaching liquid to the sauce to finish it off (you can adjust the quantity depending on how thin you like yours) then pour it over the egg
10. Finish the dish off with the chives and cress, black pepper and whatever sides you fancy!

If you are preparing more than one plate like I did, I reserve my poached eggs on a plate and I reheat all of the eggs at the end in the poaching liquid for like 20-30 seconds until they just get warmed so that everyone can enjoy it at the same time!

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy pocking through that yolk as much as I love it! 🤩 Bon appetit!