Poached Egg with Hollandaise Sauce and Spinach

⏳ Time

15 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

A boiled egg is the simplest thing. However, a poached egg is the same boiled egg, but with a twist: it requires precise cooking that doesn’t come easily to everyone on the first try. It’s best if you have a mentor watching over you during the poaching process, like a tutor from an online culinary school. In his course, Alex combines poached eggs with tender asparagus and salmon. This creates a rare harmony: the asparagus is slightly sweet, the salty salmon is, of course, savory, and the poached egg has a sweet yolk that is slightly salted, harmonizing these contrasting flavors. For added contrast, there’s the egg-based sabayon sauce and hollandaise sauce, the recipes for which are also included in the sixth lesson of the course.

Ingredients

Chicken Egg - 1 piece
Shallot - 2 pieces
Green peppercorns - 10 pieces
White Balsamic Cream - 5 teaspoons
Ghee - 3.5 oz
Whole egg - 2 pieces
Lemon - ½ pieces
Spinach - 7.1 oz
Garlic - 1 clove
Butter - 1.8 oz
Salt - to taste
White Pepper (whole) - to taste

Step by Step guide

Step 1

First of all, you need to poach an egg. Poaching (notice the clever vowel change: "poached," but "to poach") is a delicate process that requires a certain skill, which comes with experience. There are some tricks to it, but experience is the most important factor. You need to bring salted water with vinegar (1 tablespoon) to a boil in a small pot. It is believed that vinegar helps the egg white coagulate, but many disagree, thinking that the hot water itself (egg whites coagulate well at 145°F) and the boiling state—barely noticeable, almost not bubbling—are more important. The temperature of the egg is also crucial. It's better if the egg is very cold, almost frozen. Crack the egg into a bowl, being careful not to break the yolk, and gently release it into the barely boiling water. White, jellyfish-like tendrils of coagulated egg white will immediately form around the egg. Leave the egg in the water for 3 minutes (it will reach a "runny pouch" state). After that, use a slotted spoon to remove it and submerge it in ice water to stop the cooking process. Instead of a bowl, you can use a small ladle, which you should immerse in the water along with the egg and leave it there.

Step 2

In another small pot, heat the vinegar (4 tablespoons) and add finely chopped onion and whole black peppercorns. Reduce the contents of the pot by two-thirds. Strain the mixture and allow it to cool. Whisk the egg yolks with a pinch of salt and the vinegar sauce with onion and pepper until it becomes a smooth, thick liquid.

Step 3

Place it over a double boiler and gradually whisk in the warm melted butter in a thin stream into the egg yolks. In the end, you should achieve something resembling a warm creamy mayonnaise, into which you need to incorporate lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. This is hollandaise sauce. It is important not to overheat it while whisking, otherwise the yolks will turn into unpleasant clumps, and be careful not to add the butter too vigorously, or else the sauce won't emulsify and will lack a creamy texture.

Step 4

Next, sauté the finely chopped garlic with the spinach in butter for about 1 minute. Warm the poached egg in hot water. Place it on a bed of spinach, drizzle with sauce, and serve.