Simbithi Eggs Benedict

In the maddeningly fast-paced world we live in, breakfast is often what gets sacrificed in the morning frenzy. It becomes an “on-the-go” affair, with smoothies chugged during the school run, a bowl of muesli wolfed down at one’s desk or a banana half-heartedly chomped as you scurry into the office. In this edition, we’re encouraging you to treat breakfast like the glorious meal it is. Take a moment to start your day off impeccably with our famous Simbithi Eggs Benedict.

Ingredients

• 1 English muffin
• 50g spinach
• 45g tomatoes
• 30ml hollandaise sauce
• 20g hickory ham
• 30g cheddar cheese
• 3 slices onion rings
• 1 egg
• 1 potato hash brown
• 10g rice flour
• 5mm beer
• 1 slice back bacon

…now, you could buy an English muffin. Or…you, could really show off and bake your own!

English Muffin

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

3 tablespoon white sugar

7g tablespoon dry yeast

1 cup warm water

¼ cup melted shortening

6 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup cornmeal (or more, as needed)

Method

1. Warm the milk in a sauce pan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm.
2. Dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl. Let stand until creamy: this should take about 10 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, combine milk, yeast mixture, shortening and three cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead.
4. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume. This should take about and hour.
5. Punch down, then roll out to about ½ inch thick.
6. Cut rounds with a biscuit cutter. If you don’t have a cutter use a drinking glass, or even an empty tuna can!
7. Sprinkle wax paper with cornmeal and then set the rounds on this to rise. Also, dust the tops of the muffins with cornmeal. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
8. Now, heat a greased griddle. Cook muffins on the griddle on medium heat, for about 10 minutes on each side. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all are fully cooked through. Allow to cool.
9. Place in plastic bags for storage. When you would like to serve them, cut in half and toast.

…and. We have been asked countless times for the secret to our silky, gorgeous hollandaise sauce. Our chefs have been kind enough to let you into the kitchen. Here is the recipe for Simbithi hollandaise sauce!

Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients

• 90g butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 10ml lemon juice
• 5ml vinegar
• 1g salt
• 1g black pepper

Method

1. Melt the butter in a microwave for about a minute, until hot.
2. Place the egg yolks, salt and pepper in a high powered blender. Blend for five seconds.
3. While the blender is running, slowly stream in the hot butter. The sauce will thicken as you add the butter.
4. Pour the sauce into a small bowl and, when you are ready to serve, drizzle over the poached egg.

Let’s Make the Simbithi Eggs Benedict:

Method

1. Slice the English muffin into two equal halves. Toast each half on a toaster.
2. Blanch the spinach in rapidly boiling water, with salt added to taste. When blanched, put the butter in a pan and toast the spinach. Set aside.
3. Make a beer batter for your onion rings by combining equal parts rice flour and beer, with salt to taste. Cover the onion rings with rice flour and then dip in the beer batter. Deep fry until brown and crispy. Set aside.
4. Grill the slice of bacon.
5. Now, poach your egg:
   1. Bring a shallow pot of water up in temperature until it is just about simmering.
   2. Add two teaspoons of unflavoured vinegar to the water. This will help keep the egg white tight around the yolk.
   3. The best way to poach an egg is to first crack it into a ramekin, then pour the egg into the water. Using a ramekin ensures that your egg is properly cracked with an unbroken yolk.
   4. For a firm white and runny yolk you’ll want to poach the egg for three to four minutes.
6. Deep fry the hash brown until crispy. Set aside.

To assemble:

1. Begin with one half of your toasted English muffin. Then lay the ham, the tomato (grill this in a pan, first), and the Cheddar cheese. At this stage, we put the muffin in the Salamander for about 40 seconds to melt the cheese a bit.
2. Place the bacon, spinach and poached egg and then finish off with lashings of your Hollandaise sauce. Garnish.

We usually serve the hash brown and onion rings on the side, but you may let your creative juices flow.

Enjoy!