100km Smoked Trout Eggs Benedict

Our Ocean Wise Certified Ontario smoked rainbow trout from Kolapore Springs is by far the best smoked trout we've ever had! Its flavour and texture is hard to beat but add a little runny poached egg, hollandaise & a Spent Goods English muffin into the mix and you've got a truly unbeatable combo!

Eggs benny can be an intimidating dish, not only because hollandaise is a notoriously finicky sauce to get right, but eggs benny also requires you to put your time management to the test. You don't want your hollandaise to be ready long before your eggs are poached and your English muffins are toasted. The longer hollandaise sits, the more likely it is to break if it changes to quickly in temperature.

That being said, you also don't want your eggs to be ready before you make your hollandaise of they'll be cold long before your hollandaise is ready. 

Thankfully, after many, many failed attempts, I feel as though I've somewhat mastered the timing of the process and am excited to share some tips that I've found helpful and that allows you to give your hollandaise sauce the full attention it deserves without worrying about the other elements of your eggs benny.

So if you're missing those weekend brunches out at your favourite local restaurants, treat yourself and give this recipe a try at home this weekend!

SKIP TO RECIPE

Meet Our Farmers & Producers

Kolapore Springs

Our Kolapore smoked trout has been ethically and sustainably farmed by the team at Kolapore Springs. In operation since 2009, Kolapore Springs Fish Hatchery takes great care to ensure that their fish stocks are well maintained and never over-crowded.

Access to cool, nutrient rich water and naturally enriched food gives this fish a beautifully firm flesh and absolutely fantastic flavour. This sustainable and organic hatchery produces very little waste, with the inevitable fish excrement collected and harvested for fertilizer. All their fish products are Ocean Wise certified.  

Homestead Farms

These Homestead Farms eggs are sourced from a community of Mennonite Farmers. We carry their free-run, free roaming and organic eggs from Homestead. All their eggs come from small flocks that receive a high level of care.

Alliston Creamery

Alliston's "Golden Dawn" brand of butter has become my favourite go-to butter for all things cooking and baking. It is such a beautiful butter made using milk from the Niagara and Golden Horseshoe region. It is the perfect butter to use to create that silky texture you're looking for in your hollandaise sauce.

Spent Goods 

The founder of Spent Goods, Dihan, was at a local pub one night when he asked the question we’ve all been too shy to ask: What happens to all the grain used to make beer?

After learning that most spent grain, especially from smaller breweries, ends up in landfills, Dihan saw an opportunity to use reduce food waste and use these Spent Grains to create delicious breads, thus The Spent Goods Company was born.

These products have quickly become a crowd favourite at The Market and their English muffins used in this recipe are so light and fluffy, making the perfect foundation for this 100km eggs benny!

Mike & Mike Organics

Owned & operated by Mike Fronte and Mike Dattoli, Mike & Mike’s Organics is the only non farm-based distributor of exclusively certified-organic fresh fruits and vegetables in Ontario and where we source our Further Afield produce from.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

For the Hollandaise Sauce

• 3 x Homestead Farm egg yolks
• 3/4 cup of salted Golden Dawn butter (~6oz or 170g)
• 3 x tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pinch of white pepper (can omit if you don't have on hand)
• Squeeze of juice from Mike & Mike's organic lemon

For the Eggs Benedict

• 1 x 8oz Fillet Kolapore Springs smoked Rainbow Trout
• 4 x Homestead Farm whole eggs 
• 2 x Spent Goods English Muffins
• 2 x tbsp Golden Dawn butter (for buttering English Muffins!)
• 2 x tbsp white vinegar
• Chopped Mike & Mike's organic chives

Method

Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Fill a medium sized pot 1/3 full of water and turn the heat on and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. 

Make Your Clarified Butter

Take a small saucepan and add your 3/4 cup of butter to the the pan and turn the heat on medium-high. Allow the butter to melt and come to a boil. Once it is boiling, you will start to see the milk solids separate and float to the surface and become foamy.

When this happens, lower the heat to medium and continue to gently let the butter boil. Once you see the milk solids separate and sink to the bottom of the pot, you will notice that the boiling will begin to calm and then stop. Once this happens, turn off the heat.

Let the butter sit off the heat for a minute or two to let the milk solids settle to the bottom. You want the milk solids at the bottom of the pot to be filtered out of the butter so that you only have the pure fat or "clarified" butter. Strain your butter into a heatproof bowl through a mesh strainer lined with cheese cloth or a coffee filter. 

If you don't have either of these on hand, as I didn't, you can simply pour the butter in a very slow stream into your bowl. The milk solids are heavier and will stay at the bottom of the pot, once you reach the milk solids, stop pouring.

Leave your clarified butter to cool slightly in the bowl as you prepare your eggs. 

Partly Poach Your Eggs

By this point your large pot of water should be boiling. Reduce the water to a low simmer and add your vinegar to the water. Vinegar helps to keep your egg whites together while poaching. Fill up a large bowl with cold water with a few ice cubes and and set it beside your pot. 

Crack your first egg into a small bowl. Using a spoon or spatula, stir the water clockwise to create a whirlpool in the middle of the pot and add the eggs into the center. You will see that the whirlpool motions swirls the egg white around the yolk to keep it together in a nice shape. 

Allow to poach just until the whites are solid, about 2 minutes. Once solid, using a slotted spoon, carefully scoop out the semi-poached egg and place it immediately in your ice water. This "shocks" the eggs and stops the cooking process. Repeat this process with your remaining three eggs, one at a time. 

TIP: Once done poaching all four eggs, keep your pot of water simmering. You will be adding each egg back into the water to finish cooking once all the other components are ready.

Prepare Your Smoked Trout & English Muffins

Take your 8oz smoked trout fillet and and start breaking it apart into bite sized chunks. These will be added to the top of your English muffins. Set aside in a bowl.

TIP: Cut your English muffins in half now and place them in the toaster but do not press down just yet! 

Make Your Hollandaise Sauce

In a medium stainless steel bowl, whisk together your egg yolks, water, salt, and a pinch of white pepper if you have it on hand and whisk until the mixture is light and foamy.

Place the bowl over top of the water you have simmering in your medium saucepan. Whisk vigorously until the mixture triples in volume and you can see the bottom of the bowl as you whisk. Make sure that the water below is simmering and not boiling. If the water is too hot, the egg yolks will begin to cook. Patience is key to making your hollandaise!

Remove the bowl from the saucepan and turn off the heat. Continue whisking for a few seconds to allow the residual heat to dissipate.

Take your bowl of clarified butter and slowly add it in a steady stream as you continue to whisk your hollandaise. You will see the mixture become velvety smooth. Continue whisking until all the butter is incorporated and add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. 

You can place the hollandaise back over the saucepan with warm water while you assemble the rest of your dish.

What Do I Do If My Hollandaise Breaks?

If your hollandaise breaks, do not beat yourself up about it! Hollandaise is very temperamental. You can tell that your sauce is split when you can see the butter floating at the top of your hollandaise with your egg mixture at the bottom.

There are a few reasons why hollandaise can split. It can split if the egg yolk mixture is overheated or overcooked in the first step of making the sauce so low and slow is the way to go here! It can also break if the butter was added too quickly or if you added too much butter. Talk about high maintenance...

BUT, broken hollandaise is not a lost cause! You can try to bring your hollandaise back to life if it does split by beating an egg yolk and a tablespoon of water in a clean bowl over simmering water. Slowly whisk the broken sauce into the egg yolk and water mixture in the clean bowl. 

Assemble Your Eggs Benedict

Push down your toaster to let the English muffins toast. While they are toasting, reheat your eggs adding 2 at a time to the pot of simmering water for 30 seconds to 1 minute to reheat them. Remove from pot and place on a plate. 

Butter your toasted English muffins and add a layer of smoked trout to each half. Top with one poached egg. Grab your hollandaise and give it a quick whisk and then pour a generous helping over each poached egg. 

Garnish with some fresh chopped chives and serve immediately!

Did You Try This Recipe?

If so, we'd love to see your finished product of your Smoked Trout Eggs Benny! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram at @themarketat100kmfoods.