First, make the hollandaise sauce. Begin by melting the butter, in a small pan, over a low heat on the
hob. Then, over a gently simmering bain-marie, whisk the egg yolks together with the lemon juice and the
mustard. Continue to whisk constantly and very slowly add the melted butter, if you add it too fast, the
mixture will split. If your sauce is too thick, add a tablespoon of water to loosen it up. Finally, add
a splash of white wine vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and keep
warm until serving.
Next place the muffins in the oven and while they are warming up, poach the eggs. There’s an easy trick
to making perfect poached eggs. Simply oil a piece of strong cling film, spray on oil is easiest for
this, and oil a teacup. Put the cling film into the teacup, with a generous amount hanging over the
edges and crack the egg into it. Then tie the top of the cling film to create a pouch. You can even
crack two eggs into each cup to create double yolk eggs, or add pepper, Tabasco or other oils and spices
for extra flavour. Then poach the pouches in a pan of simmering water for around four minutes, or until
cooked to your liking.
Split the warm muffins in half, layer on some smoked ham, follow with the poached eggs and finally,
drizzle of a few spoonfuls of homemade hollandaise sauce.
