This is a great recipe if you're entertaining guests for breakfast and want to provide an elegant dish without any worry it might be cold by the time it hits the plate. The casserole is assembled a day ahead of time, so all you have to do it pop it in the oven the next morning and while it's baking, make real Hollandaise Sauce. This is akin to another breakfast casserole, Brunch Soufflé, which I posted in 2016 amid several other recipes for A Sunday Brunch, found here. Both recipes are made similarly with bread soaked in milk and eggs and left to "cure" in the refrigerator overnight. But today's recipe is an entirely different flavor and profile meant to simulate the taste of an Eggs Benedict with the texture of a hearty casserole. It's spot-on.
I will give a hat-tip to the allrecipes website for this recipe's inspiration, which I made without modification except for one, small detail: their recipe uses a packaged, powdered Hollandaise Sauce mix, to which I say: Blasphemy! Utter horror and sheer revulsion in the extreme!
Nothing but a real Hollandaise Sauce is allowed in my kitchen and for the first time, I am posting my recipe for this classic French sauce. My recipe is entirely patterned after a Julia Child's recipe, which I posted verbatim in 2009 from her 1968 book, The French Chef Cookbook, found here. But Julia's recipe is made in a blender, it's hard to follow and I've learned many secrets to making a great Hollandaise Sauce, so allow me to share them in a recipe that is made the old fashioned way, with a metal mixing bowl and a wire whisk.
This version of Eggs Benedict Casserole uses whole grain English Muffins and normally, I would have used whole wheat because that's what I generally buy. Thomas' brand of English Muffins basically owns the commercial English Muffin market in the U.S., and they also sell the original enriched white wheat variety and a sourdough version. I think any style of English Muffin would work in this recipe, so use whatever is your personal favorite.
Ingredients
For the Casserole
8 extra-large eggs
2 cups whole milk
2-3 green onions, finely sliced
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 6-oz packages Canadian Bacon, about 20 slices (like, Jones Hickory Smoked)
6 English Whole Wheat or Whole Grain English Muffins (like, Thomas')
3-4 dashes paprika
non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam Butter Flavored)
Ingredients
For the Hollandaise
3 egg yolks
2 sticks of butter, plus 1 oz.
juice of 1 medium fresh lemon
2-3 dashes cayenne pepper
The Recipes
For the Casserole:
You will need a 9" x 13" (or thereabouts) casserole dish that has a lid or otherwise, use aluminum foil. Liberally spray the dish with the non-stick cooking spray.
Separate the English Muffins and then cut them into one-inch cubes. Similarly, cut the Canadian Bacon into 1/2-inch cubes.
Layer 1/2 of the Canadian Bacon into the bottom of the casserole dish. Layer the English Muffin cubes on top of them, then add the second half of the Canadian Bacon as the final layer.
In a separate mixing bowl, use a wire whisk to thoroughly blend the eggs together. Add the milk, salt and thinly sliced green onions, and stir well to combine. Pour this evenly over the Canadian Bacon and English Muffin cubes.
Put the lid on the casserole dish, and refrigerate overnight for at least 12-hours.
Remove the casserole from the refrigerator about an hour before you're ready to place it in the oven. Pre-heat the oven to 375F degrees.
Place the casserole in the center of the oven with the lid on for 30-35 minutes until the eggs are set. You can test this by simply jiggling the dish back and forth. If the center of the casserole moves freely, the eggs are not set. If they just jiggle slightly, then you're good for the next step.
Remove the lid and bake the casserole for another 20-25 minutes until the top is starting to turn golden brown. Before serving, give a few dashes of paprika over the top. You'll be able to cut square portions to serve along side your freshly made, genuine Hollandaise sauce.
So, while the casserole is baking, make the Hollandaise Sauce, but there are some early steps you need to take.
For the Hollandaise Sauce:About 2-3 hours before you start making the Hollandaise, it is critical that you separate your egg yolks and allow them to come to room temperature. Similarly, take the tablespoon of butter and allow it also to come to room temperature.
To properly make this sauce, you will need a metal mixing bowl (which will likely be made of stainless steel) that fits neatly over a saucepan. Do not substitute a traditional double-boiler. I've tried this and it does not work because the curvature of a double-boiler (or lack thereof) simply will not allow you to properly whisk the ingredients.
Once the egg yolks have come up to room temperature, put them in the mixing bowl, but not over the heat just yet. Vigorously whisk the yolks together for two minutes. Add the tablespoon of butter, also at room temperature, and whisk it into the yolks for another minute or two. Allow the yolks and butter to rest for 15 minutes or longer before proceeding.
In the meantime, cut the two sticks of butter into 5-6 pieces each and place in a microwave-safe measuring cup (you will need the spout). Microwave the butter until melted, about 45 seconds.
Many recipes for Hollandaise call for clarified butter, which is the complicated process of removing the milk solids from the oil. The only thing clarified butter will do for you is allow the butter and the yolks to incorporate a little more quickly. Non-clarified butter provides no ultimate benefit in terms of taste or texture, but you will have to whisk a little longer to finish the sauce. You will notice after you melt the butter that the milk solids sink to the bottom, while the oil, which is in fact clarified butter, floats to the surface.
Fill the saucepan about 1/3 full of water and bring to a light simmer. Place the metal bowl on top of the saucepan and begin whisking. Follow this process:
- Don't stop until the process is complete. You cannot leave this alone for another chore.
- In the beginning, add just a couple of tablespoons of melted butter to the yolks at a time.
- Whisk for a minute over the saucepan of simmering water.
- Then, whisk for a minute with the mixing bowl off the saucepan.
- Add the next couple of tablespoons of butter and return the mixing bowl to the saucepan.
- Keep repeating these steps: add butter; whisk on the heat; whisk off the heat; repeat.
- Whisk the mixture continuously; don't stop for more than a couple of seconds while you add more melted butter to the yolks.
- Once you've added 1/2 of the melted butter, you'll then be able to increase the amount of butter that you can add at a time.
Add the lemon juice after you've added melted butter to the egg yolks twice. The sauce will loosen a bit after you add the lemon juice, but have faith. It will continue to thicken as it continues to cook. Don't stop whisking and keep the above process in motion, going on and off the heat at regular intervals.
You will also notice that once you get into the milk solids at the bottom third of your measuring cup, the sauce will once more loosen up a bit. Again, have faith. Keep whisking and keep the above process going.
Eventually, you will have all the butter incorporated. If the sauce is still too loose, increase the amount of time you leave the mixing bowl over the heat. In the end, the sauce should be of the creamy consistency indicative of a Hollandaise sauce: not as tight as mayonnaise, but thicker than a cream gravy. Once this stage has been reached, whisk in the cayenne pepper, and then stop whisking. Remove the mixing bowl from the heat entirely and allow it to rest until ready to serve at room temperature.
As Julia Child used to say at the end of her long-running TV show, The French Chef, "Bon Appétit!"
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