I woke up with a great idea. I went to the local Bioladen (organic grocery) because that is the only thing open near here on a Sunday. I bought what I could i.e. no dill, and green onions instead of chives. When I got home, I spent an hour prepping, cooking and assembling breakfast.
Game plan
You’ll make the pancakes first. You will keep the pancakes in a low oven until serving. You can warm your plates in the oven as well.
When the pancakes are cooking, you’ll start on poaching the eggs. You’ll keep the eggs in a bowl just wide enough to hold them in one layer close to each other for warmth.
When you are finishing the eggs, or just after, whip up the hollandaise. When the sauce is finished, assemble.
Lemon sour cream savoury pancakes
Makes 5 or 6 small pancakes. Adapted from The Joy of Cooking.
Heat the oven to low. Have ready:
- one finely chopped green onion, or chives
In a medium bowl, whisk together:
- ½ cup (125ml) all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
In another bowl, whisk together:
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) sour cream
- ¼ cup (65 ml) milk
- grated zest of one lemon
- 3 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- ½ egg (beating the egg first makes it possible to divide)
Pour wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir quickly until combined. The batter will be thick and bubbly. Stir in most of the chopped green onion (reserve a bit for garnish).
Heat a non-stick pan or skillet to medium heat. When the pan is hot, melt in:
- 1 tbsp of butter (I used salted)
Use a scant ¼ cup of batter per pancake and pour onto skillet. I used a spatula to help the batter in and out of my ¼ cup measure. Cook until the top side has many little holes and the edges look cooked. Flip and cook on the other side for just a bit less time than the first side took.
Put the cooked pancakes in the oven to stay warm. Replenish the butter between batches.
Poached eggs
Everyone needs to work out for themselves what method they prefer to poach eggs. I feel quite strongly that eggs cooked directly in lightly boiling water makes for the best taste and texture. No vinegar. No cling wrap. No sous vide (although if I had one, I would use it for holding the eggs at temperature). I feel that the next best alternative is 6-min soft boiled eggs. Gently fried eggs would also be delicious.
The method I use is the one Fronx perfected. Crack a single egg into a dish that is small enough to handle so you can slip the egg into the centre of a swirling vortex of barely boiling water in a small pot. Cook them one at a time.
Transfer finished eggs into a wide bowl using a slotted spoon. Keep them up against each other to keep them warm.
Hollandaise sauce
Half a cup is more than enough for four eggs.
I made hollandaise from a just-add-milk powdered mix. Fresh would be best, but I didn’t feel like making it. I would have bought the pre-made stuff you can get here that you only need to reheat, but it wasn’t available at the shop I went to.
Add lemon juice until it is your desired tartness.
Assembly
Per stack: one pancake, a layer of smoked salmon (I bought one flavoured with dill), an egg (these will be easy to handle with your hands by this stage), drizzle a few tablespoons of hollandaise over, then garnish with the remaining green onion. Fresh did would have been nice, but the shop didn’t have any.
You can serve one or two stacks per person. I served two stacks per person, and each stack had one pancake and one egg. You could also do a pancake-salmon-pancake-salmon-egg stack, which would look impressive, but I think would be both harder to eat, and not have a good amount of egg.
Good thing I reached in there to get that ugly bit of onion out of the shot.
VIVRE POUR MANGER 