Celebrate Earth Day with Chef Jason Tufts: Eggs Florentine with Brûléed Local Goat Cheese and Brown Butter Hollandaise
Join Chef Jason Tufts of The Village Cafe in an Earth Day celebration. Enjoy his recipe for a delicious Eggs Florentine, using locally sourced ingredients from sustainable South Carolina farms!
Ingredients:
2 English Muffins
1 ripe beef steak tomato
4 cups fresh spinach
4 one-ounce slices of chevre style goat cheese
2 farm fresh eggs
brown butter hollandaise
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
Salt to taste
Hollandaise:
3 farm fresh egg yolks
1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
1Tablespoon white wine
4 ounces brown butter
Brown butter:
Place one half pound of whole unsalted butter in a small pot on medium high heat and cook until milk solids foam. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook until the milk solids turn lightly brown and you can smell a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat immediately and carefully transfer to a metal container, and allow to cool.
Method of Production:
Place sauce pot halfway full of water on the stovetop, turn to medium-high heat
In a tempered glass or metal bowl add egg yolks, lemon juice, white wine, and a pinch of salt
Using a wire whisk, vigorously whisk the yolk mixture directly over the pot of heated water.
Continue to whisk until yolks become viscous and you can see ribbons where your whisk passes through the mixture. Remove from heat. Place the bowl on a stable surface and slowly drizzle in three to four ounces of the brown butter, while whisking. Set sauce aside.
Fill a separate pot more than halfway with water and add four ounces of distilled vinegar. Turn on medium-high until bubbles form on the bottom and sides, but do not break to the surface of the water.
Split English Muffins and brown insides in a nonstick pan with butter and remove.
Reduce heat to medium, slice tomatoes into ¾’ thick slices, and gently warm both sides in the same pan when English Muffins are removed. Remove tomatoes from the pan and place them on top of the English Muffin halves.
In the same pan add the spinach and a pinch of salt and toss until spinach is coated with butter and slightly wilted.
On a metal pan, lay goat cheese slices flat and sprinkle liberally with granulated cane sugar.
Using a blow torch, heat the sugar until it starts to melt and caramelize. Don’t let the flame to get too close, so the sugar doesn’t burn.
Crack Eggs separately into cups, swirl the water in a pot and add eggs one at a time. Poach for three to four minutes until whites are set and yolks are runny.
While eggs are poaching, build your plate: Place tomato slices on top of halved English Muffins. Divide spinach equally among the four halves. Lay brûléed goat cheese on top of the spinach and top with poached eggs. Drizzle with hollandaise.