Here is the last post in the Mother’s Day series. After this one I am taking the weekend off!

I thought a savoury dish was in order to finish off the brunch/afternoon tea ideas I have been posting. This is also great because, remember the egg yolks leftover after making the Cherry Madeira Financiers? They can be used up here in the Hollandaise sauce, so don’t throw egg yolks away! There is always great use for them.

Eggs Benedict is such an elegant and sophisticated dish. When I see it on breakfast menus, I always feel like I should order it just to feel like I am some high ranking lady of leisure; elegance and grace just dripping off me. Of course, I hardly ever do and almost always end up with 2 eggs, over medium with potatoes and fruit and so, continue to feel like a middle aged, desperate, housewife from the suburbs.

I am also a lover of waffles, more so than pancakes. I especially love the true, yeasted Belgian waffles and those are the ones I make regularly at home. To kick the waffles up a couple of notches and dress them up for Mother’s Day, I decided to use them in place of the English muffin in an Eggs Benedict.

I chose to make just plain waffles not the yeasted ones, but used the Belgian waffle technique of separating the eggs and whipping the egg whites till nice and stiff. The amount of butter is also negotiable and they can be made using 4 tablespoons or up to 1 1/2 sticks (170g). It all depends on how rich you want them. In this application where you have a rich Hollandise sauce and eggs, you may want to cut back on the butter….or go all out! I went midway and used 1 stick/113g.

I could have done a straight up florentine and used spinach but I decided to add a bit of an English twist by using roasted tomatoes. We English love tomatoes with our breakfasts, grilled, roasted or even just cut up with some salt. I sliced up some plum tomatoes and roasted them with some olive oil, herbs and garlic for 30 minutes in my toaster oven. They came out slightly shrivelled, golden around the edges and smelled amazing. The true test was in the tasting and they were so sweet and garlicky I couldn’t keep my fingers off of them.

My version is vegetarian, but you can easily add slices of your favourite breakfast meat or even sausages sliced in half. This would really be an English fry up Benedict then!

However, even without the meat, this was a great Belgian Waffle Benedict and the roasted tomatoes with the creamy, herby Hollandaise was a perfect sauce to drizzle on it. Not only did the plate look elegant, it tasted absolutely amazing and I highly recommend you try this. If you are fond of waffles like I am, you will definitely love this dish.

Save Print

Belgian Waffle Benedict with Roasted Tomatoes

Serves: depends on waffle size, approx 5-6

Ingredients

WAFFLES

• 1¾ cups/270g plain/all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon/15g baking powder
• 2 tablespoons/30g sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 8 tablespoons butter/113g
• 1½ cups/355g milk

ROASTED TOMATOES

• 6 plum tomatoes, sliced, seeds removed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon dried Italian herbs or fresh herbs
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

• 3 egg yolks
• 1½ tablespoons water
• 8 tablespoons/113g butter, melted and kept warm
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped fine
• pinch salt
• 5 organic eggs, poached or fried

Instructions

WAFFLES

1. Sift into a large bowl, the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
2. In another bowl, mix together milk, egg yolks and melted butter.
3. In a stand mixer or with a handheld, mix the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
4. Add the egg milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix to blend.
5. Add the whipped egg whites and fold in.
6. Some egg white can be visible and you don't want to over mix and deflate the mixture.
7. In a preheated waffle maker, spray non stick spray and then ladle in batter according to your waffle maker instructions.
8. Mine is a Belgian waffle maker and it makes 6 and ½ inch waffles.
9. I used about a cup of batter to fill the waffle maker and got 5 waffles.
10. Once all the waffles are made, keep them warm in the oven on low heat or on warm setting.

ROASTED TOMATOES

1. Lay the tomato slices onto a baking sheet or roasting dish/tin.
2. Drizzle olive oil all over and then sprinkle the herbs and sea salt, and scatter the garlic slices all aorund.
3. Bake in a preheated 400℉/200℃ oven for 30 minutes.
4. Once done, remove from the oven and keep warm until ready to assemble the benedicts.

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

1. Assemble a double boiler.
2. In the top bowl of the double boiler, add the egg yolks and water and whisk until light and foamy.
3. Put the bowl on top of the boiler and on gently simmering water, whisk the egg yolks.
4. By hand, it took me 3 minutes to get the yolks nice and thick.
5. Pull the bowl off the heat, and slowly add the warm, melted butter in a steady stream whisking continuously.
6. Add the parsley and some salt to taste.
7. Keep the Hollandaise warm on the boiler (turn off heat)
8. If at any time the Hollandaise separates or gets to thick and cold, just add drops of warm water and whisk.
9. It should get back to a drizzling consistency.
10. This makes about 1 cup and should be enough for 5 waffle benedicts.
11. When you are ready to serve, poach or fry the eggs.
12. To assemble, lay a waffle down on a plate, arrange a few slices of roasted tomatoes, add a fried egg on top and finish off by drizzling some Hollandaise on top.
13. I only used a half a waffle for my plate, but you can use one whole depending once again on the size and shape of your waffles.

Notes

How many waffles you get will depend on your waffle maker. If you only have a regular waffle maker, you can still use this recipe, and once again yield will depend on the size of your waffle maker. 1 cup of Hollandaise sauce should be enough for 5 waffles. You only need a drizzle of the rich sauce.

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

3.5.3226

Finally, to all the wonderful mothers out there who everyday sacrifice their time, sleep, career, hopes and dreams, you are all awesome. Your reward is in your children and their future and the biggest reward you get is to watch them grow up to be amazing individuals. It’s always a little bittersweet for me because my mother is no longer here but she was an amazing mother and woman and I remember our good times. I miss her and love her immensely.

To all the mothers and their children and husbands, have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend!