“Although I cannot lay an egg, I am a very good judge of omelettes.” — George Bernard Shaw

I love my Sunday Eggs Benedict, I almost can’t tire of a the yummy stack of muffin, Canadian bacon, soft yolked poached egg coated in golden Hollandaise sauce. I have tried to poach eggs free style but not too successfully – more loose ends than I particularly like. I have tried to use those little microwave poaching caskets but didn’t like the results any better. Before Christmas my Mom introduced me to a new kitchen gadget store in Bath, Maine, where after walking through the aisles, looking at, and touching just about every timer, digital scale, bamboo bowl, and ooooh, the wall of gadgets, I found the perfect poached egg pods that promised to coddle eggs to however long one wanted their eggs poached. I bought two to try out in my own kitchen. Snowy-no-school-days are the best days to experiment in the kitchen, so I took advantage of Snow Day #1 [January 12] and made two plates of Eggs Kathryn using my egg pods and a little bit of ingenuity. Ed, my breakfast guinea-pig, liked his 5 minute poached eggs and pronounced his breakfast Two Thumbs Up.

Eggs Kathryn            serves 2

4 large eggs cracked into 4 oiled silicon poaching pods

3 qt pot with lid

2-inches water, boiling

1 thin slice of ham steak cut into 4 pieces, lightly fried

2 pumpkin-seed bread slices, lightly toasted

1 cup light Alfredo sauce, warmed

fresh tomato salsa (optional)

green pepper sauce (optional)

dusting of cracked black pepper 

Since I don’t like watery egg whites or hard boiled poached eggs, poaching eggs can be a delicate operation but I got it on my first try – drop egg loaded pods into boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes in a covered 3 quart pot. Meanwhile, lightly fry ham, toast bread, and warm Alfredo sauce in the microwave. Lift the pods out of the boiling pot and let sit while the toast and ham are stacked on two plates. Use a spoon to loosen poached edge of eggs then invert pods over the ham and spoon warm Alfredo sauce over each egg stack, pepper and serve*. Voila! Eggs Kathryn!!!

 You may optionally add a little zip to your eggs with a spoonful of salsa and/or a shake of green pepper sauce. Yum.

All gone!