Eggs Benedict with Sauteed Mushrooms and Kale

Decided to cook brunch today as we had some more smoked salmon left (9 slices, to be exact) and I wanted to eat something non-Asian. It's a full-on brunch which has a poached egg on a slice of wholewheat toast and topped with smoked salmon and homemade Hollandaise sauce. To make it a little healthier and less guilty pleasure, I sautéed baby portobello mushrooms as well as kale and to make it more like an English breakfast, I added a banger.

Let's start with the simple Hollandaise Sauce, which you can make easily and use it on other food items besides eggs. You'll need:

4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup melted butter

Hollandaise Sauce Method:

1. Whisk the egg yolks vigorously while adding the lemon juice. I used apple cider vinegar because I didn't want to buy a whole lemon just for this sauce. Continue whisking until turns pale and is slightly frothy.
2. Place the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Continue to whisk and drizzle in the melted butter. Whisk the whole mixture until it thickens and doubles in volume. Below is a short video of me whisking it all in the perfect consistency.

What if you made the sauce too early and it curdled/thickened before you can use it? Simple - add in a teaspoon of white wine. I used cognac instead because I used the cognac in my sautéed mushrooms.

To plate, place the poached egg on top of a slice of toast, top that off with a few slices of smoked salmon before spooning on some Hollandaise sauce! That's a simple Egg Benedict for you but as you can see, I had other items on my plate...

Sauteed Mushrooms:
200g  Baby portobello/button mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 cup Cognac
1 tbsp  Parsley

1. Fry the garlic until golden brown.
2. Add in the mushrooms and stir until some liquids come out before adding the cognac.
3. Add in the parsley as well as salt and pepper to taste.
4. Serve.

Sauteed Kale with Peanuts:
6 Kale leaves, sliced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
10g  Roasted peanuts, crushed

1. Fry the garlic until golden brown.
2. Add in the kale and stir fry until the leaves are wilted to half its size.
3. Sprinkle in 3/4 of the crushed peanuts and continue to stir fry.
4. Add in about 1/4 cup of water/stock and continue to cook until the leaves are completely wilted
5. Sprinkle rest of the crushed peanuts on top.