Steam Poached Eggs with Canadian Bacon and Parma Rosa and Homemade English Muffins

As we have discussed previously, I have taken to steam cooking.  The steamer can be used to cook many things.  You can use it to steam frozen shrimp or scallops or salmon.  You can steam chicken breasts and then saute them in some butter and shallots and white wine on the rangetop to give them a little color and to add some incredible flavor.

On Sunday, I got out the steamer and set about putting together a dish that I plan to use for brunch sometime in the future.  This was an experiment and I was very happy with how it turned out.  What unfolded you can follow below.

Here we are with the steamer and the ramekins for the eggs.  I should mention that this entire meal is done in miniature.  These ramekins are 2-1/2 inch in diameter, so the eggs came out actually a little smaller in diameter than the candian bacon slices.



First, we generously coated the ramekins with a nonstick spray.



Then we slipped an egg into each cup.  Slightly break the yoke with a fork and add salt and white pepper at this point, to your liking.  You could also add other herbs of your choice or some shredded cheese.

 

Place the ramekins inside the steamer filled with fresh water.  Be sure and change the water frequently and wipe the inside of the tank with a mild soap and water solution.  For six eggs in these small cups it took 30 minutes for them to be hard set.



While the eggs were cooking, I lined a serving plate with baby spinach and then laid individual rounds of Canadian Bacon atop the spinach.  You could line the plate with cooked hash browned potatoes if you so desired.  That would be a nice look also.  After about 30 minutes, I removed the eggs and slid them out of the cups.  They came out perfectly.  That is why we love cooking spray.



A lovely platter of fresh steam, poached eggs with a sprig of dill.




I made a simple dough for the english muffins and cut out the rounds using a 2-1/2 inch diameter cutter.  Again, this entire presentation is done in miniature.  Dust a baking sheet with cornmeal and place the rounds on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle the tops with more cornmeal and put in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.  This dough will not double.  Also, be certain not to handle this dough too much.  Once it reaches the point where it is holding together, do NOT knead or handle it anymore.  If you do it will become tough.  These turned out very nicely.  I placed them on the rangetop with two adjacent heating elements set to "melt", which is the lowest setting.  It worked perfectly.  If you do not place them somewhere that is at least a little warm, they will not rise.  They also need to be covered.  This baking sheet has a plastic lid that snaps tightly on all four sides and that was perfect for holding in the warmth.  You could drape a cotton tea towel over them and get the same or similar results.  I will post the recipe for the english muffins under the "Recipes" tab.





Once the muffins have finished rising, place them in an ungreased electric griddle set to medium or 325 degrees if your griddle has specific termperature settings.  About 7 minutes on each side is perfect, but check them periodically.  If you are getting good color at 5 minutes, then flip them and do the same on the other side.




And here they are cooling.  Once they have cooled enough to handle I place each one individually in the palm of my hand and rub it between my hands to remove the excess cornmeal.

 

Finally, a beautiful plate.  The egg atop the canadian bacon with a sprig of dill and a slice of sundried tomate; an english muffin topped with butter and Chardonnay Wine Jelly (given to me by my BFF Bev.)  And a little Parma Rosa sauce on the plate for presentation.  The Parma Rosa is also good drizzled over top of the egg.



Parma Rosa can be used on dishes other than just pasta.





And here is a take out box. 





And the take out box with its lid, ready to take with you for a lovely morning meal or even lunch.  Two eggs, two  english muffins and a container of parma rosa.  Delicious.


This was a fun experiment.  Now that I have done a trial run, I now exactly how this will turn out.  So it can be done again with ease and confidence.  Depending on the number of people I am having to brunch, I might do two trays rather than just one.  And I would toast the english muffins on a baking sheet under the broiler, watching them very carefully so they do not burn.  You could serve hash browned potatoes or fresh fruit or both to finish this off nicely.  And of course Mimosas and/or Bloody Mary's.  A fun dish to make that is easy and will allow you time to spend with your guests.