eggs benny à la lockie.

I'll confess. I'm pretty sure I'm not a "Sunday Person." 


I know that that lovely little day is supposed to make me want to take my dogs on long walks through parks, sip seasonally-flavored lattes and smile and laugh and "catch up" with friends, but by the time Sunday rolls around, more often than not I'm lacking pep in my step. Maybe it's because whatever wonderful weekend I've just had is drawing to a close, or perhaps it has to do with the number of alcoholic beverages I've usually consumed the night before, but generally my mood is less than desirable.


Last Sunday, however, I opened my blinds to beautiful weather and my bedroom door to the heavenly smell of buttery onions and tarragon wafting from downstairs of my family home and knew it was going to be a good one.


My father cooks only on occasion, and when he does, it's sure to be magnificent. Having attended French cooking classes led by a Cordon Bleu trained chef in Vancouver a number of years ago, most of his recipes are indulgently French, sauce-y (read: amazing) and perfected to a T. His eggs benedict with sauce béarnaise is no exception.


Similar in a lot of ways to hollandaise sauce (but, I think, better!) my dad's béarnaise uses a reduction of green onions, parsley, tarragon wine vinegar and other delicious stuff to give it an extra flavour kick, while still retaining the artery-clogging goodness that comes from the typical hollandaise base of clarified butter and egg yolks. It is heaven on earth. Serve on a late weekend morning with fresh squeezed orange juice, and your worries (or Sunday blues) will disappear almost as quickly as the masterpiece on your plate. 

Reducing the herbs and white wine/white wine vinegar gives béarnaise it's awesome flavour.

I love that my dad's well-loved copy of this recipe is stained, worn out, and actually taped together - proof of use right there!

GREAT invention.

An anxious and hungry crowd awaited.

After 20 minutes of calculatedly looking cute, these two's moment arrived! They were more than happy to do dish duty.

And now for the recipe (transcribed from that lovely stained sheet) so you too can make your Sundays extra-special!


Sauce Béarnaise

1 tbsp. finely chopped green onion

1.5 tsp. crushed tarragon (you can used dried)

1 tsp. chopped parsley

¼ cup dry white wine

¼ cup good quality white wine vinegar (Lockie uses Four Monks Tarragon White Wine Vinegar or Saint Pichon, both are flavoured with a tarragon sprig) 

3 eggs (room temperature)

¼ lb. unsalted butter

Bring first five ingredients to a boil in a small pan, reduce (boil) down to about 2 tbsp.

Strain reduction, reserve just the broth.

Whisk broth into 3 egg yolks (make sure the eggs have been sitting at room temperature!) 

Gradually whisk in ¼ lb unsalted butter (melted, still hot) to the mixture. (Tip: This is where things can get finicky, as when the mixture gets too hot it can start to separate. You can bring it back together by adding an icecube until it comes together and then discarding whatever remains of the icecube.)

Add salt and pepper to taste and 2 tsp. finely minced parsley if you wish.


Serve immediately and feel your spirits lifted!