Eggs Benedict 'Smoked Salmon style'

I love brunch! I love the idea of having such a vast choice of breakfast and lunch dishes to eat as my first meal of the day since I'm not usually hungry until past the typical breakfast time. So when brunch time comes.....Oh yeah! look at this bright and beautiful dish! Who could resist?

Being Canadian many non-Canadians often automatically assumes my favourite breakfast or brunch dish is pancakes dripping with maple syrup (and I am used to this discussion since I'm living amongst the many colours of London people, ie people from all over). But hense pancakes and maple syrup is not my ultimate favourite (however now that I'm talking about I'd love to have that right now!....ok, so I can be a stereotypical Canadian it would seem :-)). Getting to my point....my favourite breakfast or brunch dish is actually Eggs Benedict! Not your typical kind though, I'm a huge lover of smoked salmon, not such a huge fan of ham, so switch 'em and it's yuuummmmy in my books! Got my hollandaise sauce recipe from my cooking bible 'Good Housekeeping Cookery Book'.

Here's what you need -

(Feeds 2 people)
Hollandaise Sauce:
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 black peppercorns
1 mace blade (I didn't have this on hand so left it out, no biggie)
1 bay leaf
1 thin slice of onion
2 egg yolks
75g (3oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1 1/2 tbsp single cream
1/2 tbsp lemon
salt, black & white pepper to taste

2 english muffins
75g(3oz) fresh smoked salmon, in thin slices
4 eggs

Instructions:
- Make the hollandaise sauce just before serving and set aside

Hollandaise sauce:
- Put vinegar into a small pan with peppercorns, bay leaf, onion slice, mace. Bring
to a boil and reduce to just under 1 tbsp of liquid. Dip pan base into cold water to
stop further evaporation; set aside
- Put egg yolks into a heatproof bowl with 10g of butter and a pinch of salt. Beat
until well combined, then strain in the reduced vinegar
- Put the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk for 3-4 minutes until
mixture is pale and beginning to thicken
- Beat in the remaining butter, a piece at a time, until the mixture begins to
thicken again and well combined. Ensure each addition of butter is incorporated
before adding the next. Do not allow the mixture to overheat or the eggs will
scramble and split. Remove from heat
- Whisk in the cream. Season with salt and peppers, and add the lemon juice

-Poach the eggs gently for about 3 minutes or until the white is just set and the yolk still soft. Place eggs which are finished in a dish of warm water
-Meanwhile slice each english muffin in two and toast slightly. Lay smoked salmon then one egg on each muffin slice. Spoon the hollandaise sauce over top of the egg

Serve immediately for the most yumminess!