This delicious eggs Benedict recipe with smoked salmon Nova lox and hollandaise sauce is the ultimate breakfast, brunch or brinner meal. Nova lox, poached eggs and cream lemony hollandaise — count me in!
This Nova lox Benedict has got to be the ultimate breakfast/brunch/brinner meal. I tried a version of this dish a few years ago at a hotel restaurant in New York, then rushed home to replicate it in my own kitchen. It’s a kosher alternative to traditional eggs benedict, and personally I like it even better than the Canadian bacon version. Quality smoked Nova lox are incredibly delicious. When layered on a toasted English muffin, topped with a poached egg and lemony hollandaise sauce, something magical happens… it’s like a flavor explosion.
Nova lox are thinly sliced, smoked and salt-cured salmon fillets. Smoke-curing is one of the most ancient methods of food preservation. When smoke-curing salmon, the fish is dried and salted to remove moisture. The fish is then exposed to smoke. The smoke combined with the salt creates a unique flavor that has become synonymous with Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine.
The process of smoking fish was adopted centuries ago by Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews; smoked fish was stored and eaten throughout the long, harsh winter season. Nova Lox (aka Nova Scotia salmon) are a delicious form of salt cured salmon… they are cold smoked and cured with a milder brine than most smoked salmon, giving them a smoother, lighter flavor. While Nova lox used to originate in Nova Scotia, Canada, the name has evolved to describe the flavor of the mild brining and cold smoking process– and now, you can find Nova lox sourced from a number of places. You can use any type of lox with this recipe, but I really prefer good quality Nova if you can find it. The flavor is just perfect.
For this recipe, you’ll need to know how to poach eggs. It’s not difficult, promise– all it takes is a little practice. You’ll be poaching up a storm in no time. For a detailed recipe and tutorial, click here:
You’ll also need to make a batch of hollandaise sauce. I use a slightly adapted version of Julia Child’s method for making Blender Hollandaise– it’s super easy, and only takes about 3 minutes. As she puts it, the technique is “well within the capabilities of an 8 year old child.” For the recipe and tutorial, click here:
Julia Child’s Easy Blender Hollandaise Sauce
Once you learn those two methods, you’re good to go! The rest of the process takes only minutes. Impress your hubby with breakfast in bed. Host a wedding shower and serve it for brunch. Or have it for brinner, my personal favorite.
Food Photography and Styling by Kelly Jaggers
Nova Lox Benedict
Ingredients
- 4 poached eggs click here for poaching technique
- 2 English muffins, split in half
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 ounces Nova lox, or smoked salmon
- 1/2 cup Hollandaise sauce click here for recipe
- 4 sprigs fresh dill for garnish
NOTES
Instructions
- Poach 4 eggs to desired doneness. For instructions on how to poach eggs, click here. If you'd like, you can poach the eggs up to 1 hour in advance, then reheat them by placing them all in hot (not boiling) water for 1 minute prior to serving.
- Toast your English muffins. Butter the four toasted halves and set them onto serving plates.
- Place a poached egg on top of each slice of salmon.
- Place a poached egg on top of each slice of salmon.
- Make your hollandaise sauce just before serving-- it will only take about 3 minutes. . Pour 2 tbsp of hollandaise onto each egg. Garnish each egg with a sprig of fresh dill. Serve.
- Note: Use caution in consuming raw and lightly cooked eggs due to the slight risk of salmonella or other food-borne illness. To reduce this risk, use only fresh, properly refrigerated, clean grade A or AA eggs with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks or whites and the shell.
Nutrition
This is so delicious It is in my recipe file. Tori, you knocked it out of the park!
Hi,
I have had very little luck with poaching eggs, as I don’t have easy access to farm fresh eggs. Is it acceptable to substitute an egg that is cooked “over easy”? or is it a faux pas?
Thank you!
Dalia
Hi Dalia, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Eggs Benedict is traditionally made with poached eggs, but if you have more luck with over easy or prefer them that way, that’s okay too!
I don’t like Canadian bacon either, so I make my Eggs Benedict with prosciutto. Try it! It adds a little saltiness to the bottom of the poached egg and is far more tender than that Canadian bacon stuff. (It always makes me think I’m eating an Egg McMuffin.) I also love using lox.
This is divine!
My poached eggs never came out correctly. Went to the link and read what I have been doing wrong. Thank you. Maybe now they won’t be such a mess.
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/how-to-poach-eggs/
love it!
Love this have made this for many years. Mmm so good.
Only one question regarding the poached eggs – when are eggs in season so I don’t have to poach them?! LOL!!!
Also, it’s opening weekend in Los Angeles for Deli Man, a great documentary about the history of delicatessens in America And I am so fortunate to live in Houston, home of Kenny & Ziggy’s!!! I saw this film earlier this week, it was great!
Tori Avey that looks so good. It is great for people who don’t eat pork and for those who don’t mix meat and dairy. I grew up loving a good Nova Scotia lox and bagel with cream cheese and this gives me a new way to enjoy lox. Thanks and Shabbat Shalom.
favorite thing in the world !!!!!!!!!!!
Yum
Be still my heart – Yum!
I made this for breakfast, I’m anemic, so I replaced the dill with cooked spinach on top of the egg. It was to die for!!!!!!!