Most readers of this column know that the first week of each month I try to include a recipe. I do the same when writing this column for the “Blaine County Journal”. Rarely do I write the same recipe for each newspaper.
This month, though, I am. I looked at many recipes for Easter and saw many good recipes using asparagus but there was not a single recipe that used Hollandaise Sauce in their Easter banquet.
Hollandaise is great with asparagus. It is also good with Eggs Benedict; many roasted root vegetables like parsnips, carrots or roasted Yukon gold potatoes.
Hollandaise is one of the Mother Sauces and is important and good and fun to make. Make sure it tastes like you want it to taste when you get through making the entire product.
You will need a double boiler. Use a small kettle and fill about a quarter ways full of water. Bring that to a boil and put an oven proof glass bowl over the kettle making sure that the boiling water does not touch the bottom of the glass bowl. You cook your sauce in the glass bowl when the kettle is boiling.
You will need four egg yokes
A stick of butter divided into thirds at room temperature
One lemon cut in half
Salt and pepper to taste
Sugar to taste.
Put the egg yolks in the bowl along with a third of the butter and whisk until the mixture thickens up. Add another third of the butter and half the lemon. Whisk that until it thickens. Add salt and pepper, the other third of the butter and thicken that up too. All that thickening should not take you more than ten minutes or so if you are doing it right. If the sauce is too thick, just add a tablespoon or so of the boiling water. That will thin it out a tad but remember that is to be a thick sauce. Now, and most important, taste the mess. If it is not sweet enough, just add a teaspoon or two of sugar and it will sweeten up the sauce. Transfer to a bowl with a lid and keep at room temperature until needed. It should keep on your stove top for several hours.
Bon Appétit!
