food comas

Hollandaise sauce is an emulsion of egg yolk, butter, and lemon and is notoriously difficult to prepare.  It should be, since it is one of the five sauces in the fancy French haute cuisine mother sauce repertoire, which also includes Béchamel, Espagnole, Velouté (check out my Chilled Corn Velouté), and Tomate.

Third time was the charm for me when making Hollandaise sauce.  Making Honey Walnut Prawns requires egg whites, I always end up with leftover yolks and I never know what to do with them.  After looking up what “emulsify” meant, I set about with my whisk but it just didn’t turn out quite right.  The second time I made Hollandaise, it was actually perfect (in my opinion) but then I made the silly mistake of microwaving the sauce to warm it back up… and ended up with scrambled Hollandaise.  Fail #2.

When I decided to make California Eggs Benedict for my parents during a surprise visit home, it was crucial to get the sauce right.  Third time was the charm with this easy, fool-proof recipe I found on AllRecipes.com.  This recipe has all elements of classic Hollandaise sauce but sans the whole double boiler complications, and no chance of the sauce separating.  I used a hand held mixer instead of a blender as it was easier to make a smaller portion.  I also omitted the hot sauce since my parents aren’t big fans of spiciness, but I did add a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper.

This sauce would also go great with steamed or roasted vegetables, such as Roasted Asparagus.

Easy Hollandaise Sauce (adapted from the recipe by chellebelle)

Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 C butter
• pinch of kosher salt
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine the egg yolks, mustard, and lemon juice. Using a hand held mixer, blend for about 5 seconds.

Place the butter in a glass measuring cup. Heat butter in the microwave for about 1 minute, or until completely melted and hot.  Set the mixer on high speed, and trickle a thin stream of the melted butter into the egg yolk mixture.  It should thicken almost immediately.  Keep the sauce warm until serving by placing the blender container in a pan of hot tap water.