Homemade hollandaise sauce
Originally uploaded by Manne.
There are two sauces in the world I can't live without: bearnaise and hollandaise. I bet a lot of people think they are hard to make, but they really aren't, especially not homemade hollandaise. For you low carbers out there, this is an easy means of making any (suitable...) meal feel glorious!
All you need is a beater, a sauce pan, a small number of ingredients and a very steady hand.
Ingredients for homemade hollandaise
2 egg yolks
1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
100 grams of butter
salt and black pepper
pinch of mustard powder (optional)
pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
finely chopped parsley (optional)
Method
Separate the egg yolks from the whites and put in a bowl that will stand firmly on your work surface (great if it for example has a rubber base, you will need both hands later to make it all come together if you like me use a hand held mixer to beat the sauce).
Season with a little bit of salt and crushed black pepper, beat for a minute.
Heat the vinegar and lemon juice in a sauce pan until simmering. Slowly trickle the mixture into the egg yolks while constantly beating.
Now melt the butter in the same sauce pan, make it foam but don't let it brown. As with the vinegar, keep beating the egg mixture and slowly pour the butter in. The slower the better to make sure the egg, acidic vinegar and juice and the butter doesn't separate.
You want it to become a creamy, smooth sauce. Not a curdling mess.
Season with mustard powder and/or cayenne pepper if you are so inclined and mix it all one last time. Taste.
I like to add some finely chopped parsley to my sauce as well, but that is an optional extra.
Serve on poached eggs or if they are in season, oven roast asparagus spears wrapped in parma ham... Or all of the above: asparagus, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce...!
