Grilled Asparagus with “Fail-proof” Hollandaise Sauce. Recipe and photos The Luminous Kitchen
I can remember when I was working on a small sail yacht in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean as a chef, I would make Eggs Benedict once a week for the guests.
It was not easy trying to have 8 breakfasts ready at the same time while having to often stop what I was doing and help the captain sail the boat. So I learnt some tricks to make it easier on myself.
Instead of poaching the eggs I would crack them into muffin trays and cook them in the oven and I learnt a quick and easy way to make Hollandiase sauce that never separates.
I would make this ahead of time and keep it warm in a thermos so it was all ready to go when I needed it.
This Hollandaise recipe is definitely not the “right, culinary school” way of doing it but it works and it tastes pretty fricken amazing.
There are so many studies now showing that butter may actually be good for us, provided you are using grass-fed and hallelujah for that. Can you believe we had it so backwards for so long? How did we ever believe man-made, processed, supposedly 1 molecule away from being plastic – margarine was the good guy? One of my fellow classmates at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, Jessie Reimers is actually taking on the Heart Foundation here in Australia with a massive petition to get them to stop promoting margarine as heart healthy. If you feel the same way, you can support her here by signing her petition.
So with that in mind lets make yummy Hollandaise and devour it as the French would, guilt free with this uber French way of enjoying asparagus. Yay. I found these beauties at the South Melbourne market. I mean purple asparagus! Have you ever?
- 250g butter melted
- 30ml white wine vinegar (any vinegar will do really)
- 30ml water +15ml water
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ lemon
- cayenne pepper
- Ingredients:
- 2 bunches asparagus
- olive oil to drizzle
- salt and pepper
- In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar and 30ml water. Reduce the mixture over a high heat until you have 15ml
- Remove the reduction from the heat and add 15ml water
- Place the reduction in a blender with the egg yolks and blend until thick and creamy
- While the blender is on, slowly add the warm melted butter until it forms a thick creamy sauce. You may need to thin it down with some warm water as you go.
- Season with lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper
- Keep the sauce either in a thermos or over a shallow pan of warm water until ready to use
- Wack the oven on at 220C
- Cut the ends off the asparagus and lay them on a baking sheet lined with grease proof paper
- Drizzle with olive oil and a light sprinkle of water ( this will help them not to dry out in the oven)
- Season with salt and bake for 10 minutes
- Remove from the oven and serve with Hollandaise sauce
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