Hollandaise Sauce

I was working last week on an ad campaign using spring vegetables and came home on Friday with a car full of asparagus and courgettes. The asparagus were fantastic as they came from London’s best grocer, Panzers, in St John’s Wood. They were too nice to stick on the side of the leg of lamb I was making, yes, I was making, for Mother’s Day lunch for Robert’s parents so I decided to go classical and make asparagus with Hollandaise as a starter. I used Delia Smith’s liquidiser method as it won’t split as home-made Hollandaise often does, but you need a rubber spatular if you don’t want to lose three quarters of it to the blender. Mine was a bit thick so I let it down with a splash of hot water from the kettle.

2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
100g butter
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Begin by placing the egg yolks in a small bowl and season them with a pinch of salt and pepper. Then place them in a food processor or blender and blend them thoroughly for about 1 minute. After that, heat the lemon juice and white wine vinegar in a small saucepan until the mixture starts to bubble and simmer. Switch the processor or blender on again and pour the hot liquid on to the egg yolks in a slow, steady stream. After that, switch the processor or blender off.

Now, using the same saucepan, melt the butter over a gentle heat, being very careful not to let it brown. When the butter is foaming, switch the processor or blender on once more and pour in the butter in a thin, slow, steady trickle; the slower you add it the better. (If it helps you to use a jug and not pour from the saucepan, warm a jug with boiling water, discard the boiling water and then pour the butter mixture into that first.) When all the butter has been incorporated, wipe around the sides of the processor bowl or blender with a spatula to incorporate all the sauce, then give the sauce one more quick burst and you should end up with a lovely, smooth, thick, buttery sauce.