Who doesn’t love hollandaise sauce? Yes, I know it’s made with lashings of butter but just once in a while it does you good to indulge yourself and let’s face it, at the moment we could do with a bit of indulgence.
This is Rick Stein’s recipe. It’s super easy and doesn’t require endless beating of tiny additions of melted butter. Recipes that cut corners like this are great to have tucked away.
For a generous bowl of silky hollandaise you’ll need:
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons of water
225g unsalted butter
Lemon juice (to taste)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Method:
Put the butter into a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Keep it at the ready.
Put the two egg yolks in a small bowl that will fit over a small saucepan of barely simmering water (it mustn’t actually touch the water). Add the 2 tablespoons of water and whisk until it’s increased in size substantially, is fluffy and light.
Those of you that read my recent blog will know that I tried to make half quantities and ended up spraying the entire kitchen an myself with melted butter and egg! Don’t do that!
You can use an electric whisk or hand whisk but obviously a hand whisk will be harder work.
Now, take the pan off the heat and gently pour the melted butter into the bowl while continuing to whisk. It needs to be a fine stream, not drop by drop but don’t go too fast. It only takes a few moments.
When you pour in the butter, stop when you reach the white curds. You want the clarified bit of the butter not the solid bits that drop to the bottom of the pan (although to be honest it’s not that important so don’t stress over it).
Add a large squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste and voila! That’s it.
You can add chopped herbs of your choice. I like to add finely chopped chives but on this occasion I just sprinkled some fresh dill on the top.
Serve with poached, grilled or pan fried salmon, or with poached eggs for a delicious breakfast.
