About five years ago, I had the opportunity to do some food writing for a magazine. Now, despite my equal love for both the written word and for food, I’d never done anything like that before (“but i’m not a PROFESSIONAL writer!” wailed the voice of doubt in my head) so it was a bit nerve-wracking.
Since the piece was for a Spring issue focused on white wine, I decided to write about asparagus. Around the same time, I’d been a little obsessed with hollandaise, specifically the tangy, piquant, mustardy-gastriquey hollandaise I’d had recently at Treadwell’s in Port Dalhousie. Poached eggs, asparagus and hollandaise seemed a perfect fit for the recipe portion of my writing debut. PLUS it was a great match with Sauvignon Blanc, a wine I generally crave come early Spring.
As I was still working in fundraising at the time (read: regular office job), the Easter weekend was a glorious four days long that year. And since my in-laws Easter celebration consisted of a pot-luck brunch on the Easter Monday, everything was poised for a perfect long weekend of recipe testing and writing, culminating in a grand brunchy feast of Norfolk county asparagus, poached eggs and my version of a mustardy-gastriquey hollandaise for all.
Long story short, and the reason that Easter has become so memorable for this non-religious girl, is that I must have made and taste-tested litres of hollandaise that weekend in an effort to perfect my recipe. Which is why I ended up spending 48 hours in hospital, hooked up to a blissful morphine drip, in the throes of a monumental gall-bladder attack.
Six weeks later I had the damn thing out and have been fine ever since, but to this day I never eat that most delicious of sauces (and I LOVE HOLLANDAISE) without a nanosecond of trepidation, and then a good laugh. Because only I would end up in Emergency at midnight on Easter Monday suffering from a crise de hollandaise.
Piquant Hollandaise (Blender Method)
Although it’s a real time-saver, I find blender hollandaise doesn’t get as thick as making it the old fashioned way using a whisk. That said, carpal tunnel syndrome hurts and this method still gives a lovely flavour bang for your buck.
- 1 1/4 cups sweet butter
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more
- 1 teaspoon grainy mustard (Kozliks triple crunch is the perfect mustard for this)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Melt butter in a small pot on stove top until it foams, then remove from heat. Separate eggs and place yolks in blender. Add lemon juice and blend at high speed. Remove the centre insert in your blender lid and slowly and steadily pour in the melted butter while the blender is running. Blend until creamy, season to taste with salt and pepper, then gently stir in grainy mustard. Serve immediately.