How To Make Asparagus Hollandaise
Destination cooking is the newest trend for holidaying families. More of us than ever are opting for self catering, mobile home or camping holidays so that we can fully immerse ourselves and our families in the local culture is through its cuisine. To launch the new site, www.destination-cooking.co.uk, renowned French chef Christian Lohez has created a series of ‘cookcasts’ - recipes which immerse you and the family deep into the local culinary culture offering you the opportunity to find, catch, make, bake and cook like the locals from your own holiday home. www.destination-cooking.co.uk has a culinary adventure for everyone!
- You Will Need
-
Step 1:
-
Introduction
-
Welcome to Destination Cooking. Today, the product which we will be working using is the asparagus from the Vendee area. Pick them up from your market, they are nice and fresh and obviously they’ll be less money than the supermarket. You can also pick up some nice Vendee ham, yet again from the market, but obviously if they are short you can pick up a small packet in your local shops.
-
Step 2:
-
Asparagus
-
Now these asparagus are very delicious, they are good for you and they are very quick to make. This is the important thing, you can prepare them very quickly. Snap them off and keep the bits for your soups or sauce, don’t want to waste any. You will have obviously a pan on the go with boiling water. Add a pinch of salt to that and drop all of your asparagus, very carefully, into it. Don’t cover it.
-
Step 3:
-
Hollandaise Sauce
-
Now, while this is cooking we are going to make a sauce. This is called a hollandaise sauce because we will need the water to cook the egg yolks; egg yolks into a bowl, a bit of pepper and a bit of salt. To give this dish a nice tanginess, we’re going to add some lemon juice, a good squeeze in there.
For extra flavor, what I always like to do is add some of the local dry or medium dry white wine, just a dash and just put it on top of your pan. This should only take about a minute to cook. Keep whisking and you will see that your eggs naturally start thickening. They change color from yellow, gold to a light white.
It’s starting to now cook. This whole process takes about three minutes from the asparagus to the sauce. It’s a very, very quick dish. Obviously if you are on holiday like I am here in my mobile home, you need something quick and simple so you can go back out and enjoy your holiday, enjoying the beaches, the restaurants, whatever, there is plenty to do everywhere. You can always find information very easily wherever you are. You don’t have to ask the chef to do that, as you can see, it’s very, very simple. It’s starting to thicken.
-
Step 4:
-
Wrap The Asparagus
-
Now, check your asparagus, they have been on the boil for two and a half, three minutes, that’s all you’ll need. No colander required, we’re on holiday. There’s your asparagus. They should be just about firm to the hand and that is all that it requires. We can actually roll them into a pancake shape.
You see a beautiful bit of green coming out of there. We add a bit of melted butter to the egg yolks and it starts thickening very quickly. You have to be quite quick with your whisk. Now the more butter you add, the thicker the sauce will be. If your sauce gets too thick, then you can stop and add a bit of wine or lemon juice.
The best thing to do is, this is your kitchen, put your finger in, taste it; it’s fine for me at this point. Now all we have to do is place the sauce on the asparagus. You see it’s quite thick now. This makes a quick lunch for some friends with a glass of wine.
-
Step 5:
-
Finishing Touches
-
Now all we have to do is is to lightly grill this to get a nice golden color and it’s ready. There is the asparagus going in. It only takes about one minute, no more than this. I like doing this is in my usual little holiday caravan, every time I come down here, it’s not very often but it’s nice to do. Right the asparagus is almost ready now and depending on your oven it will take about a minute or so and just keep an eye on it, it is very, very quick.
Look at that, look at the golden color and the green of the asparagus. The sauce is nice and thick, beautiful color, you can’t get better than that. This is fantastic for lunch or a snack by the way. As soon as it comes out, serve it or just do what I do, dig into it, bon appétit. This is fabulous, it’s very good and it’s so light—the lemon, the eggs, the ham, fantastic. Try it, by all means.