This week we received a lot of fabulous vegetable recipes as part of the Julia Child JC100 Celebration. Let’s kick things off with a simple recipe that makes a great side dish to any dinner: Asparagus Au Naturel topped with a creamy Hollandaise Sauce.
Asparagus Au Naturel
- bunches of asparagus (enough to serve everyone!)
- 1 large pot of salted water (wide enough to lay asparagus horizontally)
Place your asparagus in the rapidly boiling water. Bring water to a boil again as quickly as possible, then turn the heat down and allow to boil slowly, uncovered for 12-15 minutes. As soon as the asparagus is tender, lift it out of the water, drain the water and carefully place them on a napkin. Plate and top with hollandaise sauce.
Hollandaise Sauce
A bit of background, Bob has already made Hollandaise Sauce by hand, so we figured we’d try it with a food processor, and as Julia Child said: “This technique is well within the capabilities of an 8 year old child, it has much recommendation to it”.
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 tsp salt
- pinch of pepper
- 2 tbsp of fresh squeeze lemon juice
- 4 oz of butter
Start by melting the butter in a small sauce pan and bring it to a foaming boil. In the meantime, place your yolks, salt, pepper and lemon juice into a food processor. On the highest speed, mix for two minutes until the ingredients are well combined. Now, with your foaming hot butter, slowly drizzle into the food processor while it remains on the highest speed. The reason you want to SLOWLY add the butter is so you can temper your egg yolks. If you were to dump the butter in all at once, you’d flash cook your yolks making for some curdled hollandaise sauce (we wouldn’t want to dissapoint Julia!). Take your time and slowly add in the butter, droplets and slow streams at a time. Once everything has had a chance to mingle, your hollandaise sauce should be smooth and creamy.
If you aren’t immediately using your hollandaise sauce, place it into a jar and keep the jar in hot water.
Top your asparagus with the hollandaise sauce, serve and enjoy!
Carlene & Bob
Simple and amazing flavours!