Hollandaise Sauce

I’m giving up with eBay. It’s ridiculous, I’ll buy stuff on there, but I’m not selling any more.

Anyway, it’s definitely getting close to Christmas. All the good TV is starting up again, but it coincides with a very hectic Uni workload, so thank the Lord for Sky+.

I’m sat writing this with one eye on the TV as I’m watching the Season 4 Premier of The Vampire Diaries!! So excited, it’s unreal. Strangely, think the UK will only be about a week behind, but I’m still watching it in time with the US as I can’t wait until next week. Yes, I’m very impatient.

Ugh, our postwoman is as good as ever….

Yes, I’m being sarcastic. Apparently she was here at 10am on Wednesday knocking on my door with a parcel.

This, I have to say is utter bullcrap. I was sitting in the lounge, sketching and doing Uni work and I know the door did not go. Besides the fact my dog would have gone crazy at the door, so there was definitely no one there.

This just irritates me as it means I have to go all the way to the sorting office to pick up my parcel, when I don’t have time to go and when it wasn’t necessary as I was sitting in my house!

How do they get away with it? I complained before and apparently the manager of the ones who deliver here told them all about the importance of good service…..

Yea OK. Like that totally didn’t happen. They obviously don’t actually care.

Anyway I decided to make Hollandaise sauce to go with some fish we had leftover. It was the first time I’d ever made it and it turned out amazingly, really light and tasty. It’s worth the extra steps, clarifying the butter and pasteurising the eggs, it makes a lovely sauce.

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Serves 2

Ingredients:

> 140g clarified butter
> 2 egg yolks, pasteurised
> 1tbsp lemon juice
> 1 tbsp warm water
> salt and pepper to taste

Method:

> First of all you need to pasteurise the eggs. You need a candy thermometer to do this. Place 2 eggs in a small saucepan and attach the thermometer to the side of the saucepan.
> Have a bowl of freezing cold water ready and a colander to drain away the hot water. Heat on a low-medium heat until the temperature reaches 140F. Turn the heat right down and keep the water at 140F for a timed 3 minutes. If the temperature goes above 140F take it off the heat until it returns to 140F. Then return again, you must keep the temperature at 140F.
> After the 3 minutes is up, drain the hot water out of the saucepan and place the eggs into freezing cold water.
> Set aside until you’re ready to use them. Now to clarify the butter. Place the butter in a saucepan and heat on a low heat. Melt all the butter and continue cooking.
> After a few minutes a white froth will appear on top, you need to ladle the froth off very carefully and put it in a bowl.
> Once all the froth has gone pour the butter into a separate bowl to cool slightly. You probably won’t have got rid of all the butter solids from the butter so once the butter has settled you will see them sink to the bottom. This is fine, just make sure you pour the butter carefully later so as not to include them in the sauce.
> Place a couple of inches of water in a saucepan and place a heatproof bowl on top of it, just to make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.
> Take the bowl off whilst the water comes to the boil. Place 2 egg yolks in the bowl and, using a whisk, whisk the egg yolks up until smooth.

> Once the water has boiled, turn the heat down to simmer and place the heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan. Keep stirring the eggs continuously until they become thicker.
> Slowly pour in the butter, stirring continuously. Once added, stir for about a minute until everything is combined. Add in the lemon juice and mix in. Add in the water and stir in. If you think the sauce is too thick, you may need some extra water. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
> You want a nice smooth, light sauce. You don’t want a properly runny sauce, it should drop off of a spoon slowly.