Steamed Asparagus with Lemon Hollandaise
Hey there, Spring. This one’s for you.
The Goods:
- Asparagus, ends trimmed off and peeled a few inches up from the bottom
- 2 egg yolks, stirred with 2 T water
- Juice from 1 lemon, zest from half
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and clarified (skim off the floatie stuff)
- Kosher salt and cayenne pepper
The Asparagus:
Steam (or gently boil in salty water) the asparagus until just crisp tender. This won’t take as long as you think. Test after just a few minutes by sliding a paring knife into a stalk (parallel so you don’t cut it). When the knife slips through easily, they are done. Shock in an ice bath to stop the cooking, set aside. Reheat when ready for service (I won’t judge you if you use the microwave to reheat).
The Lemon Hollandaise:
This can totally fail on you. A broken hollandaise can be recovered, but that’s a long explanation. Just go for it. If it doesn’t work, you still have some beautiful asparagus that you can drizzle with melted butter and lemon juice.
Over a slowly steaming double boiler (I just use a metal bowl over a pot), whisk the egg yolks and water constantly until it all thickens up. We are looking for “ribbons”, where you lift the whisk and the mixture stays gently connected to the whisk before dropping back into the bowl.
Then remove the bowl from the heat, and slowly (slowly) drizzle in the melted butter. The egg yolks should drink up the butter and the whole party should get nice and thick and glossy. Slowly stir in the lemon juice and zest, then the salt and cayenne. Good times.
p.s. Cayenne is used here rather than black pepper so there are no little black specks in your sauce. The red melts into the yellow nicely.
