This Monday evening caught me traveling to visit my friend Megan who was house sitting in Marlborough, Connecticut. If anyone is wondering where in the heck that is, I was too! It is a rural town about twenty minutes south-east of Hartford, Connecticut. I pulled up to a beautiful yellow farmhouse like home complete with a wrap around porch. A tour of the house revealed a gorgeous modern kitchen complete with granite countertops and a view of the sunset. The owners even had a chicken coup in the back yard (yes with actual chickens, I said rural remember?). What could be more perfect for two culinary whizzes!
The owners were nice enough to stock the kitchen before they departed on vacation so Megan and I set out to make dinner with what we had on hand. Having just gathered fresh eggs, both of us wanted to have them for dinner. We decided to make a Hollandaise sauce from scratch. It’s actually not that hard! It is a combination of egg yolks, butter, lemon juice, and salt. The recipe I used also added some cayenne.
The key to making a great Hollandaise (besides using the freshest eggs possible) is a good whisking arm and low heat! First combine the egg yolks and lemon juice and whisk thoroughly. Then put the yolk mixture over a double boiler and add melted butter SLOWLY. Make sure the water is also just barely simmering. If the butter is too hot or the water is too hot, you can actually start to make scrambled eggs, which is nothing like a Hollandaise. So slowly add the butter to the egg yolks while whisking rapidly. Some recipes call for a set amount of butter but I would start by adding 1-2 tablespoons of melted butter at a time until the proper consistency is reached. You can also taste it and you will know when it has the proper flavor. The particular recipe I used called for 4 egg yolks and 1/2 cup of butter. We started with the 4 egg yolks and 1/4 cup butter and slowly started adding butter from there. The best addition to the Hollandaise was the cayenne pepper at the end. It really gave the sauce a perfect kick!
What else did we find in the kitchen of wonders? Fresh steaks, baby spinach, craisins, shaved almonds, goat cheese, garlic, a day old baguette, and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. We salt and peppered the steaks and broiled them (the grill was not behaving properly), made garlic bread, and then made a fancy salad with the spinach, goat cheese, almonds, and craisins. It was absolutely delicious!
The Hollandaise sauce really brought the dish home. It added a delicious, rich flavor to the meal that tasted excellent on the steaks and on the bread. We actually went in search of more bread so we could finish the Hollandaise it was that good.
All in all, it was an excellent trip to a country home with great company!
Happy Eating!
Posted on April 20, 2010
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