Recipe - Hollandaise

We decided before we left Australia that while we were away we were going to have a go at cooking some of the things that we've said "One day we should make that".  Mick has been helping with the cooking for some time now and this is a good time to learn some more.

One of the challenges we set ourselves was to make Hollandaise Sauce.  We love smoked salmon with a poached egg but we've never made Hollandaise.  Tonight we had a go at making this "easy" version.  It turned out ok.  I probably didn't use a whole 65g - just a couple of good tablespoons.  We didn't have any smoked salmon but wilted a bag of baby spinach leaves.

Ingredients

1 egg yolk
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp water
65g butter

Method

1.      Put a pan on the lowest heat possible

2.      Cut the butter up into cubes and add to a small saucepan with the water

3.      Add the yolk to the pan and start whisking

4.      Once the butter has melted, turn heat up slightly and whisk until desired consistency.

5.      Add lemon juice, whisk a bit more and serve.

Here's another version that someone wrote me down once. We didn't have any vinegar, and we'll wait to use the kitchen whizz when we're on landline.  I'm thinking for 2 of us we'll try halving the recipe but that might make the quantity too small for a food processor.  We'll see how it goes.

Ingredients
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
100g butter
Salt and ground black pepper

Place egg yolks in a cup and season with salt and pepper. Tip into a food processor or blender and whizz approx 1 minute. Heat lemon juice and vinegar in a small saucepan until it starts to bubble. Whizz again and pour the hot liquid on to egg yolks in a slow stream. Switch off.

In same saucepan as before, melt the butter over a gentle heat (do not allow to brown). When foaming, switch the processor or blender on once more and pour in butter in a steady trickle (it's best to pour it from a pre-warmed jug). Once well combined, serve.