Prep: 2 min    Cook: 5 min

Hollandaise sauce is a delicious light, fluffy emulsion of butter and egg yolks served warm over eggs dishes such as eggs benedict (my favourite breakfast choice) or vegetables such as asparagus. It’s also the base of many other types of sauces like bearnaise, mustard and saffron sauce, see tips for more variations. You can make this in a blender if you make twice the quantity, it doesn’t blend properly with small amounts.

I place the egg yolks, lemon juice and water in a heat proof or metal bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk together (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). I’ll heat the butter until bubbling hot in the microwave or on the stove, it’s important for the butter to be very hot. I add the butter drop by drop to the egg yolk mixture whisking vigourously until emulsified before adding more. You can start adding the butter quicker towards the end as it becomes easier for the sauce to emulsify. I always have a bowl of ice cold water nearby incase the sauce looks like it’s starting to split (this could happen if the simmering water is too hot or if you add the butter too quickly), I’ll take my bowl of sauce off the simmering water and plunge the bottom into the ice cold water to cool it while whisking. The sauce should return to it’s smooth silky consistency. Then return to the heat. If this doesn’t work place a clean bowl over the simmering water, add an egg yolk and slowly add the curdled mixture whisking as you go. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tips

1. ✴Bearnaise Sauce:  Add 1 tbsp chopped shallots and 1 tbsp chopped tarragon and chervil to the sauce, great with steaks and fish.
   
   

2. ✴Mustard Sauce: Add 1 tsp Dijon mustard to the sauce. Good with fish and chicken.
   
   

3. ✴Olive Sauce: Add 1 tbsp chopped black olives to the sauce. Good with asparagus and egg dishes.
   
   

4. ✴Horseradish Sauce: Add 1 tsp horseradish cream to the sauce, goes well with  steaks or fish such as salmon.