Serves: Serves 6-8 as a starter or side dish
It’s best not to even think about the amount of butter in this recipe although I believe recently butter has been given the stamp of approval by the health chiefs. Anyway, whatevs…it’s delicious and that is what counts. I have suggested the food processor way of making hollandaise which purists might sniff at but it is so quick and easy and, I think, most people would be put off making it any other more difficult way. A small food processor is ideal: you can make it in a big bowl but you have to be very cautious at the start of proceedings as the egg yolks have a tendency to spatter around the sides of the bowl. This makes it difficult to incorporate the butter and can lead to the sauce splitting. The hollandaise also makes a wonderful sauce for fish.
Ingredients
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 250g unsalted butter
- 90g peeled brown shrimps
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped dill
- 1kg asparagus, trimmed
Method
- Place the egg yolks, mustard and lemon juice in the small bowl of a food processor and blend for 20-30 seconds. Place the butter in a saucepan and melt over a low heat. As it starts to bubble slowly drizzle the melted butter into the food processor, with the motor running. The hollandaise sauce should be thick, about the consistency of yogurt. Spoon into a bowl and fold in the shrimps and dill. Taste and season with a little salt and pepper. You can keep the sauce at room temperature for about 30 minutes as long as the air temperature is not boiling hot (it might split) or freezing cold (the sauce will solidify).
- Boil the asparagus in lightly salted boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. Drain and serve warm with the shrimp and dill hollandaise sauce.
