Hollandaise Sauce... the easy blender version

Hollandaise Sauce is addictively delicious, so tasty a topping it could almost make a slab of cardboard seem edible. The classic egg sauce can be a bit touchy to prepare, requiring a double boiler, barely simmering water and a bit of patience as you whisk in the melted butter. Use too much heat and you risk scrambled eggs. Unsightly separation is another common challenge with this classic sauce. 

So why bother? 1) Because this emulsified combination of egg yolks, lemon juice, butter and a touch of hot sauce is so amazingly delicious and 2) because it's so amazingly easy and foolproof to prepare using a blender. Purists may proclaim blender Hollandaise an imposter, a second-rate wannabe, but this method produces a tasty sauce that's welcome in my galley.

Hollandaise is the sauce for Eggs Benedict, a favorite topping for asparagus or broccoli, and it has graced more than a few crab cakes and seafood crepes. Recently we hosted a weekend brunch featuring Lox Benedict. While not exactly low calorie health food,  it was over-the-top delicious.

Before the poached egg and Hollandaise Sauce

Basic Hollandaise ingredients

Blender Hollandaise Sauce

1/2 pound unsalted butter (2 sticks)

Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 1/2 tablespoons)

Dash of hot sauce (Chipotle Tabasco or Cajun Sunshine or a sprinkle of cayenne)

Yolks of 2 large eggs

Salt and white pepper to taste (optional)

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until foaming, but not browned. Remove from the heat.
2. Place the lemon juice, hot sauce and egg yolks in a blender; cover and whiz to combine.
3. Keep the blender running, remove the cover's insert and very, very slowly drizzle the hot butter in a thin stream of droplets into the blender. 
4. The sauce will become creamy and thicken. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper and additional lemon juice as needed. Use as soon as possible, this sauce does not hold well.

Italian Mushroom Soup

Snowmageddon! that's what the newspapers called our recent snow and ice storms, and now a series of wind events are stacked up off the west coast. Oh joy, TV weather dudes see more power outages on the horizon. This blustery January weather calls for a hearty, comforting soup, something easy to prepare, something special that invites you to linger over a steaming bowl of deliciousness. 


This longtime favorite recipe comes from an old leather-bound cookbook by Mary and Vincent Price - yes, that Vincent Price, the actor. A Treasury of Great Recipes was printed in 1965 but it remains a well-used resource today. My copy arrived that very year as a Christmas present from RL. It holds special status as the first cookbook he ever bought for me. I still smile when I read the Christmas card and its message tucked inside the front cover: "...have fun making good things happen!" This soup is one of those good things.


The Price's recipe found them one cold, rainy day in Venice, recommended by the owner of a small restaurant whose name they didn't recall. I'm delighted they remembered the soup recipe; it has warmed us up on many cold, rainy days in Seattle. It's even been a success as a starter to a couple of dinners and is always well received. Try this one, it's a keeper.

Mushroom Soup with Parmesan Cheese

adapted only slightly from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent Price
serves 4

Soup
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced vertically into long, thin slices
1 clove garlic, split
1 pound button mushrooms, sliced thinly, top to bottom
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons sweet Italian vermouth
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of freshly ground black pepper
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons minced Italian flat-leaf parsley
2 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
Zest of 1 lemon, grated or shredded with a microplane
4 or more 1-inch slices of Italian bread


To prepare the soup:
Heat the butter and olive oil in a heavy pan over medium-low heat. Saute the onion slices and garlic slowly until golden brown; discard the garlic pieces before they brown too much and burn. (Think French onion soup in this step.)
Stir in the sliced mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes, until they soften and turn golden. Add tomato paste and mix well. 
Add the chicken stock. Stir to blend and add the sweet vermouth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes.

To finish and serve:
Beat together the egg yolks, parsley, Parmesan cheese and lemon zest.
Butter and grill one side only of thick slices of French bread.
Place one slice of bread in each soup bowl.
Beat the egg mixture into the simmering soup: ladle over the bread slices and serve immediately. (I prefer to serve the bread alongside.)
Optional: Garnish with additional parsley, Parmesan and lemon zest.