The first time I tried hollandaise sauce was upon the eve of my graduation when my parents treated me to the best steak I have ever had, at The Potted Pig in Cardiff. This sublime steak was served with hollandaise sauce and a lightly dressed side of rocket.
I remember the taste of that sauce being creamy, yet sharp and fresh, very, very fresh- full of flavour! I'm actually not sure this would have been "the best steak ever" without it.
This weekend, Saturday night came and I was salivating for this meal all over again yet the distance of 418 miles stood in my way....I had no other choice but to recreate it, if I could.
Typically we buy our meat from the supermarket. When buying steaks we always aim to get 'the best of' range or prime packaged cuts, however, on this occasion hubz2b paid a visit to the local butcher and picked up 2 belters of steaks- the sirloin variety. I knew I had to treat this flesh with respect. I also knew I had to balance our over indulgence in a butter based sauce and beer with the lightness of veggie sides so I attempted parsnip crisps. In the end, they were slightly overdone (fault on my part) but crispy and sweet nonetheless, and finished off with a light cajun spice.
For the main star of this piece I mixed the juice of half a lemon with a cap full of white wine vinegar and added the yolks of two medium eggs. Using a hand blender I lightly blitzed these together.
Then, in a small pot, I gently melted just under half block of unsalted butter- as it began to foam I turned off the heat and slowly trickled the melted butter into the yolk mix blending continually. I did this carefully and in 'batches' so as not to 'dump' the butter in all at once. I then blended this full buttery mix until it thickened in consistency and added salt and pepper to really bring the flavours to life. This final blending stage took around 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds.
The sauce was lovely, certainly edible and did not split, curdle or cook the eggs. However I must admit it wasn't a patch on that of The Potted Pig's and wondered if I had missed something....
I didn't wonder for long though as I was soon too engrossed in digging into this beautiful cut of perfectly cooked meat (slapped evenly onto a very hot pan and left for 3 minutes either side) served with the parsnips and griddled corn on the cob. A lush dining out alternative!
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