Hollandaise delight

ow do you know it's Sunday morning at our house? The kitchen is a mess. Joyous, happy, massive mess. There's a potato pancake in one pan for the young man, omelette in another pan for husband, and me nibbling from both pans... but this morning I was in the mood for something eggy (*shock*) and rich (*doubleshock*) and realized I hadn't had a bit o' hollandaise in a long time.

My challenge (besides wrapping my brain around THAT. MUCH. BUTTER.) was finding a recipe that suited my lazy mood. Not in the frame of mind for standing over a double-boiler with a whisk, let's just say. I have seen various blender hollandaise recipes, so decided to investigate and experiment! And, I also wanted to make a small serving--no "well, I have a cup of sauce so I must eat a cup of sauce and promptly nap" nonsense today.

One quick caveat: If you're going to make a small quantity of sauce, you'll need a blender that has a blade right at the bottom of the blender jar. I first thought I'd use our VitaMixer, which has such a great and powerful motor that I could only imagine heavenly hollandaise from it. But, the blade is raised from the bottom at least a half-inch, so the egg yolks just sat happily while the blades whizzed crazily above them. So I transferred to a smaller old blender with a low-down blade and it worked very well.

 Hollandaise for one
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
dash salt
dash cayenne
1/4 cup melted butter

Put the yolks, lemon juice, salt and cayenne in the blender jar. Heat butter until melted and bubbly but not browning. I did this in the microwave. Be sure to cover your butter so that there isn't giant explosions in your microwave, fyi. Whiz the yolk mixture for 20-30 seconds until frothy; then slowly pour the butter in a steady stream through the top of the blender (take out center of lid but keep the outer edge on so that you don't have extreme splatter). Keep whizzing for another 30 seconds to a minute, until the sauce thickens.

Pour this delectable mixture over whatever strikes your fancy. Today my eggs sat on a bed of sauteed spinach with a few avocado slices on top, with the bright and happy sauce over the whole lot. It was heavenly.