Skip to main content

Julia's Hollandaise Sauce...Made in a Blender!

***Julia Child mentions the sauce chapter in Mastering the Art of French Cooking several times in her memoir, "My Life in France." In fact, there's a really cool photocopy of a piece of paper that contains her hollandaise sauce recipe...that she typed herself. It's marked "Top Secret" in what I assume is Julia's handwriting. I recently finished reading the memoir, and I was definitely curious about this hollandaise sauce. I looked it up in MtAoFC, and it sounded both classic and delicious!

On a side note, if you're thinking about reading "My Life in France," you definitely should! I absolutely loved it!

It's always good to have several good, homemade sauces in your cooking arsenal...ready when you need them. This is one such sauce. Who doesn't like a decadently rich and eggy hollandaise sauce? There are so many things that you can serve it with....poached eggs, bacon, and toast...just name a few. I decided to serve it with a simply baked tilapia.

Now, hollandaise can be extremely tricky to pull off....especially if you don't make it often. It tends to curdle easily. However, this blender version is foolproof! I was blown away by how simple this recipe turned out to be. In fact, Julia describes this sauce as "well within the capabilities of an 8-year-old child." Of course, Julia includes another Hollandaise recipe which is a little more complicated than this one...that one is surely more authentic. However, the simplicity of this particular recipe is what drew me to it. You can't go wrong with it!***

BLENDER HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
Start to finish: 5 minutes
Makes about 3/4 cup

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:
In a blender, combine the egg yolks, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Set aside.
In a small saucepan over medium-high, add the butter and heat until foaming.

Blend the egg yolk mixture at top speed for 2 seconds then, with the blender running, remove the cover and pour in the hot butter in a thin stream of droplets. By the time two-thirds of the butter has been added, the sauce will be a thick cream. Continue pouring, but don't pour in the milky residue at the bottom of the pan. Taste and adjust seasonings.

If not using the sauce immediately, set the blender carafe in tepid, but not warm, water.

Source: "Mastering the Art of French Cooking: The 40th Anniversary Edition" by: Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck; Knopf, 2001
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I made this tonight to have with tilapia...it was delicious! I was nervous about having the eggs curdle, but it turned out perfect the very first time! I found your blog by looking for a hollandaise recipe specifically, but I love the style of it and can't wait to try more recipes you have on here!
November 3, 2009 at 9:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread - Southern Living

***There seriously aren't very many things that smell better than Banana Nut Bread baking in the oven.   Don't you agree?  This recipe for Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread from Southern Living magazine was one of the very first recipes that I added to this blog...back in November 2007!  In fact, I came across it when I worked for the magazine as a Marketing Intern.  Back then, I didn't have a photo for every recipe, and the blog post was simply the recipe and nothing else.  Because this is my go-to recipe for Banana Nut Bread (and because it is so amazing!), I thought that it deserved a little more attention.  This is quite honestly some of the best Banana Nut Bread that I've ever had.  An entire 8oz. package of cream cheese is added right to the batter, along with 4 mashed bananas.  The cream cheese adds so much to this recipe, with an incredibly moist texture being the main component.  Plus, the roasted pecans are the perfect ad...
133 comments
Read more

My Favorite Quiche!

***It's not often that a recipe is worthy of re-posting.  I think I've only done that once or twice in the entire time I've written this blog.  However, this is one of those rare occasions.  Back in 2009 when Brad and I went to Europe, we had the most amazing Quiche Lorraine at the incredible Les Deux Magots cafe in Paris.  It was delicious and was served alongside a yummy salad of fresh greens (Quiche Lorraine sur Salade Verte).  Oh, it was heaven on a plate!  It also didn't hurt that we were sitting on the patio of one of the most famous cafes in Paris, after all...haha.  The atmosphere and people-watching in that particular area are hard to beat. I'll never forget the elderly lady that was sitting at the table right next to us (the tables were situated pretty close together).  She was dressed to-the-nines, was all by herself, and was just the quintessential, classy Parisian lady.  I wish more than anything that I had tried to strike up...
25 comments
Read more

Absolutely Sinful Cinnamon Rolls

***Alrighty, here are the cinnamon rolls that I mentioned in my previous post. I put these together on Christmas Eve, and then baked them on Christmas morning. Let me just tell you...there's nothing quite like the smell of yummy cinnamon rolls wafting through the house on Christmas morning...ahhhhh...so wonderful! This is going to be a new tradition for us...fresh, homemade rolls on Christmas. I thought that I might try this recipe, and then maybe try a new one next year...until I found one that I really loved. However, I hit the jackpot on the first try! This is THE recipe that I'll always use. UPDATE:   Since originally writing this post in 2008, I've  made these cinnamon rolls every year for Christmas!  They are a holiday tradition that my family looks forward to all year!  You can see my other posts here, with lots more photos of these sinful cinnamon rolls: CHRISTMAS 2009 CHIRSTMAS 2010 CHRISTMAS 2011 The great thing was that I could prepare them on Chr...
179 comments
Read more