Hollandaise Sunday

The idea of making hollandaise has been kicking around in my head for a while now, but somehow the time never seemed right. When we were visiting my parents, we all went out to dinner at The Warehouse and I ordered trout Orleans, which includes hollandaise. So, since that reminded me that I should make it and since both artichokes and asparagus are in season, last night I made hollandaise.

I followed the recipe (halved) from Techniques (2 egg yolks, 1 Tbs water, 4 oz butter, salt, white pepper, and cayenne; cooked on the stovetop) and ended up with a very nice sauce that we ate with steamed artichokes[CSA] and pan-steamed asparagus. To go along with that we had some brown basmati rice, a bit of roast pork (I did a sirloin roast coated with a spice rub I found in the cabinet... I'm not sure what I used it for originally, but the combination of cloves and paprika went really well on the roast pork), and a green salad.

A couple notes:

1. The hollandaise was good, but I think I prefer a bit of acidity in my sauces. I guess I could try using lemon juice in the hollandaise or make a bearnaise instead next time.
2. I'm very curious to see if the "slow microwave" reheating trick works on hollandaise; it seems like it ought to be more stable than beurre blanc, so I would guess that it should.
3. Eating a bunch of artichoke with the meal led to some funny moments where "inappropriate" things tasted really sweet. The most disturbing of these for me was a bite of salad consisting mostly of spanish black radish that ended up being sweet and hot (radish hot). "This dessert is clearing my sinuses!"