Hollandaise starts with a Mexican morning

Photograph ©2014, Lori Korleski Richardson

My Food and Wine newsletter this weekend contained a most intriguing sauce: Avocado Hollandaise. I love poached eggs, but don't often eat them a la Benedict because of the copious amount of butter that goes into the topping. This sounded much healthier, and easy enough to do on a weekday.

I made the sauce while waiting for my Virginia ham slices to cook to a caramel perfection, today using a layer of orange juice in the pan (the package said to use cola or brown sugar and water).

I found that English muffins now come in a higher fiber, multigrain version, and they were quite tasty. Jim toasted them as I poached the eggs in boiling water to which I added a little salt and lemon juice.

Here's the recipe for the sauce:

Avocado Hollandaise

Serves: 4

Ingredients
1/2 very ripe medium Hass avocado, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Poached eggs, for serving

Instructions
In a blender, combine the avocado and lemon juice with 1/3 cup of hot water. Puree until smooth and light in texture, about 2 minutes, scraping down the side of the bowl occasionally. With the machine on, drizzle in the olive oil and purée until combined. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the hollandaise over poached eggs.

Blogger's note: Your avocado half may be larger than the one tested. If your purée isn’t moving after 2 minutes, add a little more hot water until it does, then add the olive oil, salt and pepper.

From Food and Wine, contributed by Kay Chun
Photograph ©2014, Lori Korleski Richardson

A New Year's morning brunch

I did the same New Orleans-style brunch that I did last year for a similar group of friends: Eggs Hussard Strata, followed by Bananas Foster. (Click on the names in color to be taken to the recipes that I posted a year ago.) This is a photo that my husband Jim took of me as I took the plain strata out of the oven, before it was topped with the two sauces and served.

A younger friend, no stranger to good food (I used to cook with her mother at Trinity Cathedral events in Sacramento), said: "This dish had so many wonderful flavors I never knew existed. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! It was great."

A New Orleans breakfast

Brennan's in New Orleans serves an incredible brunch, and it has been one that I have used as a benchmark for all others. It was three courses, beginning with a rich, sherried turtle soup, followed by eggs Hussard, followed by bananas Foster, and accompanied by milk punch. I don't think I can get away with serving turtle soup in California, but I'm going to do my eggs Hussard for a crowd (the real thing requires poaching eggs; fine for a party of six but for more than a dozen, I prefer a strata base). I may substitute thick hot cocoa for the milk punch, unless someone wakes up needing the hair of the dog.

Eggs Hussard for 14

Plain Strata for Eggs Hussard
6 whole eggs and 1 dozen egg whites
4 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 loaf of dry bread, torn up and crusts removed
Butter to butter pan with

Mix eggs, milk and salt well. Pour over bread. Soak overnight. Put in a buttered 9x13 pan.
Bake at 375 about 45 minutes until puffy and golden.
Top with 2 cups of marchand de vin sauce and 2-2/3 cups holandaise

MARCHAND DE VIN SAUCE
1/3 cup butter
3/8 cup onion
2 scallions
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 cup minced ham
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cups beef stock
1/2 cup red wine
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper

Melt butter in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, garlic, scallions and ham for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes.
Blend in the flour and cook for 4 minutes, then add everything but the parsley. Simmer until the sauce thickens, about an hour. Remove bay leaves and put in fridge.

Reheat sauce slowly. Add parley before serving and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Blender Hollandaise
1 lb butter, melted
1 dozen egg yolks
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Blend the yolks, juice and pepper slightly in the blender or food processor. Turn the blender on high, then slowly add the melted butter. Cover, then pulse on for 60 seconds, off for 30 seconds, until the sauce thickens to the point that it does not drip down readily from a spoon. Do not reheat.