
One of the first vegetables to come out in the spring is the asparagus. I love to eat it the way we did when I lived in France. Lightly blanched with a nice, lemony Béarnaise to accompany it.
Serves 4 as an appetizer
Ingredients
Directions
Remove tarragon leaves from stems. Finely slice and set aside, keeping the stems.
Boil vinegar, water, salt, bay leaf, tarragon stems and black peppercorns in a 1.5-quart heavy saucepan until reduced to about 2 to 3 tablespoons. Strain the liquid into a metal bowl.
Whisk yolks into reduction, beat with a wire whisk for a minute or two until they slightly thickened, then cook over a double boiler with simmering (not boiling) water, whisking constantly, until thickened (be careful not to scramble yolks), about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bowl from the double boiler, scrape down sides of the bowl.
Begin adding the melted butter by no more than a quarter teaspoon at a time, quickly incorporating each addition before you add the next. Make sure you scrape the mixture from the sides of the bowl. When the sauce has started to thicken, you may beat in the butter by half tablespoons. It takes about 5 minutes to create the final emulsion.
Once all the butter has been incorporated, whisk in lemon juice, cayenne, Tabasco, Worcestershire, chopped tarragon and salt to taste.
Set the Béarnaise aside keeping it at room temperature.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil then blanch the asparagus until bright green and still crunchy (anywhere from 20 seconds to 1.5 minutes depending on the thickness of the asparagus). Drain the asparagus, making sure that there isn’t much water left on it.
Place the blanched asparagus onto a large serving platter or individual plates. Spoon the Béarnaise over the vegetables and broil until the sauce turns light brown. Serve immediately.
David Kokai
~ is the Executive Chef of Loic Gourmet, named after his son. Loic Gourmet creates freshly prepared food for eating in or catering. Menu is updated online daily. www.loicgourmet.ca