Two Easy Sauces For Spring!

French Vinaigrette

A wonderful recipe to have on hand in Spring,  not only for salads, but also to accompany asparagus and artichokes. Check out today's post on Lindaraxa's Garden.  Make sure you use Dijon mustard, Maille if you can find it or Grey Poupon which is readily available everywhere  This recipe is from David Leibowitz's blog.  For the original post go here

French Vinaigrette

Makes about 1/4 cup (60 ml), enough for one large green salad

Ingredients

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon sherry or red wine vinegar

1/2 small shallot, peeled and minced (about 1 tablespoon)

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3T to 4T olive oil

fresh herbs, if desired

Freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, vinegar, and shallot. Let stand for about ten minutes.

2. Mix in the Dijon mustard, then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir well, then taste. If too sharp, add the additional olive oil and more salt, if necessary.

If you wish to add fresh herbs, it's best to chop and mix them in shortly before serving so they retain their flavor.

Grind the pepper after you have dressed the salad with the vinaigrette!

Storage: This dressing will keep for about eight hours at room temperature. If you want to make it farther in advance, it's best to add the shallots closer to serving so they don't lose their verve.

Hollandaise Sauce

Now this is my favorite, and if you follow my directions, you will get it perfect every time!  It is the trick I used to get my children to eat asparagus and artichokes when they were little. 

The two most important things, make sure eggs are room temperature and the butter is bubbling when you add to yolks. 

Hollandaise Sauce

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

3 eggs

8 TB unsalted butter

1 TB lemon juice

dash cayenne

salt

Directions

Take the eggs out of fridge about 4 hrs. before you cook them. They must be room temperature!

Separate 3 yolks from white. Add yolks to blender. Melt 1 bar of butter in a skillet, add about 1/4 tsp cayenne, salt and pepper and cook until bubbly on medium heat. When the butter is about ready to come to a boil, start your blender on high and blend the egg yolks for at least 30 seconds. Slowly pour the bubbling butter into the eggs in a steady drip and squeeze 1 TB of the lemon juice. Stop! you are done!!! Pour into a glass bowl and keep warm on top of the stove. Taste it, if it needs more salt, pepper or lemon juice, add and stir with a spoon. keep warm near the stove