Asparagus with Ham and Hollandaise Sauce

This is one of the most classic and probably one of the easiest ways to serve asparagus. Asparagus and hollandaise sauce simply "get along" wonderfully. Serving asparagus this way, together with ham, is very popular in Germany. You can get this combo at any place that serves asparagus. The asparagus is definitely the star of this dish, so the portion is big, and the potatoes are just a side.

With this dish I recommend a dry or semi-dry white wine, well chilled.

You can find a few words on how to buy and prepare asparagus HERE.

The recipe comes from the magazine "Lust auf Genuss" 05/2011

asparagus with hollandaise sauce

Ingredients:

(serves 4)

• 2 kg white asparagus
• 600 g medium-sized potatoes (waxy ones that don't fall apart when cooked)
• salt
• sugar
• ½ lemon (preferably organic)

hollandaise sauce:

• 100 g butter
• 2 egg yolks (preferably from organic eggs)
• 4 tbsp white wine
• a little lemon juice
• cayenne pepper

also:

• 4 slices of ham (it should be juicy, mine was cherry ham), the weight depends on how thick you want the ham slices to be (mine were about 0.5 cm thick each, about 600 g)

optional:

• 50 g arugula or other salad greens
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp whole grain mustard
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil
• pepper

Wash and peel the asparagus, and cut or snap off the woody ends. Scrub the potatoes well and cook them in their skins in salted water.

Meanwhile, cook the asparagus. I steamed mine. If you cook it in water, bring 1 liter of water to a boil, add salt, sugar and the half lemon. Put in the asparagus with the tender tips pointing up and cook for about 10 minutes, until tender (but be careful not to overcook it).

While the potatoes and asparagus are cooking, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Mix the egg yolks and wine in a bowl and set it over a pot of simmering water (the water must not touch the bottom of the bowl). Whisk until creamy. Stirring constantly, slowly add the melted butter until the sauce is thick and creamy. It's important that the sauce doesn't boil, because it will curdle! Take the finished sauce off the pot and season with salt, lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

If you want to serve the salad greens, wash and dry them. For the dressing, mix the wine vinegar with the mustard and, whisking, add the oil drop by drop. Season with salt and pepper.

Drain the potatoes and peel them (young ones don't need to be peeled).

Arrange the potatoes, asparagus and ham on a plate and pour the hollandaise sauce over them. Add the greens and drizzle with the dressing. Serve right away, while the asparagus is still warm.

Enjoy!

asparagus with hollandaise sauce

Additional information:

You can also make an even more delicate hollandaise sauce, though it takes a bit more work. For this, boil 150 g chicken stock with 50 ml white wine, 1 juniper berry, 5 white peppercorns and 1 finely chopped red onion, and reduce it to about 50 ml (about 4 tbsp). Use this reduction instead of the white wine in the recipe above.

I'm submitting this recipe to the "Asparagus Season" event