Feral Asparagus with Lazy Man's Hollandaise Sauce
The more time passes, the better I'm able to restrain myself from trying to cook overly elaborate dishes with my wild foods. There are certainly times that call for a unique foraged ingredient to be elevated with technique, and that can be fun in and of itself. However, given that foraged foods are are so flavorful and good, more of than not, the simplest preparation is best. That's to say nothing of how often we're short of time and energy.
I adore Hollandaise sauce on pretty much all foods. More so with an enormous pile of freshly picked feral asparagus and a poached egg. I'll make one batch of Hollandaise sauce per spring. You know what stops me from making it more often? Dishes. I'm not fond of cleaning up all of those goopy eggy dishes.
This year, I discovered that I could recreate the flavors of Hollandaise sauce with very little effort, and fewer dishes by simply stuffing a knob of butter, a squeeze of lemon juice, and some salt into the yolk of a soft-boiled egg. Not only is dipping asparagus into a faux Hollandaise-filled egg fun, it tastes similar enough to the real thing to push my happy buttons.
I won't even begin to try to tell you how long to cook your eggs to the soft-boiled stage. I live at altitude, which means cooking time is very different from sea level. Instead, I'll suggest you use this handy calculator. Apparently mountaineers take their eggs very seriously.
Feral Asparagus with Lazy Man's Hollandaise Sauce
asparagus spears, cleaned, trimmed, and left whole
eggs
butter
lemon juice
salt
1. Cook the eggs and asparagus in the same pot of boiling water to your desired level of cooking. Yay! Only one pot.
2. Briefly run the eggs and asparagus under cold water to halt the cooking process.
3. Nest you egg into an egg cup (what does one use without an egg cup? perhaps a ring of foil?), and slice off the top of the egg and shell with a paring knife.
4. For each egg, push 1/2 tablespoon of butter, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a sprinkling of salt into the yolk.
5. Dipping asparagus directly into the yolk serves to mix the sauce. Enjoy!
