Mother's Day a la Julia Child

Happy Mother's Day out there to all you mothers, grandmothers and mothers-to-be! It was a gorgeous sunny day here in the Pacific Northwest. After a superb breakfast in bed which starred poached eggs (MY FAVORITE APPLICATION OF EGGS!!!), and a lovely church service, my family and I worked in the yard (at my request), laying down bark and completing the weeding job my eldest son had done yesterday. By dinnertime, I knew we needed to fire up the grill! My husband got some gorgeous steaks and since I was inspired by watching Julie and Julia last night, I set to work making artichokes and homemade Hollandaise sauce! Julia's recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking was a snap to follow and the end result was delightful.


Artichoke

If you've never made it before and you like Hollandaise like I do (LOVE me some Eggs Benedict), definitely give it a shot!

Julia's recipe in my own words:

3 egg yolks
6 oz. melted butter + 2 oz. cold butter
1 tbs. cold water
1 tbs. lemon juice
Salt

Melt 6 oz. of butter and set aside.
In a double boiler before putting it on the heat, put the egg yolks and mix with a whisk for 1 minute. Add the water, lemon juice and dash of salt. Mix for another 1/2 minute. Put it over the heat and put in 1 oz. of cold butter. Don't mix. Let it sit and thicken. As it thickens, stir with the whisk. Thicken for a few minutes. It's thick enough if you can see the bottom of the bowl when you whisk. Remove from heat. Add the other 1 oz. of cold butter and whisk. This will cool it down. Once combined, slowly add (a few drips at a time) the melted butter while whisking. Incorporate completely before adding more butter. Continue slowly adding butter and whisking until completely incorporated. Don't add the white milk solids at the bottom of the melted butter.

Serve immediately or it can keep for up to an hour if you rest it in a bowl of lukewarm water.


Hollandaise

Hope you all have a great rest of the evening! I'm tuning into tonight to the finale of the Amazing Race to cheer on Jet and Cord, the cowboys from Oklahoma!!