Hollandaise Sauce

Yesterday, we celebrated my mom and her husband's birthdays by having them over for brunch. Brunch is my favorite meal, I think. It's so special that it takes the place of two meals! I'm also usually at my best midday- by the evening I'm pretty tired (Luke keeps us on our toes). I wanted to come up with something special, yet not too time-consuming. My mom is a fan of french food, and Eric likes english muffins and we all love salmon. Salmon eggs benedict it is!

I've never made a hollandaise sauce, and I probably should have practiced in advance. I used Mark Bittman's recipe, and while I adore his writing style and find his recipes easy to follow, I think I failed somewhere along the way. It tasted great (I added extra lemon to complement the salmon) but it was slightly curdled. I think I kept it over the heat too long? The recipe calls for three egg yolks and nearly a stick of butter, so it's definitely a fancy treat rather than an every-day sauce, but I'd try it again, since the execution of the entire meal is relatively simple.

I topped a perfectly-poached egg (I finally figured out how to poach the damn things without them looking like dying jellyfish) with the (slightly lumpy) sauce, and perched it on smoked salmon atop a toasted english muffin. I sauteed cherry tomatoes with rosemary and scattered them around, and served it with a side of sauteed chard. 

I adore leafy greens- I usually cook them the same way, regardless of type: chard, kale, mustard greens, sukuma wiki- by sauteeing them in a fat (olive oil or butter) with minced garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and a tiny drizzle of honey. The honey is key, I think. It balances the bitterness of the green and mellows out the lemon, and really rounds out the dish. 

I think the meal was a hit despite the sauce. Next time, I'll make the hollandaise sauce in an enamel pot and keep the heat as low as possible. Any other tips?