By Brook Harlan

I love hollandaise. Most people limit it to breakfast, specifically eggs Benedict, but that doesn’t have to be the case. For health reasons it’s not something you should have everyday, but hollandaise can be just as delicious at lunch and dinner. May is the beginning of the asparagus season and also the end of fresh morel season but with all the rain we received in late winter and early spring, the seasons should overlap more than usual. Combine the three — asparagus, morels and hollandaise — and you get deliciousness times three.

Asparagus

May and June are great months for white or green asparagus; it’s a great vegetable that will go with any meal. Yes, I said white. When it is covered and out of the sun, asparagus does not photosynthesize and stays white. The result is a milder, sweet and tender spear (the term for an individual piece of asparagus).

Asparagus is an edible fern from the same family as onions and garlic. It doesn’t look like a fern when we eat it because we only eat asparagus when it’s young, but if it is left to grow each small upward triangular flap branches out into fuzzy leaves (turning into a fern) and the plant loses all culinary appeal.

Typically, spears are most desirable when they are the same or twice the diameter of a pencil. If it becomes much thicker it can be very woody and fibrous. Even thin asparagus is fairly tough at the base; a great way to judge where to cut it is to take one piece and snap it by holding it in the middle and at the very base. The part left at the top is tender and the bottom is tough. That’s not to say you need to throw it out. It still has a great asparagus flavor; it should just be cooked and then pureed foe use in a soup or sauce.

Asparagus is great grilled, sautéed, broiled or even simmered in salted water, then seasoned. The best way to tell doneness, like any other vegetable, is to insert a paring knife into the thickest part of the base while cooking. When the knife goes in with little resistance and the spear falls off when lifted, it is done.

Morels

For chefs, cooks and all food lovers, April and May are about the only time to get their hands on fresh local morels, the king of wild mushrooms. The unique, intense flavor is hard to describe but impossible to forget.

You may be lucky enough to find them at the market or know someone who hunts for them, or you may enjoy hunting them for yourself. Wild mushrooms can be dangerous — some are poisonous — so if you are new to mushroom hunting, it’s best to cross-check your finds with an expert.

Mushroom foragers start searching for morels from late March to early April; there have been some findings already in Missouri but with the “soupiness” of the ground, the big finds might be later than normal if temperatures don’t rise too high and dry everything out.

Making Hollandaise Sauce
One of the five grand or “mother sauces,” hollandaise sauce is a warm emulsion (forcing of two ingredients together that normally do not combine) of egg and butter seasoned with lemon, vinegar, shallots, salt and pepper With the addition of tarragon vinegar and fresh tarragon, it becomes béarnaise sauce.

2 ounces cider vinegar or white wine
2 ounces water
1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns
2 teaspoons minced shallots
2 egg yolks (from local eggs, of course)
8 ounces butter or clarified butter warmed (butter heated to separate milk solids and fat, milk solids are removed and the butter is strained to leave only the butter fat)
Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Hot sauce

In a small sauté pan, heat cider vinegar or white wine, water, peppercorns and shallots until there is only about 1 tablespoon of liquid left. Let the liquid cool slightly and then mix it with the egg yolk into a bowl that will fit on top of a saucepan but will not nestle (the edges of the bowl should stick out above the pan).

Place about 2 inches of water in the bottom of the saucepan and heat to simmering (small bubbles or 193 degrees). You have just created a bain-marie, or water bath.

Place a bowl with the yolks and the cider or wine reduction on the water bath and whisk briskly, removing the bowl from the water bath every 30 seconds or so to keep the eggs from getting too hot. Once the egg yolks start to form ribbons (thick strands that form in the path of the whisk), remove the bowl from the heat, pour out the water from the saucepan and place a towel over the pan to steady the bowl. Slowly whisk in the butter (use a liquid measuring cup with a spout to keep a thin stream while emulsifying). If the mixture becomes too shiny or it looks like there are thin lines of butter that are not emulsifying, whisk a teaspoon of hot water into the mixture. After the butter is incorporated, add small increments of lemon juice (if needed to balance out the richness), salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.

Cooking Morels Or Other Mushrooms
If using fresh morels, clean thoroughly with water inside and out or soak them to remove all the dirt. Slice them if desired; small ones may be left whole. If using dried mushrooms, reconstitute them in warm water or warm white wine. Sauté the mushroooms in a little butter and season them with salt and pepper. Cook the mushrooms before you make your hollandaise or keep your hollandaise warm (wrap it with plastic wrap and place it over a water bath again but at a much lower temperature) while sautéing. Once you have finished cooking the mushrooms, fold them into the hollandaise.

Cooking Asparagus
It doesn’t take much to cook asparagus; the easiest way after cutting off the woody part of the spear is to cook it in salted, simmering water. Use a paring knife to pierce the thickest part of the spear after a few minutes of simmering. When the knife goes in without too much pressure and comes out on its own, the asparagus is done. Don’t let it cook too long or you will have a mushy mess. Asparagus should have a little bite; keep it al dente just as you would risotto or pasta.

The Trifecta
Once you have all three elements of the dish completed, spoon the sauce over the asparagus and enjoy. It truly is a delight, seasonal and delicious.

Brook Harlan is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. He is a culinary arts instructor through the Columbia Area Career Center and Rock Bridge High School.

More About Morels
Morels normally grow 2 to 6 inches high and colors range from a creamy tan to brown or black. The top texture resembles a sponge with long and curved crevices. The inside is hollow throughout the stem to the top.

Fire or burn morels will pop up the first spring after unplanned or controlled forest fire. Burn morels will come up in larger spurts and clusters.

To learn more about hunting and eating morels and other edible wild mushrooms, visit the Missouri Department of Conservation Web site at mdc.mo.gov/nathis/mushrooms/mushroom/edible.htm.


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