Hollandaise Sauce

From the first day of spring, I use Hollandaise sauce until I get sick of it – which, admittedly, is never. One of the five mother sauces in French cuisine, I have tried to make it using several different methods, but I always come back to the immersion blender approach. Not only is it easier than endlessly whisking the sauce by hand, but slowly adding the hot melted butter between the quickmoving blades almost guarantees a scramble-free outcome.

1) In a saucepan over medium heat, melt ½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons, unsalted butter. Once butter begins to simmer, remove from heat.

2) In a large bowl, using an immersion blender, blend 5 egg yolks and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice together.

3) Very slowly, add hot melted butter to yolk-lemon juice mixture. Continue to use the immersion blender the entire time you're pouring in the butter.

4) Once the sauce has thickened forming a nice, creamy consistency, stop blending.

5) Whisk in ¹⁄₈ teaspoon cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and ¹⁄₈ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

� Serve immediately.

WIf you need to thin out the sauce before serving, whisk in warm water (one teaspoon at a time) until desired consistency is reached.