Hollandaise Sauce

Yes yes, it is asparagus (Spargel) season here in Germany again; I am a huge fan and try to eat it as often as possible because before I will know it the season will be over and I will be sad!

I am still in love with my Spring Pasta with Green Asparagus [made it last Saturday with Mafaldine pasta]

but this year I am definitely going to make more white asparagus with cooked potatoes and my own vegan Hollandaise.

This is a typical German dish (although Hollandaise is a French sauce, or Dutch… depends who you ask) during the Spargel season and most restaurants offer it in some way or another. The supermarkets aisles are packed with boxes and powders to make this creamy yellowish sauce – Hollandaise – and since it is so essential to the Spargel I have tried making something similar and happy to report it was a success!

A real Hollandaise sauce  is based on butter and egg yolks – mine is based on Alpro soy cream and some spices. I have made the tofu based Hollandaise a few times but something in my head doesn’t allow me to enjoy a sauce that is made out of pureed tofu so I had to come up with something different.

So here it is, my lovely sauce; last time I made it my husband was wondering if it’s real Hollandaise. He was flattering me of course. The texture and consistency and even the look are very similar to Hollandaise, but the taste is only close – and it is perfectly fine for me – I wouldn’t want to eat anything that tastes like egg yolk anyway!

Ingredients:

• 1 box Alpro soy cream for cooking (or any other non-dairy cream for cooking)
• Juice from half a lemon
• 1 spoon nutritional yeast
• A bit of salt, a bit of Cayenne pepper (or white pepper), and at least ½ a tsp of turmeric for the nice yellowish color
• 2-3 spoons of soy butter (I use Sojola)

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients BUT the soy butter  very well – I used a small food processor
• Taste and balance flavors – more salt maybe? A tiny bit more lemon juice?
• 5 minutes before serving your asparagus – heat the sauce in a small pan – add the soy butter  – don’t bring to boil but make sure it is hot – you’ll notice it thickened a bit – cook for 2-4 minutes while mixing
• Pour on your asparagus and potatoes and start planning the next time you are going to make this dish…