I Want a Goat: Goat's Milk Butter Hollandaise

Sunday morning with K on the couch and odd ends in the fridge, I threw down a surprisingly delicious Eggs Benedict using goat's milk butter in my hollandaise sauce. Major wow effect.

Cornmeal Drop Biscuits

1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. yellow cornmeal
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten

1 c uncased chicken apple sausage

1c grated Parmesan reggiano
Vegetable cooking spray

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine milk, oil, egg, sausage and cheese Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 1 dozen biscuits.

Adapted from Cooks.com. My changes are in red. I wasn't actually thrilled with the biscuits, they ended up a little too dense. I looked specifically for a recipe with no baking soda as I refused to leave the house.  Next time I'll try a different one. They weren't bad, they were more than edible. Maybe I should be thinking of them more as a scone, with that scone-like density and less a biscuit.

Goat's Milk Butter Hollandaise Sauce

      4 egg yolks

      1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

      1/2 cup goat's milk butter, melted (1 stick)

      Pinch paprika

      Pinch  sea salt

Vigorously whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a stainless steel bowl and until the mixture is thickened and doubled in volume. Place the bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water (or use a double boiler,) the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Continue to whisk rapidly. Be careful not to let the eggs get too hot or they will scramble. Slowly drizzlein the melted butter and continue to whisk until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume. Remove from heat, whisk in cayenne and salt. Cover and place in a warm spot until ready to use for the Eggs Benedict. If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in a few drops of warm water before serving.

This recipe was adapted from Tyler Florence from the Food Network. Again, my changes are in red. The recipe calls for one stick of butter, which I know is half a cup.  I also know that in measures of volume half a cup equals 8 ounces, but I wasn't sure exactly what this would translate into in terms of mass. Instead of guessing I pulled out one of my handy food scales. No, I did not buy this for weighing drugs, I am drug free.  I was happy to discover that despite my nipping away at the goat's milk butter now and again to spread on crackers I had exactly 8 ounces left. Ta da!

The changes in both recipes were simple, tailored only with regard to what was currently hanging around in my fridge.  The change from regular butter to goat's milk butter is simple enough and really elevated that hollandaise sauce from something standard to something sublime.

Clockwise from upper left: whisking the yolks over a pan of simmering water, see the textural changes as the liquid thickens, you can see the mixture start to get chunky as the eggs started cooking too quickly so we took it off the heat, to get the texture I wanted I added a couple tablespoons of hot water and continued to whisk.  

Counter clockwise from upper left: cornmeal drop biscuits, perfectly poached eggs, hollandaise with an edible nasturtium and mint to garnish. I have now mastered one of the important mother sauces of France. First time perfection is unusual in my kitchen, I am ending my weekend incredibly self satisfied.

Taking personalization a step further, my husband is one who doesn't care to eat several tablespoon fulls of butter first thing in the morning. I topped his eggs with a cup of errant tomato sauce I found in the front of the fridge from throwing together a plate of pasta here the other evening.  This too was delicious, healthier although not as special tasting. And I don't garnish someone else's cooking! ;-p