Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

Thanksgiving, a time to get together with family to eat turkey and roasted asparagus with hollandaise sauce.  This year I contributed a vegetable to my family thanksgiving. I choose to follow in the footsteps of the Barefoot Contessa with her recipe. It was quite easy and definitely flavorful.

This recipe is from the

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Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise
Copyright 2010, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved
Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
4 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pinches of cayenne pepper
2 pounds fresh asparagus
Good olive oil

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 3/4 teaspoon pepper and cayenne in the jar of a blender. Blend for 15 seconds. With the blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the blender and blend for 30 seconds, until the sauce is thick. (You can leave it in the blender at room temperature for up to 1 hour. If it is made in advance, add 1 tablespoon hot tap water and blend for a few seconds before serving.)

Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and, if they're thick, peel them. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat the asparagus completely. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender but still crisp.

Pour the hollandaise sauce over the warm asparagus and serve.

The Hollandaise and the Asparagus are easy to cook. This is a vegetable that is easy to put together and is an elegant addition, and worth serving for Thanksgiving.

Little Ironside

This is the pumpkin I bought for the holidays. The market called them little ironsides. It was perfect for Halloween and it is great for Thanksgiving.

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

It has been slow getting back into the swing of things. It is hard to believe that I haven’t written since before Thanksgiving.
 

I downloaded a journal, which I started using. I like the setup because it allows for compartmentalization. It also allows me to put in info about the weather.

For Christmas I took my mother to see Mamma Mia! At the Bushnell thanks to Quinnipac University. It was absolutely excellent. I loved to see the dancers dance and boy can they jump. Everyone cheered and there was a standing ovation.

That same week my Mother volunteered at the Ivoryton Playhouse and saw The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever. It was fun with all the kids performing.

The next day I went with my Mother to visit Mark Twain’s house in Hartford. Upon entering the house we were greeted with carolers. In the museum entrance they have a Mark Twain made out of LEGO®, and in another room they had his home made out LEGO®. It was beautiful and full of so much detail work from the wood to the stenciling.

We then went to the Harriet Beecher Stowe house which was right next store. Her life was amazing. Her husband was a professor and she was home raising her kids, but she wanted to make some money on the side so she wrote books. In 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published and she made $10,000. Because of her work there was the underground railroad into Canada.


For the holiday I made a number of recipes. For thanksgiving, I went to my boyfriend’s brother’s home in New York. I brought as a gift a Cider Pumpkin Bread.

And here is the recipe which I found in the 12th Anniversary A.R. Mazzotta

I also made a Cranberry-Orange Brie which I do not have a picture of but is a family favorite.

I made Salmon Dill Dip for the company party. For my brother's birthday on Christmas Eve I made Ultimate Fudge Brownies. They are a cake-like brownie.

This recipe came from The Brownie Experience Cookbook by Lisa Tanner. Here is the recipe.

These brownies were a hit!! 


That is all for now.


Be adventurous in all things!


Cassandra