Hollandaise Ozzified into Fauxlandaise - another The Chew Redo Oct 5, 2011

Well, what do you know??? Style guy Clinton Kelly shared a recipe on today's The Chew – one he touted as very simple. He even had the audience chant back the three main ingredients – a stick of butter, four egg yolks and half a lemon. Unfortunately those are also ingredients for 

• a pacemaker
• an angioplasty 
• a quadruple bypass 

Now I love a great Hollandaise sauce as much as the next person, but I also love asparagus, and the taste of those heavenly green spears doesn’t come through as nicely when covered in a sauce they don’t really need. It’s like a beautiful girl caking on the make-up - unnecessary.

When I make asparagus, I toss them in a little extra virgin olive oil, give them a quick grind of sea salt then grill them outside on the barbeque. Yeah, I know, added salt…but it isn’t near enough to worry about so long as the rest of the meal’s sodium is kept in check. 

Grilled Asparagus:

Of course, not everyone loves their asparagus naked, so a rich-tasting sauce is a must for the vegephobic. Rich-tasting does not have to be rich in fat. 


I have a great Fauxlandaise sauce I make for when I am craving Eggs Benedict that also works nicely on asparagus.

1. Put 1 tsp heart-healthy olive oil and 1 tsp Earth Balance buttery spread into a saucepan. 
2. Once the oil blend starts to bubble, shake in about a TBSP of Wondra flour to make a roux. Don’t let it brown. 
3. When it starts to clump up, whisk in a generous splash of nonfat milk and stir vigorously until all the flour is incorporated and it begins to clump again.  
4. Add another generous splash of milk and continue to whip with a whisk until you have a smooth, velvety, white sauce.  
5. This next part is the tricky part, adding in two (or more if you like it tart) teaspoons of lemon juice without breaking the sauce. The trick is to do it slowly all the while whisking away. 
6. Once it is all smooth and incorporated, add in some hot sauce like Tabasco or Crystal – don’t be afraid to keep sampling until the Fauxlandaise tastes close to the real thing. The more you add, the less it will look like white sauce like it does below:

Real Hollandaise is airy, just as Clinton described. This sauce is almost as airy, but it is also full of lemony, heart-healthy deliciousness.