Asparagus with hollandaise sauce

This is a Riverford recipe. It seems quite simple. What could possibly go wrong, right?

I preferred Darina Allen's hollandaise sauce recipe just due to the fact that hers requires less butter for the same amount of egg yolks. But instead of pairing the sauce with eggs to make Eggs Benedict, I decided to go along with Riverford and pair it with asparagus. 

Here I am, at the end of the recipe, finally adding the lemon juice, when I decide that 1 tsp is not enough and add 3. The end result was curled sauce. Gosh! Ok, let's do it again.

Second attempt, only 1 tsp of lemon juice and it curdles again. I think I've heard some rumours about the difficulty of making hollandaise sauce...

Anyway, I decide not to loose heart. I go to YouTube and find a Jamie Oliver video. Jamie adds the lemon juice in the beginning, not at the end. So I think, maybe that's it! Attempt #3 it is. All was going so well until I took the sauce off the heat, albeit leaving the bowl over the heated pan as advised. It curdled again!

Six eggs and 375g butter later, I am frustrated, dishearten, angry and hungry. I finally decide to leave it and had the sauce as it was. Not the tastiest hollandaise sauce I've had, though...

Serves: 2 persons (starter), 1 person (main).

Ingredients:

• 250g asparagus
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tsp water
• 125g butter, diced
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Put the egg yolks, water and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl that seats snuggly over a pan of barely simmering water (bain-marie).
   
2. Whisk until it has doubled in volume and thickened.
   
3. Add the butter, bit by bit, whisking all the time. As soon as one piece melts, add the next piece. Do not leave the pan or stop whisking until the sauce is made.
   
   
   
   
4. The mixture will gradually thicken, until it has the consistency of double cream.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Leave the sauce in the bowl, over the pan holding the water, but taken off the heat, to keep it warm while you cook the asparagus. This is where all turned sour...
   
7. Prepare the asparagus (see 'How to prepare asparagus' in New potatoes & chorizo hash with asparagus and poached egg recipe). Grill them for about 10 min or until the thicker part of the stalk, the root end, is cooked. Turn them occasionally as they grill.
8. Plate the asparagus with the hollandaise sauce.