Hollandaise

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon water

2 egg yolks

100g butter, at room temperature and cut up into 1cm cubes

Salt and pepper

Put the vinegar and water into a pan, and boil hard until reduced to about I tablespoon. Cool slightly.

Put the egg yolks in a basin, and stir in the reduced vinegar. Place the bowl over half a pan of hot water (NOT boiling) so the water doesn’t quite reach the bottom of the bowl. Heat gently, stirring all the time with a small whisk. As the egg yolks start to thicken, add a cube of butter and continue stirring while it melts. Repeat until all the butter is used up.

The resulting sauce should be almost thick enough to ‘peak’. Remove the bowl from the pan before the sauce gets too thick.

Serve the sauce warm, not hot, with asparagus.

Mayonnaise

1 egg yolk

½ teaspoon mustard powder

½ teaspoon salt

A twist/pinch of white pepper

½ teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice (or white wine vinegar)

150ml vegetable oil (or light olive oil)

Put the egg yolk in a small food processor (or bowl, if you’re feeling brave) with the mustard, salt, pepper, sugar and lemon juice (or vinegar). Whisk/blend, adding the oil in a fine stream (if you’re using a blender) or drop by drop (if you’re doing it by hand) until the mix thickens. If there’s still some oil left, add a little warm water and that will slacken it. Keep going until the oil is used up.

White sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

300ml milk

½ teaspoon salt (miss this out if it’s a sweet sauce)

This is a foolproof method. Melt the butter over a medium heat. As soon as it sizzles, add the flour (and salt) and stir with a little whisk. Fry gently for 2 minutes, stirring. Add all the cold milk at once. Continue stirring with the whisk until it thickens. Add a little more milk if you want the sauce thinner.

This is what’s known as béchamel sauce.

To this basic sauce you can add:

·         Cheese (for cauliflower cheese etc.)

·         Chopped parsley (to serve with fish or ham)

·         A teaspoon or two of mustard (to serve with chicken or roast meat)

·         Brandy (to a sweet version, for your Christmas pud)

If you’re making a soufflé, let the basic savoury sauce cool a bit, then stir in 2 egg yolks. This will help the soufflé to stay ‘up’.

Gravy

When you are roasting anything, put the following in the bottom of the pan (under the meat):

1 large onion, sliced or chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

I stick celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, whole

250ml water, wine or beer

When you remove your roast from the oven, take it out of the roasting pan and set it on a plate (under foil) to rest.

Put the roasting pan on the hob, over a medium heat. As soon as it starts to sizzle, add another 250ml of wine or beer. Scrape the pan (known as de-glazing) to loosen all the stuck bits. Reduce the liquid until it’s sticky.

Stir in a tablespoon of beurre manie (see recipe) then add boiling water gradually, stirring all the time, to the preferred consistency. Simmer for 5 minutes (to get rid of any floury taste).

Add a tablespoon of whatever herbs you like (optional) and a tablespoon of fruit jelly (the stuff in a jar, not the stuff you serve at kids parties). Try cranberry, redcurrant, crab apple, or whatever you have. Check seasoning, and add salt and pepper to taste. Strain through a sieve into a clean bowl or pan. Keep warm until needed, or refrigerate and re-heat.

Beurre manie

This is a basic – equal parts of butter and plain flour, creamed together with a fork. It’s used to thicken gravy, sauces and stews.