Broiled salmon with roasted potatoes and Hollandaise

My Hollandaise sauce gets better each time. I like this guy's technique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m3ulPfoiIU

Cheese ravioli with asparagus and hollandaise

This was my second attempt at making hollandaise sauce, and it was a great improvement over my first attempt. I was scared of scrambling or overcooking the egg yolks, but it seems this might be less of a concern as I originally thought. The yolks must be pretty stiff for this sauce to work. Also, add the butter very slowly!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m3ulPfoiIU

I used two egg yolks and about 1/4 or 1/3 cup butter. This makes enough sauce for one large serving, and I can't imagine using the full 1 1/2 cups of butter as is specified in the video. I also skipped the cayenne, and added paprika on top as a garnish. In retrospect, the sauce could use a dash of cayenne, and I'd still keep the paprika garnish.

The ravioli was Trader Joe's 4-cheese variety.

Grilled salmon with asparagus, mashed potatoes and Hollandaise

The combination of salmon, potatoes and asparagus is really great. This is one of my favorites.

Marinate a salmon stake or fillet in:

1 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 minced garlic clove
juice of half a lemon
splash of soy sauce
black pepper


Peel potatoes (one per person), then cut into 1" cubes. Place the cubes into a pot of salted water, and bring to a boil.

Once the potatoes start boiling, begin grilling the fish (about 5-8 minutes per side).

While the fish is grilling, cook asparagus in salted boiling water (4-6 minutes)

Start the Hollandaise sauce by very slowly cooking an egg yolk in a stainless bowl with a splash of lemon juice. Hold the bowl a few inches away from the stove burner to achieve very gentle heating. The egg yolk is cooked when it has thickened enough to form "pale ribbons" on the surface (around 8 minutes). Once cooked, add a few tbsps melted butter (some people insist on using clarified butter) very slowly to the egg. The ratio of egg:butter varies a lot among recipes. Whisk constantly. The sauce should thicken, and is ready to serve immediately. Salt and pepper or cayenne can be added.

Mash the potatoes. I prefer to only add a small amount of milk and garlic powder, since this will be served with the rich Hollandaise sauce.

Assemble everything on a plate and enjoy!