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ASPARAGUS WITH HOLLANDAISE

INSPIRED BY

AMERICAN BEAUTY

In an incredibly tense dinner scene in Sam Mendes’s directorial debut, American Beauty, a family’s roiling tensions come to a head over a plate of un-passed asparagus. Lester Burnham, the patriarch played by Kevin Spacey, then theatrically gets up from the table and hurls the plate at the wall, making the poor asparagus collateral damage on his new path of not giving a bleep anymore. Here is a redeeming version of this dish with a rich hollandaise sauce and a luxuriously runny egg—please pass gently.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

1 whole egg plus 4 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 bay leaf

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

Freshly ground black pepper

Make the hollandaise: In a metal bowl, whisk together 4 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice, salt and cayenne until combined. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 inch of water to a simmer and place the bowl over the water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Whisk the egg mixture until the yolks are pale yellow and thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat. Very slowly drizzle the butter down the side of the bowl, whisking constantly, until the hollandaise becomes thick and creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Poach the egg: Fill a wide saucepan with a few inches of water and bring to a simmer. Add the vinegar. Crack the whole egg into a fine-mesh sieve and swirl to remove the thin liquid around the egg white (this is optional). Swirl a spoon in the boiling water to create a whirlpool. Quickly but gently roll the egg into the simmering water and continue to swirl the water in one direction to help the egg white wrap around itself. Poach the egg until the white is just set and the yolk is still runny, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the bay leaf and the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in a large saucepan and fill with enough water to just reach the bottom of a steamer basket. Steam the asparagus until crisp-tender, about 6 to 10 minutes, depending on their size. Transfer the asparagus to a platter or serving dish, top with the hollandaise sauce and the poached egg. Grind some fresh pepper over the top and break the yolk before serving.

“Then I told my boss to go fuck himself, and then I blackmailed him for almost $60,000. Pass the asparagus.”

—Lester Burnham