Sauce Maltaise — Blood Orange Hollandaise

Ingredients

• For the hollandaise base
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 splash cold water, added to yolks before whisking
• 250 g clarified butter, added in a thin stream
• 1 squeeze lemon juice, regular lemon, for background acidity
• to taste fine salt
• For the Maltaise finish
• 2–3 blood oranges, Moro or Tarocco variety preferred; January–March only
• 2 tbsp reduced blood orange juice, from above reduction, cooled to warm before folding
• 1 tsp blood orange zest, finely grated; fresh only — dried or pre-grated lacks volatile oils

Method

1. 1
   Whisk the egg yolks with a splash of cold water in a heatproof bowl set over gentle heat. Continue whisking until the mixture is thick and pale and leaves a ribbon when the whisk is lifted — the yolks must reach this stage before any butter is added.
2. 2
   Remove the bowl momentarily from the heat. Add the clarified butter in the thinnest possible stream, whisking constantly, returning the bowl to gentle heat as needed. The emulsion is done when the sauce is glossy, coats the back of a spoon, and holds its body without running. Season with salt and a squeeze of regular lemon juice. This is the hollandaise base.
3. 3
   Juice the blood oranges into a small saucepan. Reduce over medium heat until the volume is halved. The liquid will darken to a deep ruby and smell intensely of berry-citrus. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to warm before proceeding.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies: fold 2 tablespoons of the cooled reduction and 1 teaspoon of finely grated blood orange zest into the finished hollandaise with slow, deliberate strokes. Vigorous whisking at this point will break the emulsion. The sauce is ready when it is pale gold streaked with ruby and the blood orange is visible as colour throughout, not as a separated layer.
5. 5
   Serve immediately, napped over steamed asparagus on a warm plate. The heat of the sauce releases the zest oils; the plate should rise with perfume at the moment of service. The sauce tastes of butter first, then of bright, almost berry-like orange, with lemon providing background acidity.