This weekend I made crepes for the first time. I doubled the recipe and had a ton left over. We tried them with a variety of fillings: strawberries, blueberries, cream cheese, honey, peanut butter, and mango. I have always had crepes for breakfast or dessert, but never for dinner. I have always associated "crepes" with "sweets" - fruity, sugary, chocolatey, syrupy fillings, mostly because that is how I always had them growing up.
Now combine this desire to try a savory crepe meal with my love for hollandaise sauce. Pure heart attack in rich, creamy, yellow form. I looked up how to make it, and I knew I shouldn't look, but I did: I checked out the nutritional facts. 450 calories?! Nearly 50 grams of fat?! Oh dear Lord. You don't look at nutritional facts when it comes to hollandaise sauce, you just eat it and savor it! So I could not, in good conscience, make it after reading that. But when I decide I want to do something, I can't get it out of my head. I get slightly obsessed when I get a food craving. Example: I made crepes on Saturday. I've been thinking about hollandaise since then and it's now Monday.
I'm not vegan by any means. But I tend to look at vegan alternatives when making some of my favorite comfort foods. I am dairy-free (98% of the time - I slip sometimes, what can I say?) and I find the vegan recipes are much more experimental. I've learned about more food alternatives through these vegan explorations that I don't think I would have come across in the past.
So here's the link to the recipe. It's a hybrid vegan eggs benedict/florentine. Here's her hollandaise recipe with my replacements in italics. The measurements are still the same.
I followed her directions exactly. It is amazing how much it looks, tastes and feels like hollandaise. I was blown away. Now, I'm sure if you did a taste test side by side, you could totally tell the difference. I mean, you really can't beat a sauce made with egg yolks and butter. Throw some bacon in there and I would die a happy woman. But since I eat hollandaise, say, maybe once or twice a year, it definitely satisfied my craving!
I followed her directions exactly. It is amazing how much it looks, tastes and feels like hollandaise. I was blown away. Now, I'm sure if you did a taste test side by side, you could totally tell the difference. I mean, you really can't beat a sauce made with egg yolks and butter. Throw some bacon in there and I would die a happy woman. But since I eat hollandaise, say, maybe once or twice a year, it definitely satisfied my craving!
I just realized I didn't post the directions on how to make the hollandaise sauce, so here you go:
ReplyDeleteHeat a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add the Smart Balance and heat until it is sizzling and boiling quite a bit. Whisk in the flour all at once to make a paste and continue to whisk it constantly for about a minute. Add in a SMALL pinch of turmeric for color and mix well (you want your sauce yellow, but you don’t want it too yellow). Slowly whisk in soy or almond milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes and remove from heat. Whisk in the cayenne and nutritional yeast. Add the lemon juice and mix well. Taste for seasoning. Season to your taste with salt and a bit of black pepper. Lastly, add the vegenaise or light canola mayo for a little bit more creaminess.