Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Directions
-Melt butter in a 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Remove pan from heat and let stand for 3 minutes. Skim foam from top of butter.
-Whisk together yolks, lemon juice, and water in another 1-quart heavy saucepan until frothy. Set pan over low heat and whisk constantly and vigorously until yolks are pale yellow and slightly thickened (you should be able to draw whisk through yolks and see bottom of pan before yolks flow back together), 3 to 4 minutes.
-Remove pan from heat and gradually whisk in melted butter: drop by drop for first third of butter, then 1 teaspoon at a time for second third and 1 tablespoon at a time for final third, leaving milky solids in bottom of pan. Whisk in salt and white pepper.

Basil Vinaigrette

I have been into making my salad dressings lately. D. was right, home made stuff really does taste a lot better even when it comes to salad dressings. A friend of mine gave me this great recipe for a Basil Vinaigrette that is just out of this world!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup olive oil
2 cups fresh basil, chopped
1 peeled shallot
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
dash of salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp Dijon mustard

Gently heat 1/4 cup oil and 1 cup basil for 2-3 minutes (the basil should turn bright green and the oil should have small bubbles). Remove from heat and steep for five minutes.

Put the garlic, shallot, vinegar, remaining water, salt, pepper and mustard into the blender and pulse til garlic and shallots are chopped fine. Run the blender and slowly add basil/ oil combo and blend until dressing is smooth. Add remaining basil and blend til smooth.

You can keep this in the fridge in an airtight jar for about three days.

Absurdly Easy Tomato Sauce

I made the easiest (and tastiest) tomato sauce last night. I always thought that it was a difficult thing to do but I guess not. It also uses cherry tomatoes so I finally found a use for those besides plopping them on salads.
Ingredients:
3 Tbs olive oil
3 cloves garlic lightly smashed
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped Kalmata olives
1 Tbs each finely chopped basil, thyme, and rosemary
1 1/2 pounds cherry tomatoes halved

Directions:
Heat the oil on low in a large frying pan/ skillet and add the garlic. Let the garlic infuse the oil with flavor before digging out the three smashed chunks (leave all the finely chopped garlic in there). Turn the heat up to medium/ medium high and add the olives and the herbs and cook for about a minute or two then add the tomatoes. Stir occasionally and let it turn to a pulpy sauce (about 15-20 minutes) and serve over pasta.