Steam your asparagus until desired doneness
Hollandaise:
First, have everything ready to go before starting this sauce. It goes from perfect, to a curdled mess in seconds, and you won't have time to leave the stove. It takes practice, but it is so worth the effort.
Keep your potholder close, as the bowl gets very hot.
Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
1 stick melted unsalted butter, with most of the milk solids scooped off the top
1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper
Fresh chives, chopped
Into a bowl (use a stainless steel bowl if you have one) set on top of a pot of steaming water, add the egg yolks and lemon. Be sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Whisk constantly until eggs are thickened and doubled in volume. Feel free to move the pot off the burner if your water starts boiling, you don't want it to get too hot, or you will have scrambled eggs. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter, still whisking until the sauce is thick. The egg yolks will only hold so much of the butter. If it starts to get too thick, stop adding the melted butter, as it will have enough at that point. Immediately remove the bowl from the heat and add the salt and cayenne. I keep the sauce warm in a glass measuring cup placed into a pot with 1 inch of water, and whisk occasionally, until using. If the sauce gets too thick, you can add either more lemon juice, or a few drops of water.
Pour sauce over your asparagus, and top with the fresh chives. This is perfect for eggs Benedict also.
If you don't have stainless steel bowls, I highly recommend you get some, they are fairly inexpensive on Amazon. Also, you should have a good collection of different size whisks. Obviously, you cannot fit a big balloon whisk inside a small glass measuring cup. They make tiny ones, small and medium sized whisks for all purposes. Something to think about, as tools are important.