Asparagus is bang in season, peas are just perfect straight from the vine, green beans are as big as they're going to be and Jersey Royal potatoes are absolutely perfect in their short season.
What a joy when such a tryst happens!
Perfection on a plate can be had, accompanying that bounty with a good piece of fish and a light sauce.
Let's get straight on with it ...
First, prepare the sauce: Hollandaise, here. Crack a couple of eggs and place the yolks into a bowl, whisking in some lemon juice. Half a lemon will do. Reserve the whites for something, or other, maybe fritters? Sit that aside. We'll use it later.
Peel and slice the potatoes. Using a large pan, boil the slices.
Meanwhile, pod the peas, de-string the beans and slice, prepare the asparagus and place the lot in a steamer.
In another steamer, place a couple of fillets onto a piece of kitchen foil. I had a couple of really nice pieces of Pacific salmon, which made a nice change from my usual Atlantic and Baltic salmon.
As the potatoes just start to turn over from crunchy, settle the steamer pans on the top of the boiling water, fish first, green veggies stacked over. Both will take only two or three minutes.
Take a good slab of butter (maybe a couple of centimetres off the end of a stick) and get it melting in a pan.
Retrieve the potatoes and allow the last of the water to steam off, plating up with the green veg and the fillet on top.
Now, the sauce ... which only takes maybe 30 seconds, so don't worry about the food going cold.
Place the bowl with the whisked egg yolks over the boiling water and keep whisking while you pour the melted butter in. Lift the bowl off the steam every so often to prevent the eggs from scrambling. If the sauce gets too thick, just as a drop of cold water and whisk. That's your Hollandaise. Pour over the fish and garnish with herbs: chives are perfect.
