Blanche Vaughan's brilliant sea kale and hollandaise sauce

Sparclear wrote of the wild bounty of the Channel Islands in her last blog , especially the wonderful sea kale. Meanwhile, I was thinking exactly the same as I explored the coastline of Norfolk. It seems strange that such a delicious wild vegetable, growing in abundance and that can easily be cultivated too, has become so rare to us. The tender green stalks have something of the succulence of asparagus but with a more delicate flavour, yet taste excellent with many of asparagus' favourite accompaniments. I agree with Sparclear when it comes to over foraging, especially in the case of sea kale which can be grown well in the garden. Where we were staying, they had old-fashioned forcing pots which encourage the stalks to shoot up, blanching and tenderising them as they go and keeping the leaves to a minimum. Some hardy plants had escaped from this control and carried on growing as though on the beach, so you can see the contrast between wild and forced. Both are beautiful in their own way. This blanching is often done out of the garden, where shingle is piled up around the plants on the coast, protecting them from the sunlight. Back in the kitchen, trimmed into neat lengths, we boiled it briefly in salted water and served it in a way as old fashioned as the pots – coated in a thick, buttery hollandaise made with local eggs. Sea kale and hollandaise Serves 2 1 large bunch of sea kale, trimmed into short lengths 2tbsp good vinegar ½ tsp peppercorns 1 bay leaf 2 yolks 150g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes 1 lemon Sea salt and pepper Find a heatproof bowl that fits into a saucepan, leaving a few inches gap between the bottom of the pan and the bowl. Fill the pan with water so it doesn't quite touch the bottom of the bowl, heat to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a small pan, boil the vinegar with the peppercorns and bay leaf to reduce by half. But the egg yolks in the bowl over the saucepan of water and strain the vinegar into this, mixing well. Add the butter, a couple of cubes at a time, stirring well to let it melt into the eggs to start making a thick sauce. Continue to do this, taking care the bowl doesn't get too hot over the steaming water, or that the water doesn't all evaporate, until all the butter is added. Taste the sauce and add lemon juice and salt and pepper as required. This can now be kept warm over its pan of water while you cook the seakale. Fill a large pan with salted water and bring it to the boil. Cook the stalks for a couple of minutes until just tender. You can check them by piercing them with a knife or skewer. Remove and drain and serve hot with the hollandaise spooned over.