Recipes by Joanne Woodward: Cranberry-Apple-Nut Pie; Never-Fail Hollandaise Sauce

Joanne Woodward's Cranberry-Apple-Nut Pie

Prepared pastry for 2 crust, 9-inch pie
2 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries
3 large apples, peeled, sliced to make 1 1/2 cups
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds (toast in slow oven to slightly brown)
Pinch of salt
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp. finely grated orange rind
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsps. melted butter

1. Roll out 2/3 of pie crust and line bottom and sides of an ungreased 9-inch pie pan (or long-handled skillet).

2. Wash, drain, and chop cranberries in halves; combine with remaining ingredients. Toss to coat all particles; pour mixture into lined pie pan.

3. Roll out remaining crust. Top with lattice top made by cutting pastry into 1/2-inch strips. Crimp edges to seal lower and upper crusts. Bake in preheated 425 degrees F. oven 40 minutes (or until brown and bubbly). Cool before cutting. Serve alone or top with cranberry whipped cream (2 cups crushed cranberries cooked with 1 cup sugar for 15 minutes over medium heat, cooled before adding to well chilled whipped cream), hard sauce or scoops of vanilla ice cream. Serves 6.

Joanne Woodward's Never-Fail Hollandaise Sauce

3 large egg yolks
3 wooden spoonfuls cold water (3 tbsps.)
1/4 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
2/3 lb. salted butter, cut in small bits, at room temperature
Fresh lemon juice to taste (about 1 tbsp.)

1. Place egg yolks in small crock (or top of double boiler) with cold water beating with wire whisk (or wooden spoon). Place bowl (or upper half of double boiler) over lower half of double boiler filled With hot, not boiling water. Over low heat add salt and pepper to yolk mixture.

2. Cook, stirring sauce constantly until it begins to coat the spoon. Remove from heat, still keeping bowl over hot water. Bit by bit add butter to sauce, stirring constantly after each addition to make a thickened, smooth sauce. Lastly, beat in lemon juice. Sauce can be made in advance by placing in pan of lukewarm water (or near the faint heat from a gas pilot light). Serve warm with artichokes or asparagus. Makes about 1 cup.

Thoughts: Joanne's hollandaise sauce particularly deserves your careful attention and patience! She advises, "Never, never melt butter before adding to the sauce--that would be total disaster. I had failure only one time when I used sweet (unsalted) butter. Remember, the water must never be boiling and while it seems to take forever to make, stirring for an eternity, the sauce comes out absolutely divine and never separates. Sauce can be reheated by placing over a bowl of warm water, stirring constantly."

Weight watchers may want to reduce quantity of butter slightly. But in any case, butter must be added to the yolk mixture very slowly to prevent curdling or separating.