manintheboat
01-28-2005, 04:42 PM
It is Friday, it is cold, and I am bored. As a public service, I will do a series on basic classic sauces. The first recipe will be Beurre Blanc Sauce. It is one of the "mother sauces". It goes very well over a fresh filet of fish. This recipe comes off of the food tv website. Here goes:
1/3 cup champagne vinegar (you can use white wine vinegar)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup fine chopped shallots (fine chopped onion will work if you cannot get shallots)
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed (close to room temperature. pull out of fridge, let sit for an hour before making)
salt and pepper to taste
In a 2 qt heavy saucepan, combine vinegar, wine, shallots, lemon and bay leaves and simmer over medium heat for 5-8 minutes. Reduce down to about 2 tablespoons. Add cream and continue to simmer until reduced again to about 2 tablespoons. It is really important to make sure that you reduce it because if there is too much liquid, the sauce will be runny.
Lower the heat to low and wisk the cubes of butter into the mixture. It is important to introduce the butter in small batches (about 2-3 1" cubes of butter at a time). Wisk completely before adding more butter. Repeat until all the butter is incorperated into the sauce. It is also VERY important to make sure that the heat is on the lowest setting possible.
You now have a basic Beurre Blanc sauce. There are many things you can do from here to give the sauce an extra kick. I like to add about 2 tablespoons of fine chopped chives, 2 tablespoons fine chopped roma tomatoes and 1 tablespoon of capers.
Try this on a fresh filet of fish. It is outstanding!!!
1/3 cup champagne vinegar (you can use white wine vinegar)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup fine chopped shallots (fine chopped onion will work if you cannot get shallots)
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed (close to room temperature. pull out of fridge, let sit for an hour before making)
salt and pepper to taste
In a 2 qt heavy saucepan, combine vinegar, wine, shallots, lemon and bay leaves and simmer over medium heat for 5-8 minutes. Reduce down to about 2 tablespoons. Add cream and continue to simmer until reduced again to about 2 tablespoons. It is really important to make sure that you reduce it because if there is too much liquid, the sauce will be runny.
Lower the heat to low and wisk the cubes of butter into the mixture. It is important to introduce the butter in small batches (about 2-3 1" cubes of butter at a time). Wisk completely before adding more butter. Repeat until all the butter is incorperated into the sauce. It is also VERY important to make sure that the heat is on the lowest setting possible.
You now have a basic Beurre Blanc sauce. There are many things you can do from here to give the sauce an extra kick. I like to add about 2 tablespoons of fine chopped chives, 2 tablespoons fine chopped roma tomatoes and 1 tablespoon of capers.
Try this on a fresh filet of fish. It is outstanding!!!