Beurre Blanc Sauce

Beurre Blanc is a white wine and butter sauce that goes really well with any seafood. It has a reputation of being difficult to prepare but I’m going to show to a trick taught to me by a French chef that makes beurre blanc as easy as pie.

Beurre blanc is a neutral sauce, meaning that you can easily add elements to it that change it’s flavor significantly. For example, in this recipe I’m adding some Rosemary. This rosemary beurre blanc is one of my favorite sauces to dress up a salmon filet.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 large shallot chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
• 1 stick (1/4 pound) unsalted butter
• 4 Tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

NOTE: Traditionally, beurre blanc was prepared using Muscadet wine, which is sufficiently acidic that the lemon juice can be omitted.

Cut the butter into small cubes or slices.

I like to make beurre blanc using the same pan as was used to prepare the item it’s going to be used with.  For example, after sautéing a salmon filet, I’ll wipe any remaining oil from the sauté pan (being careful to not disturb any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan) and use it to make the beurre blanc.  The fond left from cooking the salmon adds additional flavor to the sauce.

Add the wine, shallots, and rosemary to the pan. Deglaze the pan – lightly scrape any browed bits up from the bottom of the pan so that become part of the sauce. (If you are new to this, once the wine starts to bubble, getting those yummy brown bits from the bottom of the pan is easy.) Let the wine reduce until there is about a tablespoon left in the pan. Remove from the heat.

Beurre blanc has a reputation for ‘breaking’, meaning that the butter does not fully emulsify and combine with the other ingredients.  A French chef taught me this trick: At this point in the process add the cream. Start adding the butter, one piece at a time while whisking vigorously. (You may nee to return the pan to the heat briefly if the butter is slow to melt.)

Most chefs prefer to strain the sauce at this point.  However, if you are serving this over a pale fish that has little color, then you may prefer to serve it unstrained.  The shallots and other bits in the sauce will add visual appeal.