Beurre Blanc

Do you see that yellow puddle of goodness below the fish?  That is a lemon beurre blanc. My first one...ever!  This blog is so not about the fish or the roasted broccolli, which were very good, but not the star of last night's dinner.  It is all about the butter sauce flavored with lemon juice, lemon zest, white wine, shallots, heavy cream and BUTTER.  Did I mention beurre blanc is a butter sauce?  In order to convice myself it was ok to eat a butter sauce with 12 tablespoons of butter for dinner on a Wednesday I had to make sure the fish and broccolli were as healthy as possible.  Given that we had this for dinner last night...I'd say I was very convincing!  Yea me!  So I seared the fish in 1 tbls oil and 1/2 tbls of butter, then finished it in the oven.  Very healthy, right?  I drizzled the broccolli with lemon olive oil, chile flakes, salt and pepper and roasted in a 400 degree oven.  Very healthy...oh yah!  The recipe I used for my first ever beurre blanc is one of Alton Brown's from foodnetwork.com.  The recipe is called Raymond Beurre Blanc.  Not sure who Raymond is but he is a genious.  Alton suggests making the sauce and storing in a thermos until ready to use. That is exactly what I did...since I am now the proud owner of 5 thermos'.

The ingredients:
1 shallot, chopped fine
8 oz white wine
2 oz of lemon juice, zest of one lemon
1/2 cup heavy cream
12 tbsp of cold, unsalted butter, cubed (put in freezer for 5 minutes right before you need it)
salt and white pepper

The Method:
Combine the first three ingredients in a small non-reactive saucepan over medium-high heat until reduces to about 2-3 tbsp.  Watch it at the end because it reduces quickly.  Add the cream to the reduction and bring to a boil.  Reduce for 3-4 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and add the butter, 1-2 cubes at a time.  Whisk continuosly first off the heat and then on the heat until butter fully melts.  Continue adding butter on and off the heat 1-2 cubes at a time until sauce is fully emulsified and a rich consistency.  Season with salt and pepper.  Strain into a thermos until ready to use.