Sauce Barnaise

print-bearnaisesauce.html Makes about 1 1/2 cups or 6 servings.

Ingredients
7 ounces unsalted butter, melted and clarified 1/4 cup very finely chopped shallots 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon 1/4 cup white wine vinegar 1/4 cup white wine 3 egg yolks salt and pepper

Directions
1. To clarify butter, melt it over low heat without stirring. Once it has melted remove from heat and skim off the solids floating on top. 2. Place shallots, tarragon, vinegar and wine on medium heat and boil for about 5 minutes. Strain the reduction - you should end up with about 2 tablespoons of liquid. 3. Set up a double boiler arrangement with a Pyrex bowl and a saucepan. Place the egg yolks in the bowl and whisk in the reduced vinegar. Place bowl in pan of simmering water and cook, whisking continually, until mixture thickens - about five minutes. 4. Remove from heat and very slowly whisk in clarified butter. Whisk in salt and pepper to taste

White Wine Butter Sauce Beurre Blanc

print-beurre-blanc-sauce.html Preparation Time: 25 minutes Makes 1 cup

Ingredients
2 shallots, minced finely 2 tablespoons vinegar

4 tablespoons white wine 2 tablespoons heavy cream 7 ounces cold butter, cut into 20 or so pieces salt and white pepper (so that it doesn't color your sauce)

Directions
5. Cook the shallots in the vinegar and wine in a small heavy saucepan on low heat until there is only two tablespoons of liquid. 6. Stir in the heavy cream, bring to a low boil on higher heat, and reduce once again to two tablespoons of liquid. 7. On low heat, add the butter, piece by piece, to the reduced wine whisking continually. Fully incorporate each piece of butter before continuing. From time to time, remove pan from heat to prevent the sauce from over-heating (you don't want it to boil, but you want it stay warm.)

Hollandaise Sauce Recipe How to Make it Right Everytime

This Hollandaise sauce recipe is one of the great classics of French cooking.

You might have had it on poached eggs and called it Eggs Benedict, but Hollandaise sauce goes great with other things, especially asparagus. Because it is so rich, Hollandaise sauce goes best with simply prepared foods. I've included the recipes for a few of the more common variations on Hollandaise sauce, including a bernaise sauce recipe. Bernaise sauce is a perfect sauce to have with steak, and when served with a certain extra tender cut of beef becomes Chateaubriand. These sauces can be a little bit tricky to prepare, but not enough to keep you from having great results.

How to Make Hollandaise Sauce

Follow these three basic steps for each recipe: Melt and clarify the butter. This simply means skimming off the white solids floating on top of the melted butter. Use a double boiler to lightly cook the egg yolk mixtures. Add the liquid butter slowly to the egg yolk mixture and don't stop whisking.

Sauce Hollandaise
This recipe requires you to clarify the butter and use a double boiler arrangement to cook the sauce. Don't forget: add the butter slowly and whisk, whisk, whisk! print-hollandaisesauce.html Preparation time: 25 minutes Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
7 ounces unsalted butter, melted and clarified 3 egg yolks 3 tablespoons water juice of 1/2 lemon salt and white pepper

Directions
8. Melt the butter over very low heat without stirring and skim off the solids floating on top. 9. Fill a pan about half way with water and bring it to just below boiling. Place the egg yolks in a Pyrex bowl that fits just inside the pan. 10. Whisk in the three tablespoons of water and place bowl in the pan of simmering water. Continually whisk until egg yolks thicken and lighten (about 5 minutes). 11. Remove from heat and very gradually pour in the clarified butter continually whisking. 12. Whisk in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. 13. Best served immediately or warm a few seconds in the microwave. If the sauce is too thick you can whisk in a little hot water.

Sauce bchamel
print-bechamelsauce.html Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Makes 2 cups This recipe is for two cups of sauce. Multiply or divide by the number of cups of sauce you need.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter 4 tablespoons flour 2 cups milk two pinches of nutmeg, salt, and pepper

Directions
14. Place the butter in a medium sized saucepan on low medium heat and warm gently until it has melted. Measure in the flour and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until combined. This mixture is called roux. 15. Cook the roux for two minutes, stirring with your spoon. The roux should be bubbling and releasing steam. 16. Now begin adding the milk, tablespoon by tablespoon. Completely incorporate each tablespoon of milk before you add more. After you've added about 1/4 of the milk, you can add more at a time. This is just a way of making sure that you don't get lumps in your sauce. 17. Add all of the milk and cook, stirring occasionally. You can use a whisk to smooth the sauce, but a wooden spoon may be all you need. 18. Heat the sauce just to below the boiling point. This should take approximately 10 minutes since the time you started adding the milk and the sauce should be quite thick. 19. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the seasoning until completely combined. 20. Allow the sauce to cool somewhat before using in another recipe or refrigerating/freezing for future use.

Variations
Sauce Normande: Stir in 2 tablespoons heavy cream along with the seasonings. Sauce Aurore: Stir in 1 tablespoon concentrated tomato paste. Sauce Poulette: Immediately after removing from the heat, stir the sauce slowly into two egg yolks. This might be used as the basis for making a souffle. Sauce Moutarde: Proceed as for the sauce poulette, pouring the hot sauce over two egg yolks. Then stir in two teaspoons French style mustard, chopped parsley, and a little lemon juice.

Uses for Bechamel Sauce

As an accompaniment to white meat (pork, chicken, turkey, veal or rabbit), fish,

hard boiled eggs, or steamed vegetables. Note that this bechamel sauce recipe can taste a bit plain itself, so you might want to lively it up with one of the suggested additions if you will be serving it this way. As an ingredient in another recipe. For example, you can use bechamel in a lasagne, alternating layers of sauce, noodles, and perhaps a meat or vegetable layer. It is a key ingredient in the classic French comfort food: les endives au jambon - endives rolled in ham. As a starting point for many other French sauces. You will also find that some French recipes use the technique of adding flour to a melted butter base without calling it a bechamel - it is just part of the recipe, which really simplifies things and makes for quick dinners. Flamiche, a traditional dish from the north of France uses this technique: Bechamel Leek Tart Recipe.

So by learning how to make one simple French sauce, you greatly expand the range of French dishes you can easily master.

Sauce Tartare
print-tartar-sauce-recipe.html Makes about 1 1/4 cups

Ingredients
1 cup mayonnaise flat leaved parsley 2 gherkin pickles 1/2 small onion 1 hard boiled egg 2 tablespoons capers salt and pepper

Directions
21. Finely chop enough parsley so that you have two tablespoons. 22. Finely chop all of the other ingredients. 23. Mix everything in to the mayonnaise and season to taste with salt and pepper. This can be safely kept in the refrigerator for several days.

Variations
Here are some ideas for other ingredients that might go into a tartar sauce recipe: herbs of all sorts: parsley, dill, chervil, tarragon cayenne pepper olives

shallots or chives Dijon mustard

Cream Dill Sauce Recipe

Here is a simple cream dill sauce recipe that you can whip up to go with your next fish dinner. Made with crme fraiche and fresh dill weed, it is the perfect accompaniment to poached salmon. You can make this dill sauce as your fish is cooking, or if you prefer, make it first and keep it warm on very low heat while you concentrate on perfecting your fish. Be sure to use fresh dill weed to make this sauce. If you really can't find fresh dill, you can use freeze dried dill, but I wouldn't bother with dried. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but dried dill tastes just about like nothing. As with most of the sauces you'll find on Easy French Food, I have not bothered to strain this dill sauce recipe, so it is a bit clumpy with shallots. If you want to go the extra French mile, you can strain it through a sieve before adding the second part of the fresh dill.

Sauce l'aneth
print-dill-sauce-recipe.html Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients
2 shallots, finely chopped 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup white wine 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, divided 1 cup crme frache 1 teaspoon Dijon style prepared mustard salt and pepper

Directions
24. Melt the butter on low heat in a small sauce pan. Add the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes. The shallots should not brown, otherwise they will turn hard and bitter. 25. Pour in the wine and add half of the chopped dill. Turn up the heat to medium and boil the liquid until about 1/4 cup remains. 26. Turn down the heat and stir in the crme frache and mustard. Warm through and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the remaining dill just before serving.

Mayonnaise Recipe
You can experiment with using different oils to get mayonnaises with different tastes. This recipe makes one cup of mayonnaise. print-mayonnaise.html

Ingredients
1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon prepared mustard 1 teaspoon white wine or champagne vinegar pinch of salt pinch of pepper 1 cup oil (safflower, corn, olive, or other)

Directions
Place the egg yolk in a deep, heavy mixing bowl that will not move across the counter (you need both hands for the next step). Using a hand mixer, beat in mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. Very slowly (remember very slowly) pour in the oil. Watch in amazement as the mixture turns to mayonnaise. That's it. And you thought it was tricky!

salad nicoise
SERVES 46 INGREDIENTS FOR THE DRESSING: 1 clove garlic Kosher salt, to taste cup olive oil 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard 1 shallot, minced Freshly ground black pepper, to taste FOR THE SALAD: 1 lb. small new potatoes, boiled until tender 6 oz. yellow baby beets, boiled until tender, peeled

6 oz. red baby beets, boiled until tender, peeled 8 oz. haricot verts, blanched 12 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved cup black Nioise olives 8 small radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced 8 salt-packed anchovies, rinsed and drained 4 hard-boiled eggs, halved lengthwise 3 (4-oz.) cans high-quality oil-packed tuna, drained 1 small cucumber, thinly sliced cup loosely packed basil leaves, to garnish cup thinly sliced scallions, to garnish INSTRUCTIONS 1. Make the dressing: Mince garlic on a cutting board and sprinkle heavily with salt; using a knife, scrape garlic and salt together to form a smooth paste. Transfer paste to a bowl and whisk in oil, juice, mustard, shallot, and salt and pepper; set aside. 2. Make the salad: Arrange all ingredients in separate rows on a large serving platter; drizzle dressing over all ingredients, season with salt and pepper, and garnish with basil and scallions just before serving.

beef wellington
Ingredients
For the Duxelles:
3 pints (1 1/2 pounds) white button mushrooms 2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped 4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 (3-pound) center cut beef tenderloin (filet mignon), trimmed

For the Beef:

Extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 12 thin slices prosciutto 6 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard Flour, for rolling out puff pastry 1 pound puff pastry, thawed if using frozen 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt Minced chives, for garnish Green Peppercorn Sauce, recipe follows Roasted Fingerling Potatoes Warm Wilted Winter Greens, recipe follows

Directions

To make the Duxelles: Add mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add butter and olive oil to a large saute pan and set over medium heat. Add the shallot and mushroom mixture and saute for 8 to 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool. To prepare the beef: Tie the tenderloin in 4 places so it holds its cylindrical shape while cooking. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper and sear all over, including the ends, in a hot, heavy-based skillet lightly coated with olive oil - about 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile set out your prosciutto on a sheet of plastic wrap (plastic needs to be about a foot and a half in length so you can wrap and tie the roast up in it) on top of your cutting board. Shingle the prosciutto so it forms a rectangle that is big enough to encompass the entire filet of beef. Using a rubber spatula cover evenly with a thin layer of duxelles. Season the surface of the duxelles with salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves. When the beef is seared, remove from heat, cut off twine and smear lightly all over with Dijon mustard. Allow to cool slightly, then roll up in the duxelles covered prosciutto using the plastic wrap to tie it up nice and tight. Tuck in the ends of the prosciutto as you roll to completely encompass the beef. Roll it up tightly in plastic wrap and twist the ends to seal it completely and hold it in a nice log shape. Set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to ensure it maintains its shape. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to about a 1/4-inch thickness. Depending on the size of your sheets you may have to overlap 2 sheets and press them together. Remove beef from refrigerator and cut off plastic. Set the beef in the center of the pastry and fold over the longer sides, brushing with egg wash to seal. Trim ends if necessary then brush with egg wash and fold over to completely seal the beef - saving

ends to use as a decoration on top if desired. Top with coarse sea salt. Place the beef seam side down on a baking sheet. Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash then make a couple of slits in the top of the pastry using the tip of a paring knife - this creates vents that will allow the steam to escape when cooking. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until pastry is golden brown and beef registers 125 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from oven and rest before cutting into thick slices. Garnish with minced chives, and serve with Green Peppercorn Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, and Warm Wilted Winter Greens.

Green Peppercorn Sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil 2 shallots, sliced 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed 3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only 1 cup brandy 1 box beef stock 2 cups cream 2 tablespoons grainy mustard 1/2 cup green peppercorns in brine, drained, brine reserved

Add olive oil to pan after removing beef. Add shallots, garlic, and thyme; saute for 1 to 2 minutes, then, off heat, add brandy and flambe using a long kitchen match. After flame dies down, return to the heat, add stock and reduce by about half. Strain out solids, then add 2 cups cream and mustard. Reduce by half again, then shut off heat and add green peppercorns.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Fresh Herbs and Garlic:

2 pints fingerling potatoes 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 2 to 3 sprigs fresh sage 3 sprigs fresh thyme 6 cloves garlic, left unpeeled 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus for sheet pan Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and place a baking sheet inside to heat. Add potatoes, rosemary, sage, thyme, and garlic to a medium bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Remove sheet pan from oven, lightly coat with olive

oil, and pour potatoes onto pan. Place potatoes in oven and reduce heat to 425 degrees F. Roast for 20 minutes, or until crispy on outside and tender on inside.

Warm Wilted Winter Greens:

1/4 cup honey 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1/2 pint walnuts, for garnish 3 bunches assorted winter greens (such as Swiss chard, radicchio, or escarole), washed, stemmed, and torn into pieces 1 tablespoon grainy mustard Extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds, for garnish Parmesan shavings, for garnish 1 shallot, chopped, for garnish

Cook honey and balsamic together over medium-high heat in a large saute pan, about 5 minutes. Toast walnuts in a small skillet; set aside to cool. Pile greens on a platter. Stir mustard into balsamic-honey dressing, then whisk in about 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil; pour over greens. Season greens with salt and pepper and garnish with walnuts, pomegranate seeds, shavings of Parmesan, and shallot