Beurre Blanc: Adaptable Sauce for All Seasons

 

Butter and white wine ... already you know this is good! Beurre blanc -- French for "white butter" -- is a traditional sauce with simple ingredients. This version, full of garden flavors, is quite elegant and versatile for many dishes.

Brown an onion in some olive oil. Salt and pepper for flavor and then add garlic once the onion begins to caramelize. This is the background and foundation of your sauce, for the caramelized bits of onion and garlic are the keepers of amazing flavor. The wine will deglaze the pan, releasing the browned goodness of the aromatic cousins. Allow the wine to come to a simmer and reduce by a third. This step, reducing the wine, intensifies the flavor of the wine, concentrating the bouquet and natural essence of the wine. Tossing in a couple bay leaves awakens the sauce and steeps their flavor in the wine reduction.

Now for the butter. Add the cubed butter in shifts, whisking the butter into the sauce and allowing it to thoroughly melt it. Once the butter has thoroughly melted into the wine, the smooth sauce can now be livened up even more with some fresh lemon juice and zest. White pepper makes a great complement to this easy sauce as well.

Once you master the basics of this sauce, you can adapt it year-round by flavoring it with the quintessential bounty of the season. That's garden living itself. In the summer, make your beurre blanc and infuse the sauce with summer herbs. In the fall, make it with toasted pecans in the fall. Use rosemary in the winter and parsley and chervil in springtime. Then serve this sauce as a toast to the season!

The Farmer's Beurre Blanc

Extra virgin olive oil

1 large Vidalia onion

2 tablespoons of minced garlic

1 stick of good butter, cut into cubes

Salt, cracked black and white peppers

2-3 bay leaves

1 bottle of a good white wine

Juice and zest of a lemon (or two, if desired)

Seasonal herbs, nuts, etc.

Chop the onion and brown the pieces in some good olive oil. Once onion is caramelized, add the garlic and cook the garlic until tender. Deglaze the pan with the bottle of white wine and bring to a simmer. Add bay leaves and reduce by a third.

Once the wine sauce has reduced, add the butter in cubes, whisking each batch of cubes into the wine so it is thoroughly melted and incorporated into the sauce. Season with salt and peppers -- a teaspoon of each or to taste. Add the juice of the lemon and its zest, continuing to allow the sauce to simmer and reduce a bit more.

After this mixture has reduced by about a fourth, add the seasonal herbs and remove from heat. The sauce is perfect for fish, poultry, pork or vegetables.

 

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Beurre Blanc: Adaptable Sauce for All Seasons

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