BEARNAISE SAUCE
makes 2 cups
This elegant sauce goes great with salmon*, steak or as a dip for french fries- a little goes a long way!
1/2 cup white wine
1 T parsley
2 T champagne vinegar
4 egg yolks
1 T shallots
3/4 cup melted butter
2 sprigs tarragon stems removed
1/2 t kosher salt
Put the wine, shallots, vinegar, and tarragon in a saucepan on med- hi and reduce to half. Cool.
After it’s cool. put it in the blender with the egg yolks and the salt. Blend on high for about 30 seconds.
The melted butter should be bubbly and hot - not burned when you add it to the blender. With the machine running on high and with a clean cloth over most of the hole in the top gradually pour in the bubbly butter. Adjust for salt. Add the parsley -for some color -and blend well. Bearnaise should be about the consistency of mayonnaise- or maybe a tad less thick. If it is not thick enough gently warm it in a double boiler -stirring -until it thickens up. That being said- if you would like it to be a thinner consistency- add a little warm water- a teaspoon at a time to thin it out.
To keep warm- make a double boiler- with 2 saucepans inside each other with warm water in the bottom one and the sauce in the smaller one.
Keep on very low heat and sir gently from time to time. If it gets too thick- add a little warm water to thin it out some. It can be made up to an hour in advance.
If the sauce “breaks” you can get it back together by whisking in a tiny bit of icy cold water or small ice chips. This sauce freezes well- just gently reheat in the makeshift double boiler on very low heat.
* tips for how to grill salmon
