Valentine’s Day is coming soon, and eating out is not as accessible this year as in years past. So this year, it is my goal to give you some delicious ideas that are simple enough to elevate a simple dish. One of those things I wanted to share with you was this simple Beurre Blanc Sauce. When you go to a fancy restaurant you may notice that many times they will elevate a rather simple protein with a rich and delicious sauce. One sauce that you may see is a Beurre Blanc Sauce. Beurre Blanc Sauce can be as complicated and full of ingredients or as simple as you want it to be. I like to do things simple. Simple creates well rounded and nicely elevated dishes. Making things too complicating can result in unbalance (not to say I don’t try this from time to time) hehe. So if you’re are wanting something amazing for a date night in, I’ve got you covered!

Equipment for this Recipe:

• Saucepan
• Whisk

Ingredients for this Recipe:

• Dry White Wine (Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay work well)
• Lemon Juice
• Shallot
• Coarse Salt
• Pepper
• Heavy Cream
• Unsalted Butter

What does this sauce pair with?

This sauce is really delicious on many different dishes, but one of my favorites is salmon and asparagus! Simply pan sear your salted and peppered salmon for 3-4 minutes per side, skin side down first-this will get it nice and crispy. Then, oven roast your asparagus with olive oil, salt, and pepper in a 400º oven for 10-15 minutes. Then, pour this delicious Beurre Blanc Sauce over the top. This sauce is also amazing over lobster tail or shrimp as well (if you’re looking for a really fancy dish). For a delicious brunch, you could put it over eggs with a side of toast. You really can’t go wrong with this sauce, it is simply amazing!

How is this sauce different from Hollandaise or Béarnaise Sauce?

Beurre Blanc Sauce unlike its cousins Hollandaise and Béarnaise does not contain any eggs. However, all of these sauces have a main ingredient of BUTTER! Hollandaise is similar to Beurre Blanc because they both have lemon juice in them, but Hollandaise doesn’t have wine in it. Béarnaise has herbs and white wine vinegar in it. The white wine vinegar acts as the acid in this sauce instead of the lemon juice in a Beurre Blanc.

When making this sauce:

It is super important to whisk the entire time you have this sauce over heat. With any sauce that has butter, the emulsification process is super important to keep it from separating. If you quit whisking for more than a minute it could easily split. It is important to gently whisk this sauce and put the butter in slowly in small chunks. If you put too much in at once it could also split.