Bearnaise Butter
Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking
This butter is delicious, I’ve always loved a béarnaise sauce and this is a derivative of that. It works great on chicken, a lobster tail, beef, asparagus, even toss baby potatoes with it. You can make it ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator for about 1 week, bring to room temperature before you use.
I’m using it this weekend for a dinner party, I’m serving beef tenderloin. Once the steaks are grilled, I turn off the barbecue with the steaks still sitting on the grill, place a dollop of butter onto each steak and close the lid of the barbecue, letting the butter melt into the steaks for about 30 seconds, then serve immediately. I also have a great blue cheese butter that can be used the same way.
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
2 large sprigs of fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons of minced shallot
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon of white wine or vermouth
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar or regular white vinegar
1 tablespoon of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper
Directions:
1. Strip tarragon leaves from the stems, finely chop the leaves to yield about 2 teaspoons, set aside.
2. In an 8 inch sauté pan melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium low heat. Add the finely minced shallot and tarragon stems. Cook, stirring frequently, until the shallot is translucent , 3-4 minutes. Add the wine, vinegar and water, increase the heat to medium, cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 3 minutes.
3. Transfer to a small bowl, remove and discard the tarragon stems, and let cool completely.
4. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, chopped tarragon, salt and pepper. Mix with a fork until well combined. Set aside until ready to use or keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week , bringing to room temperature before using.
