Butter and Wine

There is a common misconception when cooking with wine.  Some people seem to think that when cooking with wine, the quality of the wine itself doesn't matter.  After all, they will say, you are cooking the alcohol out.  Well, let me put that to rest right now.  While certainly cooking an expensive bottle of wine down into a reduction or sauce is not a great use of that expensive bottle, make sure that the wine you use is one you are happy to drink.  When you reduce wine, you concentrate its flavor.  Hence, a good wine will make a better reduction than a bad wine.

So with that in mind, tonight my wife had some family over, and so I made a simple dinner of salmon, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.  But to top it, that wonderful French creation of reduced white wine, cream, and butter: a beurre blanc.

A beurre blanc is fairly easy to make, though temperature is a big concern so your sauce doesn't break.

Beurre Blanc
1/2 bottle of a good white wine (I find that chardonnay works the best)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 sticks cold butter
Herbs of choice
Salt and pepper, to taste
Add the wine and lemon juice along with your herbs (for a classical French feel, rosemary, thyme and sage are a great combination) to a small sauce pot, and reduce on high until you have about a cup of liquid remaining.  Strain into another pot to remove the herbs.  Whisk in the heavy cream and bring to a bare boil.  Then reduce the heat to low and whisk in the butter a tablespoon at a time.  If your mixture is still boiling, the sauce will break. You can always add an ice cube if you need to bring the temperature down more rapidly.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Butter and wine are a really great foundation to any meal, but this goes very well with seafood especially, as the citrus notes will obviate the need for any lemon on your fish.  Just please make sure to use a good bottle of wine.  If the label says "Table Wine," just walk away.