French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [69]
Weigh approximately 4 oz. altogether of the following herbs: leaves of watercress, tarragon, parsley, chervil and spinach, in about equal proportions. If chervil is unobtainable, substitute more parsley. Burnet (pimprenelle), a herb with a faint taste of cucumber, is mentioned in many recipes but is seldom to be found nowadays.
Plunge all the herbs into boiling water for half a minute. Drain and squeeze as dry as possible. Pound in a mortar, adding 6 anchovy fillets, 2 tablespoons of capers, 4 miniature gherkins, the yolks of 1 raw and 3 hard-boiled eggs and lastly 4 oz. of butter. Force all this through a fine wire sieve. To the thick pomade so obtained add, slowly, 5 to 6 tablespoons of olive oil and a few drops of lemon juice. The sauce will keep some days in a covered jar in the refrigerator but should be removed some while before serving, or it will be too hard.
Montpellier butter is usually served with salmon and the chef’s way of doing it is to have a fine piece of middle cut of cold salmon with the skin removed, and the fish thickly spread with the green butter.
It can also be served separately with hot salmon or any grilled fish, as one would serve parsley butter. A teaspoon of Montpellier butter added to eggs cooked en cocotte is also very delicious. This quantity should make sufficient to serve four to six people.
BEURRE MANIÉ
BUTTER AND FLOUR THICKENING FOR SAUCES
This is a thickening or binding for sauces, not a sauce in itself. Quantities are 1 oz. of butter to oz. of flour. Mix the two together very thoroughly with a fork until you have a perfectly amalgamated paste. Divide this mixture into little knobs and spread these on the surface of the sauce to be thickened, which should be bubbling gently. Instead of stirring, lift the pan from the fire, shake and rotate it and, in a few seconds, the sauce will have thickened, taking on a shining and somewhat sticky appearance. Thereafter, do not let the sauce boil again but serve the dish as quickly as possible. If it has to be kept waiting, keep it barely moving over the lowest possible heat for, while it is quite in order for the sauce in which beurre manié is used to be on the boil just for a moment, further boiling is apt to spoil the taste. A typical dish in which the sauce is thickened with the butter and flour mixture is the coq au vin on page 399.
SAUCE BÉARNAISE
The origin of sauce béarnaise has already been explained in the introductory chapter on the cookery of south-western France. Here is the recipe:
The yolks of 3 or 4 eggs, 4 to 5 oz. butter, half a wineglass (4 or 5 tablespoons) of white wine, 2 tablespoons of tarragon vinegar, 2 shallots, black pepper, salt, lemon juice, a few leaves of fresh tarragon.
Put the white wine, vinegar, chopped shallots and a little ground black pepper in a small pan and reduce it by fast boiling to about 2 tablespoons. Strain it and add a few drops of cold water. Put this essence in the top half of a double saucepan or in a bowl which will fit into the top of an ordinary saucepan. This underneath saucepan should be half full of warm water and put on to a gentle flame. To the liquid already in the top pan, aud half the butter, cut into small pieces. Let it melt quickly, then add the rest, stirring all the time. Now add, gradually, the beaten yolks of the eggs and stir very carefully until the sauce thickens. Add salt if necessary, which will depend on whether the butter used is salted or unsalted, and a few drops of lemon juice and a few of cold water. Take the sauce from the fire and stir in the chopped tarragon, and the sauce is ready. At no time should the water underneath the sauce boil and the sauce is not intended to be served hot, but tepid.
Mint instead of tarragon turns béarnaise into paloise, a modern variation, useful for serving with lamb and mutton.
If you should be obliged to make your béarnaise in advance the least risky way of reheating it is to put the bowl which contains it inside