Bearnaise Sauce
makes 2 cups
Béarnaise sauce is a delicious accompaniment to fish and red meat -- like, say, a grilled sirloin or a freshly made hamburger. French restaurateur Fernand Point wrote in Ma Gastronomie: "A Béarnaise sauce is simply an egg yolk, a shallot, a little tarragon vinegar, and butter, but it takes years of practice for the result to be perfect."
6 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves (or 1 tablespoon dried)
2 large shallots
3 tablespoons dry white wine
1/3 cup tarragon vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 pound unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
prep: 25 minutes
total: 25 minutes
food processor
fine mesh sieve
small bowl
1. Place 1/4 cup tarragon leaves in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process with 4 or 5 short pulses until the tarragon is chopped.
2. Remove the pusher from the feed tube. Turn the machine on and drop in the shallots one at a time. Run for a few seconds until the shallots are minced.
3. Place the tarragon and shallots in a saucepan with the wine, vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Cook over medium heat until the liquid is reduced to 2 tablespoons.
4. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve, pressing to release all the liquid.
5. Discard the solids and reserve the liquid.
6. Melt the butter in a saucepan; keep hot over low heat.
7. Place the egg yolks, mustard, salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper in the work bowl of the food processor. Turn the machine on and run it for 90 seconds.
8. With the machine still running, slowly but steadily pour the hot butter through the feed tube. The sauce will thicken until it has the consistency of mayonnaise.
9. When all of the butter has been added, pour in the tarragon-shallot reduction through the tube. Stop the machine.
10. Scrape the sauce into a serving bowl. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of tarragon leaves to the finished sauce and serve.
