Drowned in Butter

French sauces for fresh fish

Butter is so central to French cooking, it may as well be classi ed as a seasoning. As Ferdinand Point famously said, “Give me butter, more butter, always butter!” And with good reason: Butter has the ability to enhance almost any food. It can lend sweetness to a savoury dish and savouriness to a sweet dish. It enhances mouthfeel and adds richness without heaviness.

French chefs have become experts at sneaking in seemingly absurd quantities of butter into pretty well everything, such is its usefulness in the kitchen.

Butter has an innate complexity that gives it this versatility. Instead of simply being a fat, like lard or oil, butter is an emulsion. e mixture of water, fat and milk solids means that butter is capable of absorbing both fat-soluble and water-soluble avor components. Cultured butter adds a fermentation step for even more depth. You can keep butter in its emulsi ed state to make a superior dipping sauce, or to drape vegetables. e same idea is used to add richness to sauces by whisking in small knobs of cold butter, keeping the emulsion intact. Cooked enough to evaporate the water, and the milk solids will brown and transform into a nutty and aromatic beurre noisette.

Fish with butter is as classic and satisfying a combination as can be. At its most basic, frying fillets in butter and adding a squeeze of lemon is nearly all there is to meunière sauce, or a fantastic shore lunch. The butter adds sweetness and richness to lean fish, and the lemon adds acidity to balance out the flavors. This is a recurring theme with all butter-based sauces, which must be properly balanced with acidity, whether it be from wine, vinegar or fruit, in order to avoid feeling too heavy.

Truite Au Beurre Blanc With Sweet Pea Agnolotti

Beurre blanc is essentially a more elegant, and more delicious, way to add a squeeze of lemon to fresh sh. As a sauce, beurre blanc is tremendously versatile: You can vary the acid used and infuse it with herbs and spices to suit your preparation. is version hews closely to the classic one. e cream is optional, but it does help the emulsi cation hold a little better, and I like the sweetness it brings to the sauce. e trout is paired with sweet pea ravioli. As an alternative, serving the trout with puréed peas turns this into a fairly quick weeknight meal.

Serves 4

4 pan-sized trout, butter ied or lleted

Sweet Pea Ravioli

2 cups all-purpose our

3 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

8 ounces green peas, fresh or frozen

½ cup mascarpone

Salt and pepper to taste

Beurre Blanc

4 ounces butter

½ cup dry white wine

2 shallots, minced ne

1 sprig tarragon

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Make the pasta dough. In a large bowl, add the our and make a well in the center. Add the egg and salt to the center and stir with a fork, gradually incorporating the our from around the well. When you have a rough dough, start kneading by hand or transfer to a stand mixer tted with a dough hook. Mix on medium for 5 to 7 minutes, until the dough is rm and elastic. Wrap with cling lm and let rest for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sweet pea lling. In a medium saucepan, blanch the sweet peas until just cooked, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a food processor or blender and add the mascarpone. Puree and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cut the dough into four pieces. Working with one piece at a time, pass through a pasta roller on the thickest setting, fold into two and repeat. When the dough is smooth, begin gradually thinning out the pasta sheet until you reach the thinnest setting. Place rounded teaspoons of lling on half the pasta sheet, about 1½ inches apart, then fold the other half over. Gently press out the air around the lling and press to seal. Cut into squares with a uted pasta wheel or a knife. Place on a oured baking sheet and freeze until ready to cook.

To start the beurre blanc, add the wine and shallots to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce over medium heat until the pan is almost dry and the liquid is syrupy. Set aside until you are ready to nish the sauce.

To cook the ravioli, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Meanwhile, season the trout and sear over high heat. Plate the cooked trout and ravioli on a serving dish and keep warm while you nish the sauce. Add the butter to the wine reduction a small piece at a time over medium heat, whisking to emulsify. When all the butter has been added, taste for seasoning and drape over the trout and pasta. Serve immediately.

Poached Eggs With Brownbutter Hollandaise And Smoked Fish

Eggs Benedict have inspired countless variations on the original version with Canadian bacon. For this one, the hollandaise is made with beurre noisette and has a nice richness that is perfect for hot-smoked sh. If you’ve never tried making your own English mu ns, it’s well worth it. As much I like poached eggs, I hate poaching eggs. I don’t bother anymore: In almost all cases a soft-boiled egg is just as good and much easier to make for a crowd.

Serves 4

English Mu ns

2 cups warm milk

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

4 cups our

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup semolina wheat (substitute cream of wheat)

8 eggs

1 cup hot-smoked trout (substitute cooked and aked trout)

Brown-Butter Hollandaise

1 cup butter

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

Salt

Start by making the English mu ns. In a medium bowl add the milk, yeast and sugar, and let sit in a warm place for 10 minutes, until the yeast has dissolved and has started to make bubbles. Add the our and salt, then mix to form a rough dough. Transfer to a stand mixer and knead on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for about 1 hour, until doubled.

Punch the dough and roll it out onto a lightly oured surface, about ¾ inch thick. With a 3-inch round cutter, cut out the mu ns, re-rolling as needed. Transfer the mu ns to a baking sheet dusted with semolina, leaving plenty of space between them, and sprinkle with more semolina. Cover with a damp towel and let rise for about an hour, until doubled. To cook the mu ns, heat a cast-iron pan or griddle over low heat, and cook them for 6 to 7 minutes per side, until golden. Extras can be frozen.

To make the hollandaise, rst make the beurre noisette. Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally, and remove from the heat when the milk solids have browned and the butter smells nutty. Transfer to a heatproof container and set aside. Set up a double boiler or a metal bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, then add the egg yolks, water and lemon juice. Whisk until the yolks have thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 165 degrees), then whisk in the melted butter in a steady stream to emulsify. Adjust the seasoning, and transfer to a thermos to keep warm while you make the eggs.

To make the eggs, place in cold water and bring to a boil. When the water boils, remove from the heat and let sit for 4 minutes. Rinse under cold water and peel. To serve, split, butter and toast the English mu ns. Add a base of smoked sh and top with a soft-boiled egg. Add a generous helping of hollandaise and serve immediately.

Striped Bass With Black Butter And Pommes Pur E

Beurre noir is classically served with skate wings, but it’s good with almost any saltwater sh. I like to use striped bass, especially in the spring when they are a little leaner and bene t from some extra butter. Like nearly everything out of Martin Picard’s Pied de Cochon cookbook, the puréed potatoes are a decidedly decadent a air.

Serves 4

Four 6-ounce portions striped bass, skin on Beurre Noir

6 ounces butter

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons capers

3 tablespoons Italian parsley, minced

Pommes Purée

4 large potatoes

½ pound fresh curd cheese

3/4 cup heavy cream, warm

2 ounces butter

Wrap the potatoes in foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, until soft and cooked through. Split the garlic head in half and wrap each half with foil. Bake alongside the potatoes until completely softened, about 45 minutes. Cut the potatoes in half and press them through a strainer or a food mill while still hot. Squeeze in the head of garlic, then add the cheese, warm cream and butter. Stir vigorously and season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm and set aside.

To make the beurre noir, add the butter to a medium saucepan and cook over medium-low heat. Make sure you have the lemon juice, capers and parsley ready to go. Meanwhile, season the bass and sear skin side down over medium-high heat in a hot skillet. Flip and cook for a minute or two on the other side, then plate with the potatoes while the butter is nearly done.

As soon as the butter is a rich dark brown, remove from heat and add the lemon juice, capers and parsley to arrest the cooking. Taste for seasoning and spoon over the striped bass and potatoes. Serve immediately. S

Martin Mallet believes that a little butter goes a long way, but that a lot of butter goes even farther.