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This Orange Butter Sauce is a French “Beurre Blanc” (“white butter”) sauce based on a reduction of shallots and an acid such as vinegar, citrus juice, or wine, mixed in with cold butter.
Its creamy tanginess works well with mild fish such as trout, shad, or haddock.
It may also be served with any shellfish including lobster, crab, and scallops.
This recipe comes from a cooking class I took at Scott’s Seafood in Folsom, California, presented by Chef David Lamonica.
Orange Butter Sauce (Beurre Blanc) for Seafood Recipe
You'll need one large orange or two smallish oranges to have enough juice for this recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 oranges
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 teaspoons minced shallots
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- Salt and white pepper
Method
1 Make a syrup with orange zest, orange juice, wine, and shallots: Zest half of one orange (about 2 teaspoons) and juice the two oranges (about 3/4 cup).
Put the juice, zest, wine and shallots in a sauce pan on medium high heat.
Cook until it is syrupy and almost gone.
2 Slowly whisk in butter: On low heat, whisk in the butter continuously and vigorously, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Butter is the only emulsifier for this sauce, and if you slowly add it, continuously stirring, the sauce will achieve a silky smooth texture. Do not let the sauce boil!
3 Add salt and pepper to taste.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Orange Butter Sauce (Beurre Blanc) for Seafood
It was slightly bitter when finished, and I was very careful to keep any white flesh out of the juice or zest, so I added a bit of cardamom and apx 1/2 tsp of vanilla and it was perfect.
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Can you double the recipe?
Hi, Andrew! Yes, it should be just fine to double this recipe. Enjoy!
It’s good. Was easier than I expected. I’ll definitely make it again.
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This works best if the butter is cold.
I made this sauce for the first time for a Valentine’s dinner. I followed the directions exactly serving it over pan-fried tilapia. It was excellent! The consistency, the taste..mmmm it was something you would eat at an upscale restaurant. I will definitely make it again for a classy occasion.
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