Ingredients
200g banana shallots, diced
1 bay leaf
250g diced butter (salted or unsalted)
Salt and pepper
100ml white wine vinegar
250ml white wine
200ml double cream
Garnish
30g chives, chopped
Serving Options
You don’t have to use chives in your sauce – you can opt for other herbs, or none at all – it’s down to personal preference. An alternative take is the addition of Tomato Concasse, which is a specific type of tomato processing (see below).
For a thicker texture, you can also add extra cream and gently warm up the sauce when you’re ready to serve.
Method
- Add the diced shallots, white wine, white wine vinegar and bay leaf to a saucepan. Make sure you choose a medium to large pan, as you’ll be whisking in the butter to the mix.
- Bring the pan to the boil and then reduce the liquid by half. Remove from heat, add the cream and return to a medium heat to bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Now, add your butter a few pieces at a time on a low heat, constantly whisking until you have added all the butter and it has melted into the cream. Season with salt and pepper – we suggest cracked white pepper, because black peppercorns can add heavy specks to the sauce.
- Add the chives and serve. Note: if you’re not confident in cutting the chives into small pieces then you can cut them 1cm long instead – they will still look great in the sauce!
Tomato Concasse
- To make Tomato Concasse, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil on the stove, remove the core of a tomato and make a cross in the bottom.
- Plunge the tomato into the boiling water for 10-15 seconds, and then remove and place into cold water.
- Once cold, remove the skin and cut into quarters, removing the seeds as you go.
- Place the tomato petals with the inside of the tomato facing down onto some kitchen towel, fold the kitchen towel over the top to dry it out and remove any excess water.
- Leave for two minutes, remove and then use a sharp knife to cut and dice the tomatoes to the size you require.
