Sauce Velouté Recipes

Steps:

• Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and sear the chicken for 5 minutes. Turn the chicken over, reduce the heat to medium and cook until done, about 5 more minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and let stand 5 minutes.
• In the pan that was used to cook the chicken, deglaze with the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Then lower the heat so that the stock just stays hot.
• Meanwhile, in a separate heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the clarified butter over a medium heat until it becomes frothy. Take care not to let it turn brown. With a wooden spoon, stir the flour into the melted butter a little bit at a time until it is fully incorporated, giving you a pale yellow paste called a roux. Heat the roux for another few minutes or so, until it has turned a light blonde color. This helps cook off the raw flour flavor. But since this is a white sauce, you don't want to let the roux get too dark.
• Using a wire whisk, slowly add the hot chicken stock to the roux, whisking vigorously to make sure it's free of lumps. Simmer until the total volume has reduced by about one-third, stirring frequently to make sure the sauce doesn't scorch at the bottom of the pan, about 30 minutes. Use a ladle to skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.

Steps:

• In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the stock, 1/2 cup at a time. Whisk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve.

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute (the flour should not take on any color).
• Pour in stock, whisking to incorporate fully, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, whisking fairly often, to cook out raw flour taste and thicken the liquid (it should reach the consistency of heavy cream).

Steps:

• Prepare all the seafood by first opening the oysters into a sieve over a bowl to catch the juices (see video technique). Trim and slice the salmon into 6 equal-size square chunks. If the scallops are large, cut them in half lengthways. Peel and devein the prawns if needed.
• Place the strained oyster juice and fish stock into a shallow saucepan and bring to a simmer. First add the salmon and poach for 1 min. Add the prawns and oysters (if using large ones) and poach for 1 min more. Add the scallops and poach for 1 min more, then add the oysters (if small) and simmer everything for a final min until just cooked.
• Carefully tip the fish and poaching liquid into a sieve over a large saucepan or bowl, keeping all the salmon chunks intact.
• Heat half the butter in the cleaned shallow pan and add the shallot. Cook very gently for 5 mins until soft but not coloured, then pour in the alcohol and boil until reduced to a few tablespoons. Pour in the poaching liquid and boil down until reduced by half, about 20-25 mins. Stir in the cream and, once more, reduce by half. Turn down to a gentle simmer and whisk in the rest of the butter.
• Gently add the seafood to the sauce, taking care not to break up the salmon. Simmer lightly until heated through, then add most of the herbs, squeeze over the lemon juice and set aside.
• Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling water until just done, about 3-4 mins, then drain well and add back to the pan with a drizzle of olive oil and the rest of the herbs. You are now ready to plate up.
• Use a roasting fork to twirl a neat bundle of spaghetti. Stand the bundle in the middle of a warm large pasta bowl. Alternate the salmon and seafood around the pasta. Spoon the sauce over the seafood, top the pasta with the chervil or parsley sprigs and serve immediately.