Cream Sauce

Cream Sauce large icon Usually used for lighter meats, cream sauce is highly versatile and can be used to sauce many different dishes. This method for making various cream sauces can be greatly varied.

Ingredients

  • 500ml Chicken Stock
  • 200ml Double Cream
  • 30g Onion (¼)
  • 1 clove of Garlic (about 4g)
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 15g Unsalted Butter
  • 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

For a Chicken Cream Sauce, optionally include:

  • 2 × Fresh Tarragon sprigs
  • 1 sprig of Fresh Thyme
  • 1 small bunch of Fresh Parsley

For a Fish Cream Sauce, optionally include:

  • 2 × Fresh Tarragon
  • 1 sprig of Fresh Thyme
  • 1 small bunch of Fresh Parsley
  • 1 small bunch of Fresh Dill

For a Mushroom Cream Sauce, optionally include:

  • 100g Mushrooms
  • 1 small bunch of Fresh Parsley
  • 1 sprig of Fresh Thyme
  • Preparation Time: 10 minutes
  • Cooking Time: 20 minutes
  • Serves: 4

Method

  1. Peel and roughly chop the shallot and garlic. Prepare the herbs. (This picture shows the ingredients for a chicken cream sauce.)
    the ingredients
  2. Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan.
  3. When the butter has melted, add the shallot and garlic and cook it for about 5 minutes until the shallot has softened.
    softening the shallot
  4. Add the stock, cream and the herbs, season with salt & pepper and simmer it for about 20 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half (keep watching it as the cream can boil over quite easily).
  5. Pour the sauce through a sieve and use as required.
    the finished cream sauce

Useful Information

Can it be Frozen? Yes.

Can it be prepared in advance? Yes, it can be finished up to 3 days in advance.

Will leftovers be nice? Yes, for up to 3 days from the time of cooking.

Notes

  • For the mushroom cream sauce, you can use dried mushrooms instead of the fresh button mushrooms by re-hydrating them with boiling water. You can also use the liquid from re-hydrating the mushrooms instead of mushroom stock.