F = Flambé and Forestière Sauce

Flambéing; not many people are willing to try this at home. However, with care, it can be a very successful way of giving a great finish to your dish as well as impressing your guests. One of the main things is to have the liquor (usually brandy) ready, and a large spoon to pour it into as well as a method of ignition. I remember my father used to warm the brandy first. I use a barbeque lighter then you don’t have to get too close to the flaming food. You really don’t need a lot of brandy to get a good flame going but it does help to tip all the liquid to one side of the pan (away from you) in order to light it. I also find it helps to get Matt to light it once I have added the brandy and tipped the pan, then you can spoon the flaming sauce over your food. Go on, give it a go, but don’t burn the house down.

One of the classic sauces which has been prepared by top chefs for many years is a Sauce Forestière. Once you have made it, this sauce can be served with all kinds of different things. Beef and chicken both come to mind. A fillet steak with a Forestière sauce is delicious.

 

Sauce Forestière (Woodland sauce with mushrooms)

Ingredients

• 2/3 pound fresh mushrooms
• 2/3 pound wild mushrooms
• Salt to taste if desired
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons puree of shallots and garlic (see instructions)
• 1 cup crême fraîche, available in specialty shops
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation

1.

Rinse mushrooms and pat dry. Trim off ends.

2.

Bring 5 cups of water to boil and add salt to taste. Add mushrooms and let simmer about 1 minute. Drain thoroughly and squeeze to extract excess fluid.

3.

Put mushrooms into container of food processor or blender and blend thoroughly. There should be about 1 cup or slightly more.

4.

Heat butter in saucepan and add puree of shallots and garlic. Cook briefly and add mushroom puree and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Add crême fraîche and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Add curry powder, salt and pepper. Cook over very low heat about 10 minutes.

YIELD

6 servings

And so ends my first week of the A to Z Blog.

Have a great weekend