Beurre Blanc Success!

This past Sunday afternoon was spent, with a good friend, enjoying a chick-flick double feature at the movies. It promised to be a fun afternoon filled with laughter and tears and oh boy, did it deliver.

The first movie on the agenda was Julie & Julia. There was no doubt that I would love this movie, being the foodie that I am. But I had no idea how much this movie would draw me in, make me laugh and inspire me. I have never heard of the Julie & Julia project, nor do I have a copy of the book or the cookbook Mastering The Art of French Cooking.

For those of you who have not seen it, the movie focuses around a young NYC woman who is a struggling writer in a dead end job. She seems to enjoy, and know, her way around the kitchen and decides to cook every recipe in the above mentioned, Julia Childs' cookbook and started a blog about it. Meanwhile, the movie flashes back to the life of Julia Childs and how she came put herself through a predominantly male cooking school, teach and then write the book. Both woman lead a very parallel life, nearly 50 years apart....and both succeeded at their dream, through food.

Well....I came home from the movies and spent the next few hours looking up Julie's blog (both her current one and the one that inspired her book turn movie. I have added Mastering The Art of French Cooking to my "must have" list of cookbooks. And, just today, the same friend who shared this experience with me gave me the book that launched the movie. I cannot wait to read it!

In the meantime, I was inspired to try to make a Beurre Blanc Sauce, which is a french sauce made with mostly butter and is excellent over seafood and vegetables. I have never done a Beurre Blanc sauce before and understood it to be quite tricky. Too much heat....or not enough stiring...and the sauce can break in an instant and leave you with a buttery mess. Some recipes call for adding cream right before the butter to help the butter "blend" better. I think that's cheating. So I searched for Julia Childs' recipe and was pretty sure I found it.

So tonight's dinner was.....Lemon Pepper Fluke with Beurre Blanc and Roasted Broccoli. The sauce was nothing short of amazing. Rich...creamy....tangy....lick-the-sauce-pan goodness!

Beurre Blanc

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp finely minced shallots
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 lb chilled butter (2 sticks) cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Put the wine, shallots and vinegar in a small heavy saucepan. Boil over high heat until reduced to nearly 3 tbsp. Reduce the heat to medium-low (I actually took it off the heat for a few minutes and let it cool a bit). Add the butter, one piece at a time, whisking constantly until it melts before adding the next. Be patient - it is worth it! Season with salt & pepper. Strain (optional....I did not) and serve immediately.

The Lemon Pepper Fluke was easy and you can use any white fish. Pat fillets dry and season with a lemon-pepper seasoning. Saute in a little butter or olive oil and drizzle sauce over the fish to serve.

I have to say - I even amazed myself with this one!! Enjoy!