Saffron Cheese Sauce

Pan fried salmon steaks with saffron cheese sauce

Was it the crustacean stock? The subtle hint of white wine? The lingering taste of   lightly sweetish and lightly salty  gruyere cheese? Or was  the delicate yet aromatic saffron that tingles in the background?? Perhaps the combination of it all that make this sauce so delicious and so savory. It goes well with any poached, baked and pan fried fish or crustacean.  Enjoy it with your favorite pasta , rice or crusty warm bread. I served this with baked salmon, tagliatelle and green salad. A meal nice enough to replace our usual Sonntagsbraten or Sunday roast. Give this a try.(^_^)

Into the saucepan goes a tab of butter , about 2 tablespoons. Throw in 1 medium sized finely chopped onion and sautee it until translucent. Finely dice 1 medium sized carrot and about a quarter of celeriac and sautee it together with the onion under medium low heat.

Stir in 1 gram of those ridiculously expensive Saffron threads. Sprinkle sauteed vegetables with  3 tablespoons of flour . Sweat the diced veges in it for 5 minutes. Worry about global warming instead of the flour coated carrots sticking into the pan. Things that sticks at the bottom of the pan are usually the tastiest . Ask my lola.

Turn heat to high and deglaze veges with a half a cup of dry white wine. Keep stirring until wine is  almost    thoroughly absorbed. Pour 400 ml lobster or any crustaceans stock, turn heat to medium and let consomme simmer for 15 minutes.

Blend vegetable using a hand held mixer. A few pulses will do .My husband like to have his food a little on the spicy side so 2 seeded, chopped  red chillies were added into the concoction.

Stir in 150 g of creme fraiche . Add 100 g of grated gruyere cheese , season with salt and pepper and it's done!












Tips:

• To serve the sauce with chicken or other poultry, replace fish/crustacean stock with chicken stock.
• To serve with lamb, beef , pork chops, wurst /sausage, replace diced onion with 400 g shallots bulbs, add in about 2 or 3 garlic cloves . Use red wine instead of white wine and replace  carrots and celeriac with herbs like thymes or rosemary.