Medallions of Veal with Nantua Sauce
Try this Medallions of Veal with Nantua Sauce recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Medallions of Veal with Nantua Sauce recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 bay leaf
- pepper (to taste)
- salt (to taste)
- 1/2 c puree, tomato
- 1 c mirepoix **
- 1/2 c cognac
- 1/2 c cream
- 1 c tomatoes, chopped
- 4 c stock, fish
- 4 tb mushrooms, button, chopped
- 15 sm crayfish
- 2 tb parsley, chopped
- 1 tb oil, olive
- 1 tb tarragon, chopped
- pepper, cayenne (to taste)
- 1 garlic, bulb, cut in half
- 1 ts peppercorns, crushed
- Carbohydrate 11.057865 g
- Cholesterol 86.175 mg
- Fat 32.87756 g
- Fiber 2.35965002572536 g
- Protein 13.602905 g
- Saturated Fat 15.632715 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (744g)
- Sodium 1935.09200000047 mg
- Sugar 8.69821497427463 g
- Trans Fat 2.50255 g
- Calories 514 calories
Step-by-step
- Mirepoix is a mixture of diced onions, carrots, celery and leeks.
- Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat.
- When the oil is very hot, add the live crayfish and saute for 1 minute.
- Add the garlic bulb (halved), mirepoix, peppercorns, bay leaf and button mushrooms.
- Cook for another minute.
- Add the cognac and flame the pan.
- Pour the contents into a saucepan and mash them up with a spoon.
- To the sauce pan with the crayfish, add the chopped tomato, parsley, tarragon and tomato puree.
- Deglaze the saute pan with 4 cups of fish stock (enough so that it will cover ingredients in the saucepan) and pour the contents of the deglazed pan into the saucepan with the crayfish and vegetables.
- Roughly mash the contents of the saucepan again.
- Cook (boiling) for 20 minutes.
- Strain the contents of the saucepan with the crayfish through a chinois into another saute pan.
- Reduce the liquid by two thirds.
- Add the cream, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.
- Reduce another 5 - 10 minutes to one-half.
- Strain and reserve.
Standard pan sauces rely on simple pan drippings and butter, but a true Nantua sauce builds body through a deliberate extraction of shellfish flavor and aromatics. Professional kitchens often prepare the complex crayfish base days in advance, as the intensive reduction and straining process benefits from being broken into manageable stages.
- Freeze the strained, un-creamed reduction base in airtight containers for up to two months, leaving the dairy addition until the final reheating phase to prevent curdling.
- When flambeing the cognac, tilt the pan away from the heat source and ignite the vapors rather than the liquid itself to ensure a controlled burn off of raw alcohol.
- Strain the initial mirepoix and crayfish mixture through a fine-mesh chinois, pressing firmly on the solids with a ladle to extract every drop of concentrated stock.
- Reduce the cream-enriched sauce over medium-low heat until it coats the back of a spoon cleanly, leaving a clear track when drawn through with a finger.
Avoid boiling the sauce vigorously after the heavy cream is incorporated, or the dairy fats will separate and ruin the smooth coating consistency. Gentle simmering keeps the emulsion intact while concentrating the shellfish flavors.
