Hot Sauces for Fish and Seafood

We have assembled some of the most common (and tastiest) hot sauce recipes to go with fish and seafood just for you.

Below you will find how to easily make Fish Velouté, White Wine Sauce, Beurre Blanc, Hollandaise (the easy way) & Beurre Noisette.

hot-sauces-for-fish-and-seafood

Fish Veloute:

fish-veloute

Velouté is one of the five “mother sauces” of classical cuisine. It can be made with any white stock, but this version, the fish velouté, is made with fish stock. There's also a veal velouté and a chicken velouté. This sauce can be used as it is, but more often than not it is embellished by adding ingredients to the basic sauce for example herbs, wine, cream, anchovies, shallots, sherry, brandy, mushrooms, fennel etc.

Ingredients

400ml White Fish Stock (white stock just means the bones were not roasted) 40g Unsalted Butter 40g Plain Flour Salt & Pepper

Allergens

Fish, Celery, Milk, Wheat (Gluten)

Method

  1. Bring the stock to a simmer in a large saucepan.

  2. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over low heat (don't let it burn) and add the flour.

  3. Raise the heat to medium and stir the butter and flour together for about 2 minutes. This is your roux.

  4. Whisk the simmering stock into the roux and keep heating and whisking. When the stock begins to simmer again, turn down the heat to low and cook until the sauce thickens. A thin skin may form; just skim it away with your spoon.

  5. Season with salt and pepper.

  6. Strain through a fine sieve or chinois if you have one.

  7. When using this sauce as a base for another sauce cover the top with a cartouche, as this will stop a skin from forming on the surface.

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White Wine Sauce:

white-wine-sauce

This is a derivative of the basic veloute and is great with most fish. By adding peeled grapes and a splash of vermouth you can create the French classic Sole Veronique.

Ingredients

350ml Fish Velouté 50g Shallot (Finely Chopped) Knob of Butter 1 Clove of Garlic (Finely Chopped) 100ml Med White Wine 50ml Double Cream

Allergens

Fish, Celery, Milk, Sulphites, Wheat (Gluten)

Method

  1. Heat the butter in a saucepan and cook the shallot gently for 5 minutes without colour.

  2. Add the garlic and cook for another 4 minutes.

  3. Add the wine and boil for 4 minutes.

  4. Add the velouté and stir until smooth, gently heating the sauce through.

  5. When a gentle simmer is achieved, add the cream and simmer for another few minutes.

  6. At this point, you can serve as it is, or for a very smooth sauce pass through a fine sieve or chinois.

  7. Should you wish to add any fresh chopped herbs (parsley, dill tarragon etc.) it is best to add them at the very end of cooking as they will remain fresh and vibrant.

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Beurre Blanc:

beurre-blanc

A Beurre blanc is a simple butter-based emulsified sauce that's great with fish or seafood. As with the other sauces we have mentioned here a beurre blanc can be flavoured with other things can add interest to a dish. For example citrus, herbs, spices like saffron or even a splash of liqueur.

Ingredients

225ml Dry White Wine
180g Chilled Unsalted Butter (cubed)
60g Shallots (finely chopped)
50ml Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Double Cream
Salt and White Pepper (for seasoning)

Allergens

Milk, Sulphites

Method

  1. Heat the butter in a saucepan and cook the shallot gently for 5 minutes without colour.

  2. Add the garlic and cook for another 4 minutes.

  3. Add the wine and boil for 4 minutes.

  4. Add the velouté and stir until smooth, gently heating the sauce through.

  5. When a gentle simmer is achieved, add the cream and simmer for another few minutes.

  6. At this point, you can serve as it is, or for a very smooth sauce pass through a fine sieve or chinois.

  7. Should you wish to add any fresh chopped herbs (parsley, dill tarragon etc.) it is best to add them at the very end of cooking as they will remain fresh and vibrant.

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Hollandaise:

hollandaise

This is a wonderful sauce that is superb with all manner of fish and when served with new season asparagus makes a heavenly starter. Many people are afraid of attempting this sauce as it can often go wrong and split. However, this is not as big a problem as many people think, if it gets too cold and splits, heat the butter before adding more. If it overheats and splits, add an ice cube. Once you have mastered this recipe you will want to cook it for your friends all the time, so give it a try.

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter
50ml white wine vinegar
40ml pasteurised liquid egg yolk or 2 raw egg yolks
6 black peppercorns
1 bayleaf
Sprig of thyme and sprig of tarragon
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Allergens

Eggs, Milk, Sulphites

Method

  1. Gently melt the butter either in a pan, allowing the milky white liquid to fall to the bottom of the pan, or in a covered plastic container in the microwave. If you then chill it at this stage it makes it easy to pour away the separated impurities.

  2. When you are ready to make the sauce, gently melt and warm through the butter, it should be perfectly clarified by now.

  3. Put the vinegar, peppercorns, bayleaf, thyme and tarragon into a small saucepan and bring to a rapid boil and reduce to about 1 tbsp of liquid is left, remove from heat and strain off.

  4. Put the egg yolks and vinegar in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk until it all becomes light and foamy and starts to look like a sauce, be careful not to scramble the eggs at this stage by getting the bowl too hot. Either turn the heat off or remove the bowl for a minute if it's going too quickly.

  5. Add the clarified butter, a little at a time, whisking well with each addition, be patient and don’t try to add too much in one go or you may split it if it starts to get too thick either add a little more vinegar reduction or a splash of warm water, then continue to add the butter until all is used.

  6. Once you have a perfect consistency of sauce that will hold if you spooned it over something, then season with a little salt and pepper and lemon juice to taste.

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Beurre Noisette

beurre-noisette

This is not so much a recipe, but more of a way of cooking butter. "Hazelnut butter" is simply butter cooked until golden brown, which gives off a deliciously nutty aroma. This happens to work really well with fish.

Ingredients

Butter
Squeeze of Lemon (Optional)

Allergens

Milk

Method

  1. Place butter in a saucepan and melt.

  2. Continue cooking until it becomes golden brown then remove from the heat

  3. Stop the cooking process by pouring into a cold bowl or putting the saucepan in a sink of cold water. If left in the pan it will continue to cook and colour too much.

  4. If you are serving this with fish immediately pour over straight from the hot pan.

  5. You may also add a squeeze of lemon to the pan at the last minute.

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