Viva Veloute!

Just trying to drum up a little excitement for this somewhat forgotten Mother Sauce.

What is Veloute you ask? Very simply, it is a Bechamel with stock instead of milk. the roux thickens the sauce and it is velvety because of the Roux. But it does not have milk. So those of you with a lactose intolerance may find this is a sauce you can have with minimal "effect". And it is very lux so you won't miss the milk.

For our Veloute, I wanted to infuse the Roux with flavor so I used cilantro, leeks and celery. ALl finely chopped and put in the Roux as it cooked. I reserved the cilantro leaves and used only the stems in the cooking.

BONUS! three things you should know about cilantro.

1) it is a cool weather herb preferring weather in the 70's and full sun to grow. Anything over 85 for a day or two and it will bolt. this means it will seed. so now you will have all these little brown seeds at the end of the fronds. these are coriander. you can use them in cooking but save a few to drop in a pot in late august so you have more cilantro in the fall.

2) cilantro is the only herb that i know of where the stems are just as tasty as the leaves. So you can use the whole plant.

3) Cilantro doesn't like heat in the kitchen anymore than it likes heat outside. if you put it in a hot dish you must do so at the very end of the cooking process-just as you are serving it-or it will not impart any taste.

Back to Veloute.

We melted the butter, added the above veggies, let them get soft and then added the flour. This made our Roux, which we cooked for a while till the flour taste was cooked out. then we added the warm broth to a warm Roux. In about 8 minutes we had a thick beautiful flavorful sauce. Now we seasoned it with salt and white pepper. (regretfully we did not take a picture of the completed sauce-but it is on the fish which was plated in the first picture).

This sauce will hold for a long time so no need to make it just before you server. make it the day before if you want-just thin it with a little broth if needed when you reheat.

This goes over fish or chicken very nicely. Gives a rich creamy texture to everything you put it on.

How simple is THAT to go from blah to WOW! in just a few minutes. Try it-you'll look like a star. And only I will know that it was ever so easy. :)