beurre blanc sauce (butter sauce)

The other day I was asked for a great sauce that would be good on fish. I thought of a beurre blanc sauce (butter sauce). This is a French sauce and can be pretty tricky, but so good on any kind of fish. Here is what you need:

1/2 cup white wine

1 shallot

4 whole black pepper corn

1 bay leaf

about 1/2 stick of butter

First place wine, shallot, pepper corn, and bay leaf in a sauce pan and reduce the wine to half. When this is done take the pepper corn, shallot, and bay leaf out of the sauce. Next is the tricky part: cut the butter into cubes, and take the sauce off heat. Then whisk the butter into the sauce.  If the sauce gets too cold or too hot, it can make the butter separate from the wine. So if you need the sauce to warm then place back on the heat quickly, continue to whisk, and enjoy.