Finally! Here is the lemon butter sauce I’ve been looking for!!!
Well, I actually haven’t been looking that hard . . . but I have been keeping my eyes open ever since I’ve had the Cajun salmon at Red Lobster with that divine lemon butter sauce.
This recipe is from Emeril Live on the Food Network.
Lemon Butter Sauce:
1 cup dry white wine
1 lemon, quartered and chopped
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 sticks plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leavesCombine the wine, lemons and shallots in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until reduced by half, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and mashing the lemons with the back of a spoon to break up into pieces. Add the cream and cook until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.
Whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, adding each piece before the previous one has been completely incorporated. Continue until all the butter is incorporated and the sauce coats the back of a spoon, removing the pan from the heat periodically to prevent the sauce from getting too hot and breaking. Add the salt and pepper, and whisk to blend. Remove from the heat and strain, pressing down with the whisk, through a fine mesh strainer, into a small bowl. Fold in the parsley and serve immediately or cover to keep warm.
For the record, I did suspect this recipe would have shallots, but I would never have figured out the cream.
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This recipe is from the same episode of Emeril Live.
Mini Flourless Chocolate Cakes:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 2 tablespoons, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 pound semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons amaretto
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Raspberry Coulis, recipe follows
Confectioners’ sugar, for decorating
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup toasted almond slivers
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnishPreheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Using 2 tablespoons of the softened butter, grease 6 (1/2 cup) ramekins. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the sugar into each ramekin and shake to coat the bottom and sides of each, evenly. Place the ramekins in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Bring a medium saucepan of water to a simmer.
Combine the chocolate, remaining butter and amaretto in a metal bowl set over simmering water or in the top of a double boiler. Melt the chocolate, stirring constantly, until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes; reserve.
Meanwhile, combine the eggs, remaining sugar, the vanilla and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until frothy and almost doubled in volume, about 5 minutes. Fold 1/3 of the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula. Repeat this process 2 more times-until all of the egg mixture has been folded into the chocolate.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared ramekins and add enough water to the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of each ramekin. Bake until the cakes have risen slightly and the edges are just beginning to set, about 20 minutes.
Remove the ramekins from the baking dish and cool slightly. Use a dull knife or butter knife to gently loosen the cakes from the edges of the ramekin.
Invert each cake onto a plate and invert the cakes again (so that the tops face upwards) onto a baking sheet or serving tray. Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Remove the ramekins from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving.
Spoon Raspberry Coulis onto individual dessert plates and carefully transfer the cakes to each plate. Garnish with confectioners’ sugar, fresh raspberries, toasted almonds and fresh mint.
I didn’t copy the rasberry coulis part of the recipe because rasberries & chocolate is not my favorite combination of flavors. It’s not bad, but balancing the two tastes isn’t that easy.
Zucchini Chocolate Cake
Here are some recipes I found for zucchini chocolate cake. I had the recipe years ago, but I can’t find my recipe book right now (darn it!!)
This recipe is from Simply Recipes at Elise.com.
2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Glaze (directions follow)
Preheat the oven to 350°F.1 Combine the four, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly. 5 Drizzle glaze over cake. Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.
Then this recipe is from Clotilde at Zucchini & Chocolate :
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp instant coffee granules
3 eggs at room temperature
2 cups zucchini, unpeeled & grated
1 cup chocolate chips
Topping: 40 g light brown sugar & 1/2 cup toasted & chopped hazelnuts
Preheat oven to 360 F. Grease & flour (or dust with cocoa powder) a 3 quart springform cake pan.
In a large bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cocoa powder.
Combine the sugar & butter in a food processor until fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract , instant coffee granules, & the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between each addition.
Spoon in the flour mixture, reserving the last half-cup of it. Mix thoroughly, it will be quite thick.
Add the grated zucchini and the chocolate chips to the reserved flour mixture, and toss to coat. Fold into the rest of the batter. Blend thoroughly.
Pour into the cake pan & flatten with a spatula.
Combine topping in a small bowl and spread on the top of the cake. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a cake-tester comes out clean. Turn out onto a cake rack and let cool for 30 minutes, then unmold.
This link also has some very good recipes on it, http://southernfood.about.com/od/chocolatecakes/r/bl40212o.htm, but I’ll check them out later after I try the above two recipes.
There were also lots of other good recipes I found on the internet.
And have I mentioned how irked I am with Epicurious .com??? I don’t know what is up with their stupid web site, but it has some type of error that has had my computer running at a crawl and my processor maxed out for the last HALF HOUR!!!!!
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