High Praise For My Pan Sauce
Hubby mentioned to me the other evening that he thought I was an excellent sauce maker. This is a compliment from the guy that doesn’t like his food to touch on his plate.
If you are daunted by making sauce, I’m going to give you a little tutorial.
What is pan sauce?
Pan sauce is a simple yet delicious way to enhance the flavor of your meals. It involves using the leftover bits and drippings from cooking meat or vegetables in a pan, along with additional ingredients like broth, wine, or herbs, to create a flavorful sauce that can be served alongside your dish.
Why make pan sauce?
Aside from adding depth and richness to your meals, making pan sauce is also a great way to reduce waste in the kitchen. Instead of discarding those tasty bits and juices left behind in the pan after cooking, you can use them to make a delicious sauce.
Plus, it’s an easy way to impress your family and friends with restaurant-quality flavors at home.
How To Make The Perfect Pan Sauce
First you cook your THING (chicken, beef, lamb chop, pork medallions, salmon filet…whatever) in hot fat (olive oil, butter or a combination of both) in a skillet.
Remove the THING to a platter. What you have left is the beginning of your sauce.
Add some shallot or minced onion to the pan and give it a quick cook.
Now we add WINE. Red or white, light, or dry.
We reduce the wine which means we concentrate the wine flavor. Once this is reduced so that only the essence of the wine remains we add stock like chicken, beef, or veggie. We reduce again.
Now we season. Some of my Most Favorite THINGS to season with are the assortment of Better Than Bouillon jars of pure flavor.
Just a bit will add a real lusciousness to any sauce. In place of this you can add any spice, herb, or combo that you like. We add salt and pepper here.
To thicken the sauce, you can add mustard or tomato paste.
I like mustard in a chicken or pork sauce and tomato paste when I’m making a red wine sauce. Just a touch will do.
You can also thicken with a spoonful of cornstarch whisked with cold water. This combination will give your sauce a shine.
Now you can add any of your other favorite THINGS.
Lemon juice and zest will brighten your sauce. Fresh herbs are perfect here. A couple pats of butter will give you a rich, velvety sauce.
Add your Thing back into your sauce to finish the cooking and to baste it in saucy goodness.
And that’s it….The secret to a simple sauce that you can make your own!
How To Make Pan Sauce
Lemon Caper Chicken In Buttery Sauce
Serves
Serves 6
Time To Prepare
30 minutes ’til it’s ready
Ingredients
- 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 tablespoons butter, ½ stick, divided
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 large shallot, minced, about 1 tablespoon
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
- Zest of 1 medium lemon, about 1 tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed
- Fresh parsley
