Sauce Chasseur
Hunter's sauce — mushrooms, shallots, white wine, tomato and tarragon
The hunter's sauce, and the friendliest of the brown ones — mushrooms and shallots in white wine with tomato and a lot of tarragon. Good with chicken, rabbit or veal, and forgiving if your demi-glace is really just a good reduced stock.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 ounces button or chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 3 shallots, finely chopped
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons Cognac (optional)
- 2 cups Demi-Glace (see Demi-Glace)
- 2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Kosher salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until browned and dry, 8 to 10 minutes. Season and set aside.
- Lower the heat, add the remaining butter and the shallots, and sweat for 3 minutes without colouring.
- Add the Cognac if using and let it bubble away, then the white wine, and reduce by two thirds.
- Add the demi-glace and tomatoes and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
- Return the mushrooms to the pan, warm through, then stir in the tarragon and parsley off the heat. Season.
Notes
- Brown the mushrooms properly and separately — crowded, steamed mushrooms make a grey sauce.