Blueberry Ginger Sauce

This sauce is meant to go with a carrot custard, but would be wonderful with duck, chicken, or pork. Use with panna cotta or other desserts as well. You can make it sweeter by adding sugar or agave to it, as the sugar in the recipe here is just enough to wake up certain flavors in the berries. You could add liqueur to the sauce to sweeten it as well*. This will also intensify the berry flavor. If you want a perfectly smooth sauce, pureé all the berries instead of three-quarters as called for in the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 small shallot, cut into fine dice

½ teaspoon ginger juice (peel a piece of pale, thin-skinned and fragrant ginger around ¾ x 1 inch, and use a ginger grater or Micro Plane© grate the ginger finely, then squeeze the gratings over a fine strainer into a non-reactive container for the juice.)

1 ounce of cognac, Armagnac, or brandy

1½ cups blueberries

1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste

Salt and pepper to taste  

1-3 sprigs fresh thyme or marjoram, minced

½ teaspoon, or to taste, white balsamic vinegar

Neutral flavored oil as needed

Water as needed

METHOD:

Place ¾ of the berries in a non-reactive bowl. Using a fork or potato masher, gently crush the berries, then evenly sprinkle with the sugar. Toss to mix in and allow berries to macerate 20 minutes or longer.

Heat a heavy-gauge 1-quart chef’s pan or sauce pan over medium-low heat. When pan is hot, film lightly with oil. When oil is hot, add the shallot and toss to coat with oil. Gently sauté until shallots are “clear”.

Add the liquor and heat up. Flame the brandy and as soon as the flames die, add the macerated berries and the whole berries. Stir around to mix with teach other and the shallots. Season with a little pepper, add one sprig of herbs, and enough water to coat the pan bottom. Stir, then cover and cook gently, shaking the pot every couple minutes, for 10 minutes. Check the pan. You want to mashed berries to break down into a soupy, saucy mess, and the whole berries should puff up a bit or break. Stir if things need help. Add water if the pan seems dry. Cook, covered, another 10 minutes, shaking the pan.

Stir well with a wooden spatula, scraping the bottom for any thickened sauce. Add the ginger juice, vinegar, and a pinch of salt, and stir well. Taste the sauce to determine if you should add more sugar or herbs, or ginger. The ginger is a flavor as opposed to a heat sensation in the mouth. Adjust flavors as needed- if the sauce tastes flat, try a pinch of sugar and a couple drops of vinegar. If you can not taste the herb at all, add the two remaining sprigs and push to the bottom and smash a bit with the wooded spatula. The ginger should be floral, but try to avoid spiking the sauce with heat.

Cook, uncovered, another 5-10 minutes, adding water if needed to keep the sauce from scorching. Use a slotted spoon to remove the whole-ish berries, or 3/4s of the berry mass to a bowl. Put the rest into a blender or processor and process until pureed. You can also use a stick blender, although it will take longer and the skins will not break down as much. Rinse out the pan. And strain (or not…) the sauce into the pan, pushing on any solids remaining in the strainer to extract as much flavors as possible. Taste the sauce again for balance-berries first, then a sweet/tart note with a touch of herbaceousness, with floral ginger notes underlying all and shoring up the berry flavor. If the sauce is too thick, add a touch of water. Too thin? Cook it down a little. It should be just able to be poured. When spooned onto something, it should stick and pool, while dripping slowly at the same time. Add the rest of the reserved berry mixture, fold in, taste one last time and heat through. The sauce is ready to use.

Chef’s Notes: *If you wish to use a liqueur, look for crème de myrtille, which may be blueberry, or bilberry, which is a little more intense. Avoid blueberry schnapps, vodkas, and wines as they are not suitable substitutes. If you wish, see the recipe on site for making your own blueberry vinegar to use in the recipe in lieu of white balsamic.

Yield: 1 – 1½ cups of sauce

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen