Thursday, June 01, 2006

Lemon Butter Sauce Recipe


This rich, creamy lemon sauce is delicious served with fish.

Serves 4.

We use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup for all of our recipes.

84ml (1/3 cup) white wine
125ml (1/2 cup) thickened cream (35 percent fat)
20g butter (if you are using unsalted butter, add salt to taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons (30ml) fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Place wine in a small saucepan; simmer over low to medium heat until reduced by half.

Add cream and simmer gently until mixture reaches a sauce-like consistency. © exclusivelyfood.com.au

Add butter, lemon juice and parsley and stir until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. If the sauce is a little thin, simmer, stirring constantly, until it reaches the desired consistency. If the sauce is too thick and/or separated, add a little water (one teaspoon at a time) and stir or whisk vigorously until sauce is fixed. Serve immediately.

A shorter simmering time produces a sauce with a thinner consistency and lighter colour.
© www.exclusivelyfood.com.au


40 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This sauce is so so so yummy!!

14/9/06 8:43 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wholeheartedly agree. This is an excellent sauce. I tried it with salmon fillets I had poached in milk, made an excellent dinner :)

Now t try the swee chilli prawns using rice wine instead of sherry ^^

18/11/06 2:56 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What type of fish is showing in the photo?

27/2/07 12:09 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

We used snapper fillets in these photos.

27/2/07 10:06 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What exactly is "thickened" cream?

Thanks!

14/3/07 10:53 am  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi George

Thickened cream is cream that is thickened with a small amount of vegetable gum or gelatine. The cream we use contains 35% milk fat.

14/3/07 10:55 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi...can u lease let me know if i can substitute thickened cream with freah cream...also can i cook freah cream

9/4/07 3:18 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Yes, you can cook fresh cream. It should be okay to use unthickened cream in this recipe.

9/4/07 4:56 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This recipe sounds like what I have been looking for but how much in tsps or tbs is 20g of butter?

11/4/07 11:00 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

20g of butter is about 4 teaspoons.

16/4/07 7:27 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Such a simple and easy to make sauce, with so much taste.

Thanks for that!

31/5/07 10:05 am  
Blogger bola2api said...

is there a substitute for white wine? can i use water instead?

25/7/07 12:57 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

By the time this sauce has finished cooking, most of the liquid contributed by the wine has been evaporated. Therefore, you could just leave the wine out without replacing it with an equal volume of water.

If you would like to replace the wine with something that contributes flavour, you could try using fish stock, diluted verjuice, or white grape juice with a little white wine vinegar added. (We haven't tested any of these substitutes.)

2/8/07 12:55 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is really easy to make ia m 17 and i made it for my lunch and it was really easy.

3/8/07 7:27 pm  
Blogger EmilioandYadira said...

What dept. in the grocery store would I find the cream?

Thanks!

8/8/07 3:23 am  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi Emilio and Yadira

Thickened cream is thickened with a small amount of vegetable gum or gelatine. The cream we use contains 35% milk fat. In Australia, thickened cream can be found in the refrigerated dairy section of supermarkets. If you can't find thickened cream where you live, substitute unthickened cream with about 35% milk fat.

13/8/07 8:13 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can i substitue the cream for evaporated low fat milk without ruining the sauce?

18/10/07 2:49 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

We don't think evaporated low fat milk would be a suitable substitute for the cream in this recipe. However, if you decide to try it, please let us know how it goes.

19/10/07 1:26 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would capers work in this recipe?

19/11/07 7:03 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, i love your site and am so grateful for all the wonderful recipes!!
i made this sauce on the weekend and the flavour was divine. however, i think perhaps it was meant to be thicker than i made it.
could you give me an estimate of the time it should take? (because it said 'serve immediately' i think i may have rushed it.) :)
thanks again!

3/12/07 8:06 am  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Yes, we think capers would be a nice addition to this sauce.

Cait, next time we make this sauce, we will time each stage and add the times to the recipe above. We have written "serve immediately" because the sauce should be served hot and it doesn't reheat well. Make sure you continue to simmer the sauce until it reaches the consistency you would like for serving.

7/2/08 1:33 pm  
Blogger Cosmic_GurL said...

Let say we dont want to put any sort of alcohol like the wine, can we substitute it with something else?

19/4/08 1:03 am  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi Cosmic_GurL,

Please see our comment dated 2/8/07.

21/4/08 12:09 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi, the sauce looks great but i have no cream except for Greek yogurt and low fat milk, could i use either of these? its probably too late for tonight but anyway.

11/6/08 7:46 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

We don't think that either Greek yoghurt or low fat milk would be a suitable substitute for the cream.

11/6/08 8:05 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excellent recipe! Quick, easy, and delicious. As a rule, I initially follow a recipe strictly as directed. I can always "tailor" it to my own personal tasts. I serve this recipe over hot rice to which I've added a little chopped cilantro, green onion, and minced garlic! Yum-Yum :)
Thanks for the recipe! Everybody raves about it here in Tijuana, México.

6/9/08 7:30 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How much time do I need to prepare this sauce? Oh, and by the way: WHAT AN AMAZING WEBPAGE! I love it! Because it has easy and delicious recipes (I'm a begginer in this cooking thing). Thanks!

18/11/08 11:41 am  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

We suggest that you allow 10-15 minutes to prepare the sauce.

18/11/08 8:49 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for this recipe, I've been searching for one for a long while. I add a little (1/4tsp) ground fennel and use the sauce in layers between smoked fish and potato/parsnips mashed together, then a Red Leicester cheese topping - all in the oven, then on 150 degrees for 30-40 mins.

10/3/09 7:17 am  
Anonymous Lisa said...

Easy and delicious!! Thanks Amanda and Debbie! I served it with pan fried salmon fillets alongside cheese and chive baked potatoes and a green salad, YUM!

15/5/09 9:56 am  
Blogger Diana said...

Hi,

This is a simple yet flavoursome sauce - my partner was eating it out of the pot by the spoonful!

14/7/09 11:27 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hI
Can I replace the cream (in lemmon butter sauce) for 2% fat milk mixed with cornstarch??

31/7/09 7:19 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

Went really well with fresh pan fried sweet lip. Mine needed a bit of cooking to get to the required consistency. The parsley was then a bit grey, I'll add it later next time. Very good recipe.

28/2/10 10:09 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

This sauce completely surpassed my expectations - it was so delicious! Incredibly easy and bursting with flavor. We used heavy whipping cream instead of the thickened cream mentioned in the original recipe, and it worked great. Thank you Amanda and Debbie!!!

9/4/10 11:50 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow this looks like a dish my mum used to make when i was a kid... I am yet to try it yet but was planning on it tonight. MMMMM if it is the same i already know its beautiful. THANKYOU SO MUCH will let you know how i go although none of my cooking ever has that same exact taste as my mums!!!

22/4/10 2:16 pm  
Blogger Jamie S said...

I don't care for fish, but can tolerate Cod (Halibut if I am feeling rich) and knew this recipe would make it taste better. I didn't have thickened cream, so used Half 'n' Half (USA)and it turned out perfect. Perfect consistancy, and wonderful flavor! I am keeping this with my favorite recipes to make again, and my husbands says I need to double it next time! Thanks for sharing it! Jamie

1/6/11 8:14 am  
Anonymous Hilary (loves cooking) said...

Simply brilliant. I made salmon en croute with herbs and feta cheese but wanted a sauce to serve with it. This fitted the bill perfectly, I went back for more and could have eaten the whole lot. Will try adding the zest next time for more zing as I like strong flavours. Only just happened across this site and am now printing off several recipes, well done girls!

16/1/12 11:44 pm  
Anonymous Mel said...

I've made this sauce a couple of times now... Just love it!

4/10/12 7:51 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Amanda, debbie,

Can you please suggest a dry white wine that I can use for this dish? I would also love to try out your fish pie recipe. Bought a lovely snapper from South Melb. Market today. Can't wait to try out this recipe!

22/12/13 5:20 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hello Amanda & Debbie,

Well, I just went to Woollies and picked up a bottle of chardonnay. Made the sauce - it was super tangy so we added a pinch of sugar to balance out the tastes. Also made your potato pancakes. Served with simple fried snapper and steamed veggies. DH and I both polished everything! We LOVED the combination of the sauce, fish and potato cakes. The sauce is excellent with the veggies too. Thank you for a memorable meal.

22/12/13 10:40 pm  

Review this recipe/article

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

Have you made this? Share a photo in our Flickr group.

<< Home