Description
Real, gelatinous, homemade stock is one of those ingredients I simply cannot live without, professionally or at home. In both scenarios, I generally make chicken stock in large batches and reduce as needed. I would prefer entrée-specific stocks, but it simply isn’t always economical for time, space, and funds. I always reduce stock to varying degrees as soon as I’ve made it so that it doesn’t take up the entire freezer. The starting point of stock is already reduced from around a gallon of good stock down to a few cups. The texture of the chilled stock at that point is a few degrees thicker than Jell-O, or a (clean) finger pressed into it pushes through with some resistance.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 medium shallots, sliced thin (1/3 to ½ cup)
- Butter for sautéing
- 1 cup dried apricots, sliced thin
- 1 cup white wine (nearly anything works, but should not be a new oak-aged wine)
- 2 cups reduced stock
- 3 to 4 sprigs of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pound of chanterelles, cleaned
- ¾ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- In a saucepan preheated at medium heat, melt the butter then add the sliced shallots. Cook slowly over medium heat until they are soft and start to caramelize.
- Add your sliced apricots and continue to cook together, until the apricots begin to disintegrate and the shallots are golden brown and caramelize. Stir often and be patient, this may take a while.
- When this mixture is well caramelized, add your white wine, thyme, peppercorns and bay leaf. Let the wine reduce by half to two-thirds.
- Add your stock and continue to reduce slowly until you reach sauce consistency, skimming as needed. Sauce consistency is met when a spoon dipped into the sauce holds its shape when removed. Remove thyme spring and bay leaf, set aside for the next steps.
- In a separate sauté pan, preheat over medium-high heat. Add a knob of butter, let it melt then sauté your mushrooms, not overcrowding the pan. The mushrooms should reduce by about half in size. When finished, drain onto paper towels to soak up extra fat. This may take several rounds of sautéing, depending on the size of your pan. Overcrowding will lead to too much steam and an overly mushy chanterelle.
- Add your heavy cream to the sauce base along with half of the chanterelles – reserving the other half for garnish- and slowly reduce, again, to sauce consistency. When it reaches sauce consistency, blend with blender or with an immersion blender. Strain and season.