Velouté sauce recipe

It is a recipe very similar to the bechamel but in the velouté we substitute the milk for the broth or light background, binding it and thickening it to taste with the roux or a mixture of flour and butter. Depending on the background used, we will obtain a bird velouté that would be made up of a bird background and a blond roux, or a fish velouté that would be made with a stock and a white roux.

Starting from the velouté, other derived sauces can be made, in the same way that we explain with the bechamel sauce and its variants. In addition, part of the background, broth or stock can be substituted for white wine or even incorporate some milk as part of the preparation.

The basic Velouté sauce recipe and its variants

To make a classic poultry velouté sauce, we will use a light chicken background and a white or blonde roux. This classic poultry velouté is also called greasy white sauce.

If we are going to prepare a fish velouté, also called lean velouté, we will use a good stock or fish broth with the white roux.

Preparation of Velouté sauce recipe:

To explain the velouté sauce recipe we are going to make a fish velouté. If we wanted to make the poultry veoluté, the process would be exactly the same, replacing the fish stock with a good chicken broth.

We started by making the roux. The roux is nothing more than a mixture of flour and lightly toasted butter, the same that we do when we are going to make a bechamel sauce. Ideally, use the same proportion of butter as flour. Depending on the greater or lesser level of toasting of the flour, we are going to get a white or a blonde roux.

For the velouté sauce we are interested in toasting it as little as possible, leaving it blonde or even white, almost without cooking the flour. In the pan, melt the butter and add the flour, stirring with the rods to integrate it well, always with the heat at a minimum so as not to toast the flour. Next we are adding our broth, either chicken or fish according to the velouté that we are preparing.

In this case it is a fish velouté, so we will gradually add the broth or stock, as if we were making a clarita bechamel. While we are adding it, we stir so that the velouté sauce takes shape and is ready to use, as if it were a béchamel sauce, replacing it with the velouté.

Once the sauce is made, we rectify its thickness, reducing it with light cooking if it was too liquid or adding a little broth if it was too thick and we can now use it for our preparations.

Ingredients:

For 4 people:

1 kg. Chicken breast fillets
3 Eggs for batter and 3 for hollandaise sauce
200 ml. Milk
60 gr. Butter
60 gr. Flour
3 Leeks
5 carrots
1 onion
150 gr. Chickpeas
1 lime
Goat cheese in a roll
Oil, salt and white pepper
Potatoes
Bread crumbs

Preparation of Villaroy chicken fillets with Velouté sauce:

Prepare a white background of bird. We use half a hen and 150 gr. chickpeas already soaked the night before. Cover with water and bring to a boil.

When the broth is boiling, we reduce the heat and degrease.

We cut the carrots, leeks and onion roughly. Add to the broth, along with some bay leaves and a little mixture of peppers (white, black, pink and green).

Let it cook over low heat for about three hours. We skim when necessary

We have our chicken broth ready. Strain and let cool. When it is cold, very carefully, we remove the fat, which will have been all on top.

Cut the breast fillets into square pieces, roughly the same size.

We prepare a Velouté with 60 gr. butter, 60 gr. flour, 200 ml. of milk and 350 ml. of the poultry stock, already strained and defatted.

We let the Velouté temper.

Season the chicken fillets and go through the velouté, spreading them well on both sides. We are placing them on a baking tray, protected with paper, and we leave them there, until the sauce is completely cold and solid.

We squeeze the lime.

We prepare the Hollandaise sauce, with 250 gr. butter, 3 egg yolks, lime juice, salt and white pepper. (We melt the butter, and in a bain-marie, put the 3 egg yolks and the lime juice in a container, and beating until they increase in volume).

We are adding the melted butter little by little, without stopping to beat, until the texture is like that of a normal mayonnaise, we salt and pepper and leave in the hot water bath so that it does not cut.

We peel four medium potatoes, wash them and with a knife we make small cuts, without going all the way down. We salt them and put them in a baking dish. Pour some leftover poultry broth into the pan and cover with aluminum foil.

After 45 minutes, remove the aluminum foil, place a few slices of goat cheese in the slits, put some butter nuts on the potatoes and let them gratin in the oven for 10 minutes.

We take the potatoes out of the oven and reserve them to plate.

We passed the chicken fillets, battered in velouté sauce, already completely cold with flour, egg and breadcrumbs (in this order).