Elevate your Summer Seafood

Elevate your Summer seafood game with this simple twist on a classic French sauce - Beurre noisette or Burnt Butter.

Beurre noisette, pronounced burr-nwah-ZET, is a French term for 'brown butter' or literally 'hazelnut butter.' It is a one-ingredient condiment - unsalted butter - cooked in a pan until it turns a golden brown. The resulting butter has a nutty flavour and is added to vegetables, pasta, omelettes or chicken, but most commonly fish and seafood.

"My personal favourite pairing is king prawns, butterflied and roasted over coals, a nice piece of fish or grilled scallops can also benefit from the addition of a burnt butter sauce. Alternatively, adding chopped garlic and a little sage right at the end can create a classic pasta dressing." Chef Brendan Pratt

This recipe uses lemon juice to both stop the cooking process of the milk solids and more importantly, add freshness and balance to an otherwise fatty and rich sauce. The addition of the beach mustard adds a lovely aromatic, mustardy tang to the sauce.

Burnt Butter sauce with beach mustard

200g unsalted butter
2 tbl spoons of chopped beach mustard or 1 tbl spoon of Dijon mustard
1 tsp flaked sea salt
Juice of one lemon

Heat a stainless steel saucepan over a medium heat. Too much heat will burn the butter so start the heat slowly.

Cut butter into tablespoon-sized portions and separate them.

Add the butter to the heated pan.

Using a whisk as the butter melts, swirl the butter so that it cooks evenly.

Swirl the pan occasionally to ensure no butter burns.

The butter will begin to foam after 30 seconds or so. Keep stirring constantly as the butter begins to melt and the proteins brown.

Keep an eye on the colour of the butter - you're looking for a golden brown hue. Once the butter is the correct colour, pour it out of the pan into a large heatproof container. Add the lemon juice, salt and beach mustard (or Dijon) and whisk to combine.

Spoon over your cooked seafood and enjoy with the Vasse Felix Chardonnay.