Need help with cream sauce!

[LadyCook61]

Sorry to pick nits, but Plugra is an American butter. It's European style according to the package, but it's American made. This is a good thing - it's much cheaper than the imported butters. I use it in all my baking.

I just bought a bar of Plugra, never tried it before.

 

[archiduc]

So I happen to be a big fan of rich cream sauces for pasta. I've been experimenting for the last few weeks, and while I can make an okay sauce it just never gets as rich and as thick as what I have at restaurants. Can anyone please take a look at what I generally do and give me some suggestions? I'd prefer to avoid adding cheese to it because I try not to eat cheese.

I usually start by cooking chopped shallots in EVOO until they start to soften. I then use my garlic press on a couple of cloves of garlic and add that to the mix. After that cooks a little (with some sea salt and black pepper), I add a splash of white wine and let the alcohol cook out. Then I add whipping cream. I sometimes put a little corn starch in the mix to try to thicken it up some, but it doesn't seem to help very much. And of course I often add other ingredients for flavor, like chopped capers or dried tarragon.

In the end, it tastes so-so but is definitely not restaurant-quality. It is too soupy and not rich enough. Any suggestions are appreciated!!

Okay, let`s go back to basics. What sauce for which type of pasta are you trying to make? What pasta dish have you had that you are trying to recreate? It may be that the restaurant cooks shallots etc., in a mixture of BUTTER and OO or EVOO, adds wine and reduces much more than you are doing at the moment and then adds "HEAVY CREAM" to the mix. In a restaurant situation one could cook quantities of onions in a mix of butter and OO or EVOO and set aside for use in different dishes depending upon the menu and service. However, this is not a consideration here as I suspect that you are not using butter in the mix of your sauce and not using heavy cream in the final sauce for the pasta.

So, tell us, what are you trying to make?

Archiduc

 

[jpmcgrew]

I just got a mail order oF Kerry Gold and Anchor from New Zealand plus Bulgarian Feta and some Manchego. Can't wait to try them.