Norwegian Butter Sauce (Sandefjordsmor)

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 17 min
Servings: 4
Yield: 4 servings

Description

Chef John's amazingly simple Norwegian butter sauce is wonderful on all types of fish, but also works beautifully on shrimp and lobster.

Ingredients

2 lemons, juiced
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
salt to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Directions

1 Place lemon juice in saucepan over medium heat; simmer until lemon juice reduces to less than a tablespoon and almost disappears, 4 or 5 minutes, being careful not to let it burn. Quickly add cream; whisk to combine. Continue to cook until cream reduces and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5 or 6 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
2 Whisk in 2 or 3 pieces of cold butter, stirring until butter melts before adding more. Add 2 or 3 more butter cubes. (If cream mixture cools too quickly, the sauce may break.) Continue adding butter a few pieces at a time until all butter is emulsified into the cream, 8 to 10 minutes. Add salt, cayenne pepper, and 2 generous tablespoons chopped parsley. Whisk until well blended. Keep sauce warm until ready to use.