Garlicky three chili clarified butter sauce
This clarified butter sauce, traditionally used with seafood, features three types of dried chilies, each chosen for their specific flavors. Chile de arbol is a bright red, extremely hot pepper that adds color and spice. Chipotle pepper adds smoke and the ancho chili is milder in heat and deeper in color. The chilies are gently fried in butter as it is clarified, then removed before serving.
The clarification process—cooking butter over low heat so the milk solids cook out—makes a perfectly clear dipping sauce with nutty undertones. This sauce is a spicy one, so it’s ideal for heartier fish rather than a delicate sole or flounder and is a delicious dipping sauce for steamed lobster, crab or clams.
Ingrediënten
MAKES: about 240 ml
- 240 g salted European style butter
- 1 chile de arbol
- 1 ancho chill
- ¼ tsp dried chipotle pepper
- 5 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp salt or to taste
Instructies
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- When all the butter is melted, reduce the heat to low and add the chilies and garlic.
- Continue to cook the butter on a low simmer.
- It will foam up and then die down.
- Let the butter simmer for about 20 minutes or until you see a whitish residue at the bottom of your pan.
- These are the milk solids.
- Keep an eye on your garlic—do not let it burn.
- Pick out the garlic when it is deeply brown.
- Remove the chilies with a slotted spoon and pour the butter into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve to strain out the milk solids.
- Season with salt to taste.
- Serve hot as a dipping sauce for steamed clams, lobster or crab legs.
- The butter may be refrigerated and melted again before use.
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