Pinot noir and cassareep pan sauce
Cassareep is made from the juice of the yuca (cassava), a tropical tuber. The yuca is grated and its liquid is pressed out then boiled with various spices to create a dark, aromatic syrup. When raw, both the yuca and its juice are toxic, but when cooked they are perfectly fine. In fact, yuca is the basis for tapioca.
Cassareep is a specialty of Guyana that has made its way through the Caribbean and is a critical ingredient in the hearty beef stew known as pepperpot. Here we use it to flavor a red wine pan sauce to add a slight bittersweet edge to the plummy red wine, marrying old and new world flavors to the best taste advantage. This pan sauce is excellent for a bone-in steak like a porterhouse or for grilled game meats like venison or elk.
Ingrediënten
MAKES: 120 ml
- 10 ml safflower oil
- 2 tbsp 18 g minced shallot
- ¼ tsp minced fresh thyme
- ½ tsp tomato paste
- 120 ml pinot noir
- 1¼ cups 300 ml Meat Stock
- 1½ tbsp 22 ml cassareep
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
- 15 gcold butter
Instructies
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the safflower oil.
- Add the shallot and thyme and sauté until the shallot is softened, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring for 1 minute.
- Pour in the pinot noir and simmer until the liquid is reduced down to 1 tablespoon (15 ml), about 7 to 8 minutes.
- Add the beef stock and cassareep and simmer until bubbles form evenly across the surface of the pan and the sauce can evenly coat the back of a spoon without dripping, about 8 to 9 minutes.
- Season with salt and cayenne pepper and remove the pan from the heat.
- Add the butter and swirl or whisk until melted.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Serve with grilled beef or game meats or brushed as a finishing sauce onto braised oxtails.
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