3/4 cup crème fraîche
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 green onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbs chopped parsley
1 tsp Dijon mustard
cracked black pepper, to taste
fine herbs, summer savory
dill, to taste
apple cider vinegar, to taste

Mix all the ingredients together. Let the dressing sit for an hour or two to blend.

MAKES 2 Cups

3 egg yolks
2 tbs lemon juice
1 cups butter
1 cup crème fraîche

Serve with artichoke, asparagus spears, or Eggs Benedict.

CRÈME FRAÎCHE HOLLANDAISE (II)
(Made in a Food Processor)

Makes 2 cups

3 egg yolks
2 tbs lemon juice
11/2 cups butter
1/2 cup crème fraîche

1. Put egg yolks and lemon juice into food processor.
2. Heat butter to bubbling stage. Do not brown.
3. With processor running, pour in butter in a very thin, slow, steady stream.
4. Once you have added the butter and have an emulsion, with the processor running, add crème fraîche, one tablespoon at a time. The sauce will be thin because the butter is hot.
5. Pour sauce into a heat-proof jar and refrigerate until ready to use. Place jar in a warm water bath to reheat.

CRÈME FRAÎCHE BEARNAISE SAUCE

To make Bearnaise Sauce proceed as for Hollandaise, but replace

2 tbs lemon juice  with  2 tbs Bearnaise reduction

Bearnaise Reduction

1 tbs chopped shallot
2 tbs tarragon stalks and parsely stalks,
   a sprig of thyme, a fragment of bay leaf

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup dry white wine
  pinch of salt and pinch of pepper

1. Boil down by two-thirds.
2. Allow to cool, strain.

This is the flavor base for Bearnaise Sauce. Serve Bearnaise Sauce with grilled meats, especially beef.

CHICKEN SUPREME

boneless, skinless chicken breasts
aromatics
shallots, sprigs
of fresh thyme
poaching liquid
10 to 12 oz mix of chicken
stock and white wine
crème fraîche to finish sauce

1. Shallow poach the chicken breasts: butter the pan; add aromatics in an even layer; place chicken breasts on top of aromatics; pour poaching liquid about half way up the chicken; bring to a bare simmer over direct heat; cover with vented parchment. Finish cooking in 350 degree F oven (about 8 minutes). DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL AT ANY TIME.
2. When chicken is cooked, remove from pan and keep warm.
3. Remove thyme and, if desired, strain out shallots. Reduce cooking liquid.
4. Stir in Kendall Farms crème fraîche to finish and to thicken sauce.

ON CREAMED SALT COD

"In 1654 Louis de Bechamel, marquis de Nointel, financier in the court of Louis XIV, having invested huge sums in the Newfoundland fishery, and finding the market weak in France because Frenchmen did not like this dried and salted old fish, invented a sauce for it, which is now called bechamel sauce... . Originally it was a simple cream sauce with spices such as nutmeg..." (Mark Kurlansky, Cod, p. 262)

Creme notes: Boil down 2 pints of hot milk by two-thirds and use instead of cream, if the latter cannot be obtained except the day before it is required, which renders it extremely liable to have sourish taste, whereas by using hot milk no such risk can be incurred. When it is possible to obtain good double cream, it should be used... . (Larousse Gastronomique, p. 119)

Morue a la Creme (Creamed Salt Cod): "This can be a dish of great purity... . French chefs love to serve it at home... ." (Raymond Sokolov, The Saucier's Apprentice, p. 164)

It is for reasons of lineage (not gustation) that I submit this recipe. I believe Careme would approve. (If Careme had had a good supply of Kendall Farms crème fraîche, would he have needed to invent roux?)

KENDALL FARMS CRÈME FRAÎCHE SALT COD
(Adapted from Sokolov, The Saucier's Apprentice, p. 164)

2 lbs salt cod
1-1/2 cups crème fraîche
1/2 cup milk
1 to 2 tbs brined green peppercorns, rinsed
red sea-salt

1. Desalt cod.
2. Boil enough water to cover cod spread in a single layer. Add the cod. Bring to the boil again. Reduce heat, simmer very slowly for 15 minutes.
3. Remove cod from water and drain thoroughly. Flake with a fork or with the white plastic blade of a foodprocessor. (Discard any bones or skin.)
4. Place crème fraîche in a sauce pan. Stir in milk to thin. Heat to bubbling. Add flaked cooked cod. Simmer together briefly. Stir in green peppercorns.
5. Serve in shallow soap bowls. Pass the red sea-salt.

PORTERHOUSE STEAKS WITH
BORDELAISE SAUCE 

Prepare the sauce

2 tbs cubed beef marrow
red wine reduction
shallots, red wine,
salt, pepper, fresh
thyme sprig
brown stock
beef/veal demiglace
crème fraîche

1. Cube 2 tbs beef bone marrow and poach in water for 5 minutes. Drain.
2. Wine reduction: Place shallots, dry red wine, salt, pepper, a fresh thyme sprig in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce by half and strain.
3. Brown stock: Pour brown stock into a pan, add a pinch of beef/veal demiglace. Bring to a boil and reduce by one-third.
   
4. Pour wine reduction into brown stock reduction. Add poached beef marrow. Cook for several minutes.
5. Finish with 2 to 4 tbs Kendall Farms crème fraîche. Add fresh parsely.

Porterhouse steaks

Porterhouse steaks at room temperature

1. Pat steaks dry and saute in butter and oil.
2. When steaks are done, transfer to a platter. Let the steaks rest. Pour off any liquid collected in the platter into the Bordelaise sauce.
3. Plate the steaks and serve with hot Bordelaise sauce.

Serves 4

2 lbs skinned salmon fillet, small bones removed
(if possible get the tail; the meat is denser.)
1 cup crème fraîche
½ cup (packed) fresh tarragon leaves
2-3 tbs butter
zest of one Meyer or Eureka lemon (or, to taste dry white wine)
salt and pepper

The salmon:

1. Snip tarragon leaves and stir into crème fraîche; add lemon zest.
2. Turn on broiler.
3. Pour wine to 1/8 inch depth in broiler pan. Rub broiler rack with butter so that the fish will not stick. Place fish on broiler rack. Dot with butter. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
4. Broil fillets 3 inches from the preheated broiler coils. Estimate the thickness of the salmon fillets; broil 10 minutes per inch of thickness, turn once if the fillets are thick.
5. When the fillets are done, remove them to a warm plate and keep them warm while you make the sauce.

The sauce:

1. Pour wine from the broiler pan into a heavy enameled skillet. Turn heat to high; bring wine to a boil. Reduce by half. Take off the heat.
2. Whisk the crème fraîche -tarragon-lemon mixture into the reduced wine. If any liquid has accumulated from the fish, whisk that in as well. Bring to a bubble, whisking all the while. Turn off heat as soon as the crème fraîche mixture is incorporated.
3. Either place the salmon on individual plates and spoon sauce over or place the salmon in the skillet, spoon sauce over it, and serve family style from the skillet.

Country French bread and dry white wine complete the meal. This dish is also excellent served at room temperature.

Serves 6

1 Vanilla bean
2 Cups cream
1 Cup finely granulated sugar, divided in half
6 large egg yolks
1Tbl. liqueur (e.g. Grand Marnier, Amaretto, Tia Maria, Frangelico)
2 Cups crème fraîche
pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out seeds with the back of a paring knife. Combine seeds. pod. cream and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Let mixture cool until just warm.
3. In a medium bowl. mix yolks and salt with a fork. to blend. Gradually add cream mixture. Stir just to blend. Add liqueur to crème fraîche and blend.
4. Whisk crème fraîche gently into cream mixture.
5. Place six shallow ramekins in a roasting pan or baking dish. Divide crème fraîche mixture among them.
6. Pour enough boiling water into pan until water comes halfway up the side of the ramekins.
7. Bake until barely set. Remove from water bath and let cool at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least thirty minutes.
8. To serve, sprinkle each ramekin with an even layer of sugar, using a generous tablespoon each.
9. Caramelize with a torch.

All Natural