A champagne cream sauce for seafood that dresses up a dish and makes the ultimate decadent sauce for special occasions.
We make a homemade fish bone broth as a base, before cooking it with champagne and finally adding cream. Each stage of the champagne sauce recipe needs to reduce so make sure you leave yourself enough time, but at least fish bone broth takes a considerably shorter amount of time than meat!
This savoury champagne cream sauce for fish works at any time of year. It might contain cream but it isn't heavy, the delicate flavours of champagne and fish stock make it light enough to be enjoyed in summer but equally as perfect with a winter dish.
This champagne cream sauce for seafood is a recipe for when you want to push the boat out, and impress. The key ingredient is one associated with celebration, excess and exclusivity, so it is perfect for engagements, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or any occasion you want to celebrate.
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Ingredients
As always, the quality of the ingredients really matters although I would not recommend you break out the vintage Dom Perignon for this champagne cream sauce, for seafood - average-priced champagne is fine. The fish bones are the element that matter the most, and this is where you should spend your money to make this recipe sing. If you buy your fish from a market, buy a whole fish and ask them to fillet it for you but keep the bones. Especially the head. You can also go into a fishmonger and ask if they will give you or sell you just the bones. I do it all the time (and butchers too).
- Fish bones
Use the bones of a white fish, either flat or round is fine. The image above is turbot which works particularly well.
- Champagne
Don't feel that you need to use expensive champagne in this sauce recipe, an average price bottle is fine.
- Peppercorns
- Onion
- Celery
- Lemon
- Parsley
- Bay leaves
- Shallot
- Butter
- Double cream
- Salt and pepper
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to make fish bone broth
It is easy to make homemade fish bone broth, and you won't believe the difference in taste. The fresher the fish bones, the better the bone broth. You always know the sign of a good fish broth when it goes really gelatinous once chilled. This is due to the good quality collagen in the fish bones, particularly in the head.
Prepare a large saucepan big enough for all the bones to be covered by liquid.
Place the fish bones into the saucepan. Cut the lemon in half, roughly chop the celery and cut the onion into quarters (keeping the skin). Put it all into the saucepan along with the bay leaf, parsley, salt and peppercorns.
Pour in the water and champagne, bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
Remove from the heat and strain through a sieve covered in a piece of muslin cloth into a large bowl or jug. Wait for it to settle and skim off any residue from the top.
Chill or freeze until needed.
Instructions
Finely dice the shallot.
Heat butter in a saucepan and when it stops crackling, add the shallot and gently fry until softened.
Pour in the champagne and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce down the volume by one third.
Pour in the fish stock and cream, bring back to the boil and reduce down again by half.
Season the champagne cream sauce at this stage with salt and pepper.
Sieve the sauce to remove the shallot, return to the pan and heat gently to bring the temperature back up to just below the simmering point and then it's ready to serve.
Hint: Wait until the end to season this sauce. Cream kills salt so you may need more than you think, but don't overdo it.
Top tip
Right before serving, whisk a few cubes of chilled butter into the champagne cream sauce off the heat to get a really glossy smooth finish.
Now you've made your champagne cream sauce, get creative with some of these sauce plating techniques and take your food styling even further.
Also, did you know I wrote an ebook on food styling and photography?
Wine pairing for champagne cream sauce
A creamy chardonnay will pair well with champagne cream sauce, or you can stick to theme and serve champagne (which goes with everything in my opinion, and is traditionally made with chardonnay grapes). Another option for wine to pair with champagne cream sauce would be an Alsace Pinot Gris.
Equipment
- Large saucepan for the fish stock
- Large jug or bowl
- Saucepan to make the sauce
- Sieve
- Muslin cloth
Storage
Store any leftovers in the fridge and use within 3-4 days.
This champagne cream sauce for seafood does not freeze that well.
Recipe Card
Champagne Cream Sauce For Seafood
Equipment
- 1 large saucepan/stock pot
- 1 Sieve
- 1 muslin cloth
Ingredients
Fish bone broth
- 1 kg Fish bones (uncooked)
- 200 ml Champagne
- 800 ml Water
- 1 handful Parsley
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Peppercorns
- 1 Onion
- 1 stick Celery
- 1 Lemon
Champagne cream sauce
- 550 ml Champagne
- 350 ml Fish bone broth
- 400 ml Double cream /heavy cream
- 50 grams Butter
- 1 Shallot
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Fish bone broth
- Prepare a large saucepan big enough for all the bones to be covered by the liquid.
- Place the fish bones into the saucepan. Cut the lemon in half, roughly chop the celery and cut the onion into quarters (keeping the skin). Put it all into the saucepan along with the bay leaf, parsley, salt and peppercorns.
- Pour in the water and champagne, bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and strain through a sieve covered in a piece of muslin cloth into a large bowl or jug. Wait for it to settle and skim off any residue from the top.
Champagne cream sauce
- Finely dice the shallot.
- Heat butter in a saucepan and when it stops crackling, add the shallot and gently fry until softened.
- Pour in the champagne and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the volume by a third.
- Pour in the fish stock and cream, bring back to the boil and reduce down by half.
- Season the champagne cream sauce at this stage with salt and pepper.
- Sieve the sauce to remove the shallot, return to the pan and heat gently to bring the temperature back up to just below the simmering point.
- Turn the heat off and whisk in a few extra cubes of cold butter to get a smooth and glossy finish. Serve immediately.
Video
Nutrition
FAQ
Yes, all types of bone broth freeze really well. I often freeze bone broth in large ice cube trays to then have smaller portions to make sauces or soups with. My freezer is packed full of bone broth, but make sure you label the carton or you'll have a tricky time figuring out what kind it is.
Bone broth is so versatile, I use it in sauces, soups, risotto and stews. If you are serving a side dish like cous cous, rice, quinoa etc then you can also use bone broth instead of plain water to turbocharge the flavour.
You can make fish bone broth from white fish (both flat and round) and shellfish but not fatty fish like salmon. I love using Turbot for fish bone broth.
Yes! Crab, langoustine and lobster broth are all present and correct in my freezer. I will often make a seafood risotto with crab stock, and a few scallops or prawns placed on top.
Food safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw fish
- Wash hands after touching raw fish
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave boiling pans unattended
Gill says
This sauce tasted so good! Using champagne in the sauce made it feel so special and classy, it was like eating at a restaurant
Mallory says
I've never used fish bone broth before but this recipe was super simple and delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Katie says
Wow this is incredible! This champagne sauce tastes amazing on seafood!