Buttery Springtime Eggs In A Splendid Silky Mustard Velouté
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If you are hosting Easter, Buttery Springtime Eggs In A Splendid Silky Mustard Velouté or ‘eggs in mustard sauce’ are a must on your menu!
If you’ve dyed a few more Easter eggs than intended, this recipe is a deliciously fantastic way to use those extras without any going to waste.
Eggs in mustard sauce is not a new concept. In fact, it’s a rather old one! The use of eggs, either hard boiled or poached, as a main protein during mealtime dates back to long ago. In certain parts of the old world, if the ability to access meat and poultry was rare or too expensive, eggs were a primary substitution.
In this recipe, mustard is used as an emulsifier, stabilizing the immiscible liquids that make up the sauce. The addition of heavy cream and a scant amount of granulated sugar help to lesson the tanginess of the mustard, elevating the sauce and its pairing with the otherwise delicate flavor of hard cooked or firmly poached eggs.
Serving this over salad greens reveals a more savory experience, while serving with Brioche in any form will ensure a sweeter experience. For the best of both worlds, consider toasting your own brioche croutons. Assemble the eggs in sauce velouté in a buttered Gratin dish topped with the croutons and baking briefly. Spoon the hot Gratin over a bed of greens and enjoy with a bright Rosé or Sardinian Grenache.
Whether an Easter Brunch or a midday family gathering, seriously consider serving this classically seasonal dish of eggs in mustard sauce.
In addition to screaming Spring, Buttery Springtime Eggs In A Splendid Silky Mustard Velouté may be served over Brioche toast points, atop a plate of greens, or baked in a gratin with herbed croutons topping it off. It’s altogether savory, lite, and may be either a colorful side or one of a series of mains adorning your Easter table.
A velouté is a savory sauce that is made from a roux and a light stock. It is one of the “mother sauces” of French cuisine along with sauce espagnole, tomato, béchamel, and mayonnaise or hollandaise. Velouté is the French word for velvety. Herein, the addition if tangy Dijon mustard and freshly chopped dillweed enhances sauce velouté that is the tiniest bit sweet and entirely rich and buttery.
Eggs are a great replacement protein for nights when ‘breakfast for dinner’ means eggs in mustard sauce…
Unknowingly, my first experience tasting sauce velouté was in northwest Ontario. I attended a cookout which was of a most unusual sort. To demonstrate how versatile variations of sauce velouté may be, I was served this sauce flavored with pureed sweet potato and maple. The sauce was then used as a base on a plate which boasted braised sweet potatoes with Muenster cheese, beef brisket, and pork ribs. Our German Canadian chef explained the dish and referenced ‘sauce velouté’ as the vehicle for delivering his maple and sweet potato flavor profile. It was outstanding.
And what I learned from that chilly cowboy-esque evening in the great north-country, was that despite a ‘velouté’ being French, eggs with mustard sauce are historically an eastern European and Germanic dish, having deep roots in Bavaria and the Black Forest.
German food and German recipes are of particular interest to me. It’s familial on my dads father’s side, the last name Dreisbach and Sandt when they reached the new world in the 1680s. In fact, I can recall being served a variation of the dish I present today at my grandparents house as a child.
A plate of boiled potatoes with butter and German mustard with poached eggs and mustard sauce over the entire dish. My grandfather called it comfort food, but as a 4 or 5 year old, I called it ‘no thank you.’ In my young world all those years ago, if it wasn’t cookies, it’d have to be mashed potatoes and either egg salad or hard boiled eggs. That was the extent of my potato and egg repertoire back in the day…
Today, my palette is grown up, and the flavor profile I am demonstrating is mustard rather than maple and sweet potato. And like chef, I’m using a sauce velouté as my vehicle for delivering. My favorite way of serving these gorgeous eggs is over spring salad greens like Mâche, beets greens, and watercress. Because the colors are so vivid, I assemble several smaller platters and dot them around my table. The presentation is simply stunning. I garnish with fresh dill and on occasion, a pinch of sweet Hungarian paprika for additional color.
If however I am serving as a Brunch entrée, I butter two large Gratin dishes and layer a thin amount of the velouté. I then layer some of the halved eggs followed by an additional heavier layer of velouté, and top with brioche croutons and dill. Baked for 15 minutes and then broiled for 1 or 2 minutes just until the Gratin begins to brown, makes this a sumptuous side to ham, brisket, or leg of lamb. Having two Gratins, one at each end, ensures not having to handle and pass the hot ceramics.
So often, especially when entertaining any additional heads to my table, I am looking for perfect and simple dishes to assemble for the sake of time. And of course, they’ve got to taste fresh and amazing. Buttery Springtime Eggs In A Splendid Silky Mustard Velouté is one such dish. My job is to boil eggs and slice them in half. The egg yolks are perfectly cooked, and the whites tender and tasty.
The sauce is an easy 15 minute masterpiece consisting largely of butter, heavy cream, and Dijon mustard. Once cooked through, the sauce velouté is similar in texture to a creamy soup with the ultimate savory profile. I use my own chicken stock for this recipe. Homemade stock adds a richness like no other. Aside from garnishing with fresh dill and some cracked black pepper, assembly over salad greens is straightforward. This dish makes a pretty addition to my Easter (or any time) meal.
A Step By Step Recipe for Velouté Sauce with Dijon and Dill
Time needed: 15 minutes.
How To Prepare Sauce Velouté
- Melt
butter in a nonstick saucepan until it foams. Sprinkle flour over the melted butter and increase the temperature. Begin whisking constantly while cooking the roux for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir
in some homemade chicken or vegetable broth while whisking. The mixture will bubble and thicken while continuing to heat through.
- Off
the sauce pan from the heat and stir in the cream, mustard, sugar, and lemon juice until very well blended.
- Return
the saucepan to the heat. If necessary, thin out the sauce with additional stock if it is too thick to easily drizzle or pour. Add chopped dill and salt and pepper to taste. Et Voila! Sauce Velouté!
Do You Have What It Takes To Prepare Buttery Springtime Eggs In A Splendid Silky Mustard Velouté? Check The List!
large eggs
fresh dill
unsalted butter
flour
chicken or vegetable broth
heavy cream
Dijon mustard
lemon juice
sugar
Kosher salt
black pepper
salad greens, Brioche croutons, or Brioche toast points for serving
All images and text ©Jenny DeRemer for Not Entirely Average, LLC
Buttery Springtime Eggs In A Splendid Silky Mustard Velouté
Equipment
- nonstick saucepan
Ingredients
- 6 large hardboiled eggs
- 4 tablespoons dill fresh chopped plus additional for garnish/serving
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 cup chicken stock may substitute vegetable stock
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons Dijon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- pinch Kosher salt to taste
- pinch cracked pepper to taste
optional ingredients for serving
- toasted Brioche bread
- mixed spring greens
Instructions
for the sauce velouté
- Melt the butter in large nonstick sauce pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter. Using a small mesh sieve works well for this step if you have one. Whisking continuously, cook 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth and beginning to brown. NOTE *You are cooking the flour taste out in this step, so use your nose to detect a toasted, nutty aroma before continuing.
- Stir broth in slowly, whisking until smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in cream, mustard, lemon juice, and sugar until very well blended. Return the saucepan to the heat. Cook 1–2 minutes or until mixture is heated through and sauce has thickened. If the sauce appears too thick to drizzle or pour, thin out with additional stock. Stir in dill, salt, and pepper.
for the eggs
- Peel eggs and halve lengthwise.
- Nestle eggs in pan, cut-side up, and heat 1–2 minutes or until warm. Serve eggs and sauce over greens or Brioche toast points. Garnish with additional dill.
Nutrition
Additional delicious and easy Easter Brunch recipes!
Fresh Asparagus Herb And Ham Frittata
Spinach Bacon and Bleu Cheese Quiche
Beets Sautéed In A Lovely Tarragon Brown Butter Sauce
Extra Tender And Sweet Strawberry Cream Scones With Ricotta
Berry Good Cornmeal Streusel Muffins
Huguenot Church Blueberry Brunch Cake
