Low Syn Bearnaise Sauce
I fell in love with Bearnaise sauce in a gorgeous French brasserie in Paris whilst on holiday with my mum and sister, but given that your standard Bearnaise recipe contains about a ton of butter it’s not the most Slimming World friendly thing on the planet.
After a year of going without (except one rather naughty evening out where steak and chips just didn’t feel right on its own!) I decided that there must be a way to make the same delicious, rich and creamy sauce without a shed load of butter. Turns out, I was right. It’s seems that it’s not actually the butter that gives the sauce it’s delicious flavour, although I’ve not completely butchered the recipe and have included some tasty Flora Light (lower in syns but still has a great buttery taste), just in a much smaller quantity than you would use butter in a regular recipe. With a few additional tweaks, this turned out better than I could have hoped and was seriously so easy to make!
I obviously couldn’t make myself a Bearnaise sauce without a juicy steak to accompany it. Luckily I had some mouth watering grass fed Irish flat iron steaks from Muscle Foods in (get them as part of my exclusive deal here) and so I just needed to defrost them and pop them in the frying pan. They are some of the most flavoursome steaks I’ve ever eaten and went so well with this Bearnaise sauce! This meal was a dream come true also, because I ate it after my first gym session in SIX WEEKS (I’m terrible I know!) so I was in major need of a protein boost which is exactly what I got from these steaks, which contain a huge 20.9g of protein per 100g! Perfect for helping my muscles recover and grow!
The trip to Paris on which I fell in love with Bearnaise sauce, was probably one of the best holidays of my adult life, and I think that’s partly responsible for why I love the sauce so much. I most definitely associate its flavour with sitting across the table from my mum and little sister, laughing away on our first night in the city of love, joking about how much better it would be if we were there with a boyfriend instead (I was painfully single at this point!). In reality it really couldn’t have been much better…after all, what could be better than hanging out with two of the most important women in your life in a beautiful city, eating amazing food?!?
This recipe makes enough to serve four people, in the quantity I’ve got on my plate here (which is quite a lot!) so it works out as 1.75 syns per serving (7 syns for the whole lot). I personally round up to 2 syns per portion just to be on the safe side and help protect my weight loss, but it’s really up to you.
I have to say that tarragon isn’t a herb that I cook with very often, not for any particular reason purely out of a lack of recipes in which to use it in, but it made such a nice change. It’s got a really unique flavour, something like aniseed with a hint of vanilla, which can be quite intense in large quantities. Cooked into this sauce though it’s just enough to give the Bearnaise sauce its signature flavour without overpowering your entire dish! The little green bits you can see in the sauce is the chopped tarragon, and it also has some delicious shallots (also massively full of flavour), which give it a fantastic texture. The beauty of this sauce is that it’s far from just a sauce, it actually adds a whole new range of textures, flavours and sensations to the meal, as opposed to being something to simply dip your chips into.
With some delicious homemade chips, made by simply covering thinly cut chips with Fry Light on a baking tray (make sure to spray the tray first) and seasoning liberally with salt and pepper before popping them in at 200 degrees for about 25/30 minutes, and a lovely side of broccoli, this meal was absolutely to die for.
Serves 4
A rich, creamy, delicious Bearnaise sauce for just 2 syns per serving!
5Prep Time
15Cook Time
20Total Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 50g Flora Light (7 syns)
- 3tbsp White Wine Vinegar
- 2 Shallots (finely chopped)
- Handful Roughly Chopped Fresh Tarragon
- 3 Egg Yolks
- 1tbsp Fat Free Fromage Frais (optional)
- 1tsp Lemon Juice
- 1tbsp Water
- Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Heat the vinegar, shallots, salt, pepper and chopped tarragon in a saucepan over a medium heat until the amount of vinegar in the pan has reduced by half or just over.
- Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- In a heatproof glass bowl, whisk the egg yolks together with the lemon juice and water, and then pour this into the cooled vinegar mixture and mix.
- Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure not to allow the bottom of it to touch the water, and whisk constantly until it thickens and doubles in size. It should coat the back of a spoon without sliding off, if it does this then it's done.
- Whilst you're doing this, melt the Flora Light in the microwave. When your sauce has thickened pour in the butter, continuing to stir constantly, until it is all mixed in.
- Depending on your tastes, you can then mix in the Fromage Frais. This will thicken the sauce a bit but softens the flavour slightly.
- Transfer the sauce immediately into a jug to stop it cooking more on the hot glass, and serve over your steak and chips.
Notes
There are 7 syns in total in this recipe, equating to 1.75 per person if split between four people. I have rounded up to 2 in order to protect weight loss.
Nutrition
