Anyone have a nice saffron sauce RCP?

I was looking at a menu online and something I read made me think of a saffron sauce that I had a few years ago. It was a rich, creamy white sauce with that beautiful saffron tinge to it and about as thick as heavy cream; pretty strong on the saffron flavor. I though I'd ask here if anyone has a recipe a similarly-styled sauce. I did a quick search with no positive results.

[Robin Garr]

I was looking at a menu online and something I read made me think of a saffron sauce that I had a few years ago. It was a rich, creamy white sauce with that beautiful saffron tinge to it and about as thick as heavy cream; pretty strong on the saffron flavor. I though I'd ask here if anyone has a recipe a similarly-styled sauce. I did a quick search with no positive results.

Jon, it seems to me that you could just whip up a simple bechamel (white butter-and-flour roux with milk) and either add the saffron threads directly or, for utter refinement, add a little hot milk in which you steeped and then strained out the saffron.

[Jenise]

I was looking at a menu online and something I read made me think of a saffron sauce that I had a few years ago. It was a rich, creamy white sauce with that beautiful saffron tinge to it and about as thick as heavy cream; pretty strong on the saffron flavor. I though I'd ask here if anyone has a recipe a similarly-styled sauce. I did a quick search with no positive results.

Where did you have the sauce and what was it served with?

HI, Jon
I had a recipe from Food & Wine from a few years ago and looked for it online. I ran across this recipe in Food & Wine instead. It is for Chicken Breast in Saffron Sauce. The sauce sounds like what you are looking for. I'll bet you can deconstruct the recipe to use your own main ingredients and come pretty close to the recipe you want. Good luck!

Jon, it seems to me that you could just whip up a simple bechamel (white butter-and-flour roux with milk) and either add the saffron threads directly or, for utter refinement, add a little hot milk in which you steeped and then strained out the saffron.

Robin,
The danger with your suggestion is that I'm not sure that the saffron threads will impart their flavor to milk as effectively as they do to water/broth/wine (insert here technological mumbo-jumbo about hydrophilicity and logP values). I'd start with safrron threads in white wine, much as in Jo Ann's recipe, then assemble a bechamel around that.

Mark Lipton

I haven't made this in quite a while, but I remember it being a good sauce for chicken breast, scallops or milder white fish...

Peel and slice thinly 2-3 carrots. Saute' briefly in a couple of tablespooons of butter, then deglaze the pan in 1/4-1/2 cup white wine. Add 1/2 cup of chicken or mild fish stock and reduce to 1/2 a cup. Mix in a pinch of crushed saffron threads, then 1/2 cup cream. Reduce gently until slightly thickened. Remove from the pan and puree in a Cuisinart or blender, then return to the pan and simmer until desired thickness. Serve with the cooked chicken or seafood, sprinkled with minced parsley. The sauce should have a nice orange/salmon color.

[Robin Garr]

The danger with your suggestion is that I'm not sure that the saffron threads will impart their flavor to milk as effectively as they do to water/broth/wine (insert here technological mumbo-jumbo about hydrophilicity and logP values). I'd start with safrron threads in white wine, much as in Jo Ann's recipe, then assemble a bechamel around that.

Thanks, Dr. Wizard!

A sincere thank you to all responders. For some reason I am craving saffron. (Maybe because I'm re-reading Dune and I always think of the two together.)
Jenise, I am going to use this sauce with scallops as a first course for a dinner on the 18th. I am serving and making the sauce with the 2006 J. Lohr Arroyo Vista Vineyard Chardonnay.
Robin, I had not thought about using a basic béchamel since I was going to try for a stronger wine flavor.

[Robin Garr]

Robin, I had not thought about using a basic béchamel since I was going to try for a stronger wine flavor.

Jon, just thinking out loud about that, and Mark's advice, how about making a bechamel with a combination of heavy cream and white wine that had been used to steep the saffron? That ought to be both rich and saffron-y.

For what it's worth, there was a recipe in today's NY Times featuring a "saffron cream" that involved nothing more than heavy cream with saffron threads in it. Guess they hadn't been talking to Dr. Wizard.

[Jenise]

Jon, just thinking out loud about that, and Mark's advice, how about making a bechamel with a combination of heavy cream and white wine that had been used to steep the saffron? That ought to be both rich and saffron-y.

Much as I love bechamels, and this is just my opinion of course, but I tend to think a flour-based sauce isn't going to provide the refined texture that Jon might be needing for scallops. But a reduction will.

Much as I love bechamels, and this is just my opinion of course, but I tend to think a flour-based sauce isn't going to provide the refined texture that Jon might be needing for scallops. But a reduction will.

I agree with Jenise on this one. No flour!