Silky smooth with a rich blueberry flavor, a classic French-style blueberry coulis is a useful recipe to know. A spoonful turns a bowl of ice cream into a special occasion, and it never met a cheesecake or panna cotta it didn't like. Read on and I'll walk you through my favorite blueberry coulis recipe, and the chef tricks that make it better than others you might have seen.
What is a Coulis?
A coulis is a French sauce made from cooked fruit that's been passed through a strainer to make it smooth. They're often used in baking and garnishing desserts in restaurants and are a cornerstone of dessert sauces any pastry chef should be skilled at. While raspberry coulis is probably the best known and most popular, a coulis can be made from just about any fruit.
Depending on the chef's interpretation, coulis can be slightly rustic-simply made by passing cooked, sweetened fruit through a strainer or food mill, or more refined and smooth as described in this post.
A coulis is not an overly sweet sauce but is simply seasoned with a modest amount of sugar and lemon juice. It's a way to celebrate the fresh flavor of fruit.
In this recipe I use frozen wild blueberries I picked, but fresh blueberries or frozen will work fine.
How to Make Blueberry Coulis
First tie a sprig of fresh mint or tarragon in cheesecloth with a couple allspice berries, a small piece of cinnamon and a few matchsticks of ginger.
Add the blueberries to a pan with the spice bouquet. Next add the wine and maple syrup and bring to a simmer.
After the mixture's cooked for about 15 minutes, cover the pot and allow it to infuse. After infusing the mixture's pureed in a blender with a spoonful of coconut oil to help it get extra smooth.
After the sauce is pureed it's strained through a fine sieve. It's important to taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. Add a few dashes of fresh lemon juice and a few scrapes of lemon zest until you like the flavor. Use the sauce to garnish desserts like cakes, cheesecake and panna cotta or in baking recipes as needed.
I love using the coulis sauce in combination with fresh fruit as in the panna cotta below.
Tips for the Best Blueberry Coulis Recipe
- Any oil can help make the sauce smooth, but coconut oil will compliment the flavor the best.
- If you want the darkest colored sauce you can skip the oil-just make sure to strain the sauce so it's very smooth.
- Don't skip the lemon zest and juice, it's essential to brighten the flavor.
- The spice bouquet might seem tedious but the subtle flavor it lends is worth it.
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Classic Blueberry Coulis Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Highspeed blender or immersion blender
- 1 Fine mesh strainer
- 1 2 quart sauce pot
- 1 ft square of cheesecloth
Ingredients
Coulis sauce
- 1 lb Fresh or frozen blueberries wild or cultivated
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup maple syrup or organic sugar
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil
Spice bouquet (optional)
- 4 allspice berries
- One inch piece of cinnamon stick
- Sprig of fresh mint leaves
- 2 teaspoons sliced fresh ginger
Instructions
Cook the blueberries
- In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, bouquet, maple syrup or sugar and wine. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. and cook for 15 minutes. Put a lid on the pan and allow to cool / infuse for ten minutes.
- Remove the lid, discard the spice bouquet.
Puree the coulis
- Carefully transfer the hot berries and juice to a blender and puree. Meanwhile, quickly rinse out the pan and dry it. Drizzle in the coconut oil as the mixture purees.
Taste and correct the seasoning
- Taste and adjust the seasoning until it tastes good to you, adding a few gratings of lemon zest, a tiny splash of vanilla extract or almond extract, and a tiny pinch of cinnamon.
- If the sauce seems loose you can simmer it for a few more minutes, just make sure to whisk it to prevent splattering.
- Strain the sauce while it’s still warm through a fine mesh sieve, pressing down with a spoon to pass it through the mesh.
- Transfer the sauce to a pint mason jar, label, date, and refrigerate until needed. The blueberry coulis will last for a week in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- Add a splash of homemade almond extract or homemade vanilla extract.
- Substitute lime juice for the lemon juice.
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