Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

The article on beef tenderloin (on the home page) includes a recipe for gorgonzola cream sauce to serve with the meat. It says to rapidly boil 4 cups of heavy cream for 45-50 minutes, until it's like a white sauce. Is that right? 45-50 minutes? That's almost as long as the meat will take.

It sounds delicious, but if it's going to take that long I might have to reconsider, or else do it ahead of time.

Any thoughts?

You could always make a bechamel sauce (fat (butter), flour and cream (or milk or 1/2&1/2)), then add gorgonzola at the end. Takes maybe 10-15 minutes.

Here's one I found that accompanies roast pork, but it looks easy enough. Was requested from a restaurant in Key West, FL

Gorgonzola sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 4 ounces)

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon flour and whisk 1 minute. Gradually whisk in whipping cream, white wine and chicken broth. Boil until mixture is thick enough to coat spoon, whisking frequently, about 1 minute. Add crumbled Gorgonzola and whisk until cheese is melted and smooth and sauce is reduced to desired consistency, about 5 minutes.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jan N.:
Is that right? 45-50 minutes? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Yes, it's right. Gives you something to do while the roast is cooking.

Regards,
Chris

And straight-reduced cream makes such an excellent base for a sauce. It will not break like half-and-half or milk can. It does not need flour to bind it so a roux is not necessary. (E.g., in Jane's recipe above the wine could be mixed with the broth at the outset, reduced to just a few tablespoons (skipping the butter and flour) and then added to cream that you've been reducing alongside. The flavor and finish are richer (but, without the flour or butter, 'lighter' in a way) than a typical white sauce, with a cleaner flavor. Though a roux-based white sauce can often be preferable to a cream reduction, for something as rich and tasty as a tenderloin a cream reduction is a winner, imo.

The cream can be reduced partially, halfway, a bit more than that, or all the way ahead of time. Cream reductions can also be finished ahead of time and reheated later. It is often best not to let the sauce thicken as much as you normally might when you first make it if the plan is to reheat later.

If the sauce includes cheese do not let the sauce boil when making it or during the reheat. If you make the sauce earlier in the day you can hold it for quite a while (negating the need to reheat) if you pour it into a pre-heated coffee or lunch thermos.