Mustard Saffron Sauce

Since quite a long time a pack of Venere or Venus rice has been waiting on the pantry shelf to be cooked. This black rice originates from China, where it was cultivated already in in 2800 B.C. but it was only available for the emperors until the 1800s. It is a very healthy type of rice, it contains even more anthocyanins than brown rice. However its cooking time is long, it takes about 40 minutes. So finally it was time for me to cook it, also because I was anyway very curious about its taste. I prepared it on last Friday, that also means that it was served among fish with fennel and mustard saffron sauce.

Ingredients:
15 g butter
15 g flour
500 ml chicken, veal or vegetable stock
200 ml cream
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
pinch of saffron
salt, pepper


Melt butter and prepare a roux with the flour, then pour cold stock on the roux and cook for about 30 minutes over low heat. Season and set 250 ml aside for the sauce. Stir in mustard and cream and cook for 5 minutes. Add saffron and cook for another 5 minutes. Season and serve.