Currently viewing the tag: "sauce"
This sauce was designed around a wine from Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard’s second label Quinta Cruz. This is a label that produces only wines from Portugal and Spain. The wine is Graciano, and is a wine that is savory first, then fruity. To me, the flavor profile is oil cured olives, oregano and marjoram, then a shovelful of really good farm dirt, finishing with blueberries. Now, this is my opinion but I am sticking with it. If you cannot find a wine from these grapes I suggest using a petite sirah.
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This recipe was originally made with ramps, which is a wild onion which does not seem grow here and is really delicious and has a season about a month and a half long it seems. This is an approximation of that sauce made with items readily available here-baby leeks and scallions. The sauce is essentially a vinaigrette thickened up with lots of alliums and herbs, and is great for topping meats (this was first made for red wine marinated lamb chops) and fish, or being used on a salad made with flavorful sturdy lettuces such as romaine, Little Gems, and the like.
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This paste is similar to what goes onto black cod or sablefish to make the very popular “Cod Miso-yaki”, although this iteration was concocted for roasted turnips. You could also apply this to carrots or tofu as a marinade to prepare them for roasting, or apply it to pork for a while before grilling it.
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This sauce is meant to go with a carrot custard, but would be wonderful with duck, chicken, or pork. Use with panna cotta or other desserts as well. You can make it sweeter by adding sugar or agave to it, as the sugar in the recipe here is just enough to wake up certain flavors in the berries. You could add liqueur to the sauce to sweeten it as well*. This will also intensify the berry flavor. If you want a perfectly smooth sauce, pureé all the berries instead of three-quarters as called for in the recipe.
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Westernized variations of traditional Japanese dips and sauces. For the Tuna Tobiko Cucumber dish, use sparingly. You can use this for sashimi, as a noodle dip, or on a salad.
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This is a simpler version of a sauce from my sushi bar that was known as Venus sauce. Its origins lie in an old traditional Japanese fair dish known as “dengaku”, where it was painted onto tofu and vegetables and grilled over coals. Use this in a similar fashion, but use the broiler as it is less messy. Try it on marinated firm tofu, blanched vegetables, and fish.
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This is a twist on a very traditional teriyaki sauce. The orange and ginger just go so well with the other flavors, and are elements often found in Japanese cuisine with teriyaki. Of course, if you have tangerine juice, even better. As this is based on a traditional Japanese sauce, there is not nearly as much sugar as you will find in Western iterations, so bear that in mind. It will be saltier, perhaps than some think teriyaki should be, so plan the rest of the meal with that in mind.
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Having always been a stickler as to the definition of “pesto”, I have relaxed about this a bit, but still feel “pesto” should contain an herb, garlic, nuts, and olive oil. In this case the herb is the fronds from fennel combined with a little parsley for bulk, the nuts are coarsely chopped almonds, and the pesto is pretty runny. There is no cheese in this, although you could add some young Romano to the recipe if desired. This recipe was meant for Carrots with Fennel Jam, but would work well with chicken, fish, pork, pasta, or drizzled on spaghetti. Mortar and pestle is my preferred method for texture and longevity of end product, but a blender works, and the method for that is listed after the mortar method.
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Coulis is a French term for a sauce type that has changed over the years (centuries really). Originally it referred to juices released from meat when cooked, and then later, during the era of nouvelle cuisine, it became a sauce made from fruits or vegetables that was pureed and strained. If it needed to be thickened, it was done through gentle reduction rather than binding it with flour or another starch. Coulis are great for when you want a pure flavor that sings of the ingredient. It is common to use a little pinch of sugar, salt, or a dash of vinegar to help bring out flavors in coulis. Coulis are used as sauces, contrast elements, or even soup bases. You can refrigerate the coulis in a jar or squeeze-bottle and warm it gently in water on the stove. If you allow the coulis to get too hot you will lose the color and the bright flavor. This is a very simple coulis, and easy to prepare quickly.
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This is a riff on a very famous sauce from the Troisgros restaurant in Roanne, France. It was one of the dishes that launched Nouvelle Cuisine. This version is simplified, and lightened a little from the original. Use it on fish (salmon was the original fish used), shellfish (scallops, lobster, shrimp), or on poached or slow roasted chicken breasts. Sorrel has a refreshing lemony tart/sour quality that is great with richer things like salmon and cream.
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Here is a sauce that feels rich in the mouth and has big flavors. The texture of the sauce comes from the squash and onions, and there is no cream in it. This sauce was devised for topping red beets, but it would be fine for fish, chicken, or even pork. It would also be nice on pasta as a fun twist on the classic Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce (see recipe for Pumpkin Ravioli on site). Stuff ravioli with chard and cheese, or add ground turkey or pork, and top with the sauce.
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This recipe is a twist on a soup recipe, only the soup is a little thicker here and becomes the sauce.
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Tagged with: Carnival squash • Corno di Toro peppers • peppers • sauce • shrimp • tomatoes • winter squash
Here is another iteration of mint pesto. This uses traditional pine nuts, but you could substitute roasted almonds or combine the two. If you do not have fresh marjoram, skip it, but it adds depth to the mint and brightens it up. I prefer to use a mortar and pestle for my pesto, both for flavor/texture, and because it is hard to do smaller batches in a food processor. Both methods are given, but I hope you will try the mortar and pestle method.
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This sauce is part of a steamed potatoes and tomato dish that was inspired by a Tortilla Española, but is can be used with other things as well. Try it with garbanzo beans, grilled shrimp, or as a dip for flatbreads and crudités. It would be good under poached eggs as well. By the way, this is the perfect way to use the core of the cauliflower.
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This sauce has an intensity to it-both sweet and deeply earthy/carroty. The color adds a burnished look to the plate, and this technique is pretty versatile. I know this sauce is really good, as I once watched a couple at my house eating it, and when the wife asked the husband to get something for her, she ran her bread through his sauce and got half of it. When he called her on it, she was unrepentant. Next time they were over and I made the sauce, I doubled the amount and put some in a pitcher next to her. It all disappeared.
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Carrot Sauce v.1 is a sauce made with carrot juice that is reduced to a syrup almost. This recipe continues the “vegetable as sauce” motif I am fond of, but is made from whole carrots and is thicker and less intense. Although this was originally conceived to go with seared fish or chicken, it is excellent with very thick spears of grilled asparagus. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction and/or thinned pesto would be great with this.
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Although you can buy things called balsamic reductions, or balsamic condiment or glaze, all over the place now, a good many of them are made with inferior, or downright lousy, balsamic vinegar, or not even true balsamic vinegar. A lot of them have caramel, sugar, or other things added to them. Some of these things are for flavoring, others are to thicken.
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Not truly a pesto, but as it is close, and it is in the same spirit of “cucina povera” that true pesto was invented in, why not call it a pesto? No basil or pine nuts, but oregano and almonds stand in. Garlic could easily overwhelm this, but if you decide to give it a go, try using only half a small clove of peeled and de-germed garlic. Use this on roast carrots, sautéed mushrooms, or with cappelinni pasta.
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Another version of a “pesto using” cilantro, with a South West flair underscored by the use of spices and pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and pine nuts. Romano, Dry Monterey Jack, or Cotija cheese are appropriate for this dish as they are less pungent than Parmesan, although some Cotija can have quite a “barnyard” aroma. This pesto was devised to go with the Collards, Butternut Squash, and South West Cilantro Pesto recipe. Besides vegetables, try this on grilled pork chops, chicken, shrimp and fish.
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