Learn these 4 sauces by heart for everlasting kitchen happiness
Putting together a meal with whatever happens to be left in the fridge and pantry isn’t for everyone. If you know the recipes for these four basic sauces by heart, you’ll never be left speechless again.
A quick pasta, a delicious baked dish or a classic meat dish: sauce plays an important role in these kinds of basic meals. And how do you make a delicious sauce? Not by tearing open a packet, that’s for sure. No, just get stuck in the traditional way. Roll up your sleeves, chop and simmer, and then: bask in the compliments. It really can be that simple.
#1: Classic tomato sauce
Start with a tin of tomatoes. Diced tomatoes are the most convenient; if you have whole tomatoes, you can use a stick blender or a kitchen knife to chop them up. Finely chop an onion or shallot, fry it in a little oil or butter and add the tomatoes when the onion is translucent. Season with salt and pepper, and optionally add a little sugar if you like. This is the base; make the sauce more exciting by adding garlic, basil, red chilli or a spoonful of sambal, anchovies or capers. Add two large mugs of stock and you have the base for tomato soup.
#2: White sauce
Very easy: use equal amounts of butter and flour—that’s the base. Melt the butter in a saucepan, but don’t let it brown. Add the flour, stir quickly and remove the pan from the heat. Wait a minute for the flour to cook. Return the pan to the heat, add a large mug of milk and stir quickly to prevent lumps. Let it cook until the sauce thickens, then season with salt and pepper. Boring sauce, but stir in some grated cheese and a spoonful of mustard: cheese sauce. With a little Parmesan and nutmeg: delicious with spinach. Add stock and you have the base for a creamy soup, for example with broccoli or spinach.
#3: Gravy
Seriously, is there anything more delicious than good gravy? If you’re a real pro, you’ll of course make your stock from a whole lot of bones, but you can also start with a jar of beef or chicken stock. Reduce it over high heat until it has roughly halved. Meanwhile, fry a finely chopped onion until golden brown in another pan. Sprinkle a spoonful of flour over it and let it cook for about a minute. Then pour the hot stock into the onion-and-flour pan, whisking continuously to prevent lumps. Let it boil for a little while until the sauce thickens. Finishing touch: remove the sauce from the heat, stir in a knob of butter and season with pepper and salt. Fresh herbs? Great idea. Want to make a sweeter sauce, for example to serve with duck breast? Stir some applesauce or a spoonful of blackberry jam into the sauce.
#4: Salsa verde
Do you have lots of fresh herbs in the vegetable drawer and on the windowsill? Turn them into salsa verde: put the herbs in the blender with some lemon or lime juice. Add a little salt, a little black pepper and a generous amount of oil, then switch on the food processor. You can add a little vinegar if you want the sauce to be slightly fresher, or extra pepper if you like it hotter. Vary it endlessly with chilli pepper, coriander and garlic. Delicious over meat, but you can also stir it through pasta or potato salad.
Also read:
- An ode to garlic sauce
- Why you shouldn’t down an entire bottle of soy sauce
- Super-fast pasta sauce with just two ingredients
Source: MyRecipes
