Other Sauces

 

            Not all sauces fit neatly into the five mother sauces.  Some of these sauces can loosely fit on one of the mother sauce, or possibly more than one mother sauce.  Others stand alone.

 

Pan sauces are made after meat is cooked and removed from the pan.  Wine or broth is added to the pan and whisked to incorporate the remains in the pan.  The sauce can be reduced.  Reduction sauces and deglazing fall into this category.

 

Gastriques Sauces are made from a sweet element married to an acid element.  The sweet element can be syrup, fruit juice, jam or jelly, or a sugar.  The acid element is often a vinegar or citrus juice.  The trick with gastriques is the right proportion of sweet to acid.

 

Butter Sauces can be as simple as melted butter.  They can be made with a liquid like water or milk and a thickening agent like cornstarch.  Herbes and vegetables such as capers, garlic, finely chopped chives, mushrooms, can be added to the butter for more flavor.  Sometimes the butter is cooked until it begins to turn brown or even black.

 

Types of sauces in this category Brown Butter Sauce, Black Butter Sauce, Caper Sauce, Amandine sauce, Fines Herbes Sauce, Maitre D’Hotel Butter, Mousseuer Sauces, Vincent Sauce, Vinaigrette.  There are many more not listed here.

 

This Week’s Challenge - Make a new sauce

 

            Make a meal and add a sauce to something you would normally serve without sauce.  This can be a meat or a vegetable.  Amandine sauce can be added to a steamed vegetable.  Make a pan sauce for you meat.

 

Tip for this Week – Sauce adds an elegant touch

 

            A simple meal can be made special with a sauce.  Sauces can be very simple or very involved.  It is a detail that can be added to elevate a meal.  A good sauce shows that you took a little more time to make the meal special.       The sauce needs to enhance the dish and it takes a little time and experimentation to get a perfect compliment.    

 

This Week in Punkin’s Kitchen

 

Chocolate Sauce

 

The ingredients

2/3 C               Cocoa

1 2/3C             Sugar

1 ¼ C              Water

1 t                    Vanilla

  Pinch Salt

 

1.    Place the cocoa and sugar in sauce pan.  Whisk to blend.

Sugar and cocoa

Whisk to blend

 

2.    Add the water and whisk to blend.

Add the water to the cocoa mixture

Whisk to blend

 

3.    Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for one minute.

Bring to a boil

 

4.    Remove from the heat and added the vanilla and salt.

Remove from the heat and add the salt and
vanilla.  Stir to release the steam and
cool the sauce.  

 

 This is a fat free sauce and great for desserts or making chocolate milk.

 

Chocolate Sundae

 

 

Coeur a la Crème

 

8 oz.    Cream cheese, at room temperature

½ C     Sour cream or crème fraiche

4 T       Powder sugar

1 t        Lemon juice, freshly squeezed

½ t       Vanilla

Pinch Salt

2 C      Frozen or fresh raspberries

¼ C     Sugar

¼ C     Framboise liqueur or Cointreau or Grand Marnier

 

The ingredients

Also needed

            Cheesecloth

            Heart mold either a large 6-7 inch or individual 2-3 inch.       

The traditional Coeur a la crème mold is porcelain with perforations in the bottom.  The can be found on line.

 

1.    Cut the cheese cloth to fit the mold.  Dampen it and wring it out.  The line the mold making sure there are no folds that will create wrinkle in the Coeur.

 

I use a heart shaped cake pan, a heart shaped
dish or individual molds also work.  The
traditional is a porcelain heart mold that
has perforations in the bottom.  This may be
found online.

Line the molds with two or three layers
of cheese cloth

 

2.    With a mixer beat the cream cheese for about three minutes.

 

Beaten cream cheese with the sour
cream added.

 

3.    Add the sour cream and powder sugar and beat another two minutes.

4.    Add the lemon juice, vanilla and salt.  Blend thoroughly.

 

Add the remaining ingredients
 and beat until smooth

It should be smooth and shiny.

 

5.    Pour the cheese into the heart mold. Making sure there are no air pockets.

 

Fill the molds and fold the cheesecloth
over the top.  Refrigerate overnight.

 

6.    Refrigerate several hours or overnight.  Liquid will drain, so place the mold on a dish or in a bowl.

7.    Puree the raspberries, reserving some for garnish.

 

I usually use fresh raspberries, but frozen
work just as well.

Place the berries and sugar in a blended
or food processor.  I used my mini processor.

 

8.    Add the sugar and liqueur.

9.    Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

Blend until smooth and the sugar is
dissolved.  Strain the sauce to remove
any seeds and refrigerate.



To Serve

 

5.    Using a white plate pour enough raspberry sauce to cover the center.

6.    Unmold the Coeur a la crème. 

 

Unwrap the top of the mold and place a plate
over the top.  Turn it upside down and
allow the cream heart to drop out of the mold
unto the plate.  Remove the cheesecloth and
center the heart on the plate.

 

7.    Gently remove the cheese cloth.

8.    Remove any dripping liquid with a paper towel.

9.    Place the heart in the center of the dish surrounded in the raspberry sauce.

Carefully pour the raspberry sauce around the
Coeur de a Crème so that the heart is not touched
by the red sauce.  I like to garnish with a few
fresh raspberries.  Serve remaining raspberry
sauce on the side.

10. Garnish and serve.

 

 

 

 

Soup of the Week

 

Artichoke Potato Soup

From Twelve Months of Monastery Soups, by Father Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourretta

 

2 T       Olive oil

2 sm    Onions, chopped

2          Garlic cloves, minced

2 C      Dry white wine

6 med.Potatoes, peeled and diced

28 oz. Artichoke hearts, canned and drained or frozen and thawed

2 T       Lemon juice, fresh squeezed

6 C      Chicken or vegetable stock

1          Bay leaf

            Salt and pepper to taste

            Finely chopped parsley for garnish, cilantro or basil also works very well

           

The ingredients

 

1.    Pour the olive oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat.

2.    Add the chopped onions and sauté over low heat for two minutes.

 

Chop the onions

 

3.    Add the garlic and continue sautéing for one minute.

 

Mince the garlic

 

4.    Add the wine and cover the pot and cook on low heat for five minutes.

 

Add the wine to the sautéed onions and
garlic.

 

5.    Prepare the potatoes, artichoke hearts and lemon juice and add to the pot.  Stir well and cover.  Continue to cook for another five minutes.

 

Chopped the potatoes and add to the onions.
I used yellow potatoes.

 

I used frozen artichoke hearts and loosely
chopped them before adding to the onions

 

6.    Add the broth, by leaf, salt and pepper.  Bring the soup to a boil and stir from time to time for five minutes.

 

Potatoes and artichokes added to the onions

 

Lemon juice added

 

Broth and seasonings added..  I used
vegetable broth to make this vegetarian.

 

7.    Reduce the heat, cover the pot and simmer for 30minutes.

8.    To serve, remove the bay leaf, ladle the hot soup into serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley.

 

Garnished with fresh basil in stead of parsley

Cooking time: one hour                     Makes 6 servings

 Happy Cooking!