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!

Fall Back and Regroup

 

We are entering the holiday season.  This is a very busy time of the year.  It is a time of getting together with friends and family.  Entertaining and potlucks are common.  Cooking and baking are usually involved.  For the next few weeks, we will take it a little easier.  I’ll include simple recipes and recipes that are quick.  We all go to potlucks, office parties, family get-togethers, and cocktail parties, so we will cover some appetizers and potluck selections.

 

Over the last few months there have been some updates in my kitchen.  I have a much needed brand new gas stove.  When I bought my house nearly 20 years ago, all the appliances were electric.  I wore out the electric stove with cooking and canning and decided to replace it with a gas range.  So there was a little remodeling to bring the gas to the kitchen.  Then I needed to update the dishwasher and the refrigerator.   Since starting the blog my refrigerator was always full, so it was replaced with a little larger one.

This summer has been a turbulent.  It started with surgery for me and recovery.  When I went back to work there was a long adjustment.  Unfortunately the blog has suffered for it.  Now there will be some big changes at work come now and lasting through the beginning of next year.  So I’m taking some time to regroup. 

I’m currently in a weight loss program.  My goal for the rest of the year and into next year is to lose weight and eat more healthy.  That includes an exercise programs, too.  So the coming year will be a time of changes and regrouping.

 

What does regrouping mean?  It mean standing back and taking a good look at where you have been, where you are, and where you want to be.  It has been over a year and we have a good start.  I’d like to start building skills in the coming year.

 

This Week’s Challenge:  Regrouping

 

            Read over your journals and look back on how far you have come this year.  Think about what you need to keep practicing.  Think about how you have exercised your creative side.  Take time to make some goal for the coming year, after the holidays.

 

 

Tip for this Week – Recreating recipes you make up

 

            Periodically, I like to make up a recipe.  I’ll pull some things out of the pantry and refrigerator and think of something to make.  Occasionally, the recipe comes out really good and I would like to recreate it.  If you didn’t write it down when you are making it, you can’t recreate it.  Tip is to write down the ingredients.  After the meal, evaluate the recipe.  Tweak the ingredients, like it needed less salt or tarragon would work with this. Then finish writing the directions.   

 

 

 

This Week in Punkin’s Kitchen

 

Chicken Stroganoff

The ingredients

Cut the chicken breasts into strips

In a large skillet heat the oil and saute
the chicken strips to brown slightly.

Slice the mushrooms and onions.

When the chicken is almost done, remove it
from the skillet and keep warm.

Saute the mushrooms and onions in the
same skillet.

Add the dry seasonings and flour.

Stir to coat everything.

Add the broth to make a gravy.

Add the chicken back.

Add the Worchester Sauce and sour cream.

 

Cook until the sour cream is melted and blended.

print recipe

Chicken Stroganoff

by Grace Barnes October-29-2016

This is a variation of my Beef Stroganoff recipe. I use losts for mushrooms.

Ingredients

• 2-3 Chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
• 2 T Olive oil
• 1/ 2 Onions, sliced
• 2-3 Garlic cloves, sliced
• 1-2 C Mushrooms, sliced or a large can of mushroom pieces
• 1 t Tarragon leaves
• 1 t Coriander, ground
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 T Flour
• 1 C Chicken broth or water
• 1/4 C Worchester sauce
• 2 C Sour cream
• Paprika (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil.2. Sauté the chicken strips.3. Cook stirring occasionally until the chicken is almost cooked. 4. Remove the chicken and keep warm. 5. Add the mushroom, onions, and garlic and cook until the mushrooms have reduced in size. 6. Add the dry seasoning and flour. Stir to coat and cook one minute. 7. Add little water or chicken broth to make gravy. 8. When everything is cooked, and the chicken to the skillet.9. Add the Worchester sauce and sour cream. Continue cooking until the sour cream is melted and thoroughly mixed in. Do not let it boil. 10. Serve over butter noodles or rice. 11. Sprinkle the top with the paprika.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 45 mins Yield: 6 servings

Pumpkin Pie

This is the traditional recipe my family has use for over 50 years.  It is simple and I can’t take credit for it.  You will find the recipe on a can of Libby pumpkin.  Since a process pumpkin at this time of year, fresh pumpkin can be substituted for the canned.  Use two cups of pumpkin puree.  Check out the posting for pie crust posted on May 31, 2016.  It is fun to be creative and experiment, but sometimes the simple rules.

 

 

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Pumpkin Pie

by Libby's Can October-29-2016

This is a family tradition that cannot be change. This recipe is from the Libby's pumpkin can

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 1 can Libby’s solid packed pumpkin (16 oz.)
• 3/4 C Sugar
• 1/2 t Salt
• 1 t Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 t Ground ginger
• 1/4 t Ground cloves
• 1 can Evaporated milk (13oz) or 1 2/3 C half ‘n half
• One 9 inch unbaked pie shell with high fluted sides

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven at 425 degrees. 2. Combine the filling ingredients in the order given. 3. Pour into the pie shell and bake fifteen minutes. 4. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake 45 minutes longer or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. 5. Cool and garnish with whipped cream before serving.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 1 pie

Soup of the Week

 

Pumpkin, Potato and Leek Soup

Some of the ingredients, no pictured
butter, broth and seasonings

Clean and slice the leek.

Clean, peel and dice the potatoes.

Peel and dice the pumpkin.   I used some
frozen pumpkin,  Canned pureed pumpkin
can also be added after the potatoes are cooked

Add enough broth to cover the pumpkin
and potatoes.  Bring to a boil.

Add the sautéed leeks and bring soup to a
boil, turn the soup down and simmer
until the pumpkin and potatoes are
very tender.

When the vegetables are cooked, puree
the soup. I use a stick blender.

Add the seasonings and continue to
simmer to reduce slightly.

Serve as is or add milk or cream.

 

print recipe

Pupkin, Potato Leek Soup

by Grace Barnes October-29-2016

I like the soup just pureed. If you would like it creamier, milk, evaporated milk or cream can be added. If you would like it a little more orange add a sliced carrot or two with the potatoes. If you are serving guests, add a dollop of sour cream or yogurt to the center of each bowl and dust with pepitos. You can make this vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Ingredients

• 2 T Butter, unsalted
• 1 large Leek, cleaned and thinly sliced
• 4 C Pumpkin, raw, pared and cube
• 2 C Potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6-8 C Chicken Broth or broth of your choice
• 1/2 T Tarragon leaves, fresh or dried
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet.2. Add the sliced leeks and sauté until soft.3. Place the pumpkin and potatoes in a soup pot.4. Add the cooked leeks.5. Add enough broth to cover and bring to a boil.6. Turn the soup to low and simmer until the potatoes are very tender.7. Add the tarragon and salt and pepper. Remember that potatoes like salt.8. Using a stick blend, puree the soup until smooth.9. Return to the heat and keep warm until time to serve.

Details

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 8 servings

Happy Cooking!