Sauces

Cooking is an enjoyable pastime for some, and a passion for others. A lot of people cook just to eat, usually because they don't have the interest, or skills, or just don't have an adequate kitchen. It is usually a revelation when people find out how easy it can be to create your favourite restaurant dishes at home. Most meals that are served in restaurant's and gastro pubs are basically peasant food, simple to make from readily available ingredients. For example, goulash, stroganoff, fish n chips, bangers n mash, steak n ale pie, shepherds pie, mousaka and ratatouille. Even the humble ploughmans lunch is bought rather than made, raking in a huge profit for the retailer.

One of the simple ways of making a simple dish into something different is to try different sauces. The best example for this is, of course, pasta. You decide to make a pasta dish and you make a pasta sauce, its usually tomato based, because it's easiest to make, yet you can have a large selection of sauces, or even just have it as a dressed pasta, with a flavoured olive oil.

There are 5 main 'Mother Sauces' in french cooking, tomat, bechamel, veloute, espagnole and hollandaise. All main sauces are derivatives of these five.

The sauces here today are going to be sauces for anything, or more to the point, they can be used for different meals, such as pasta, beef, pork, chicken, veggie, or even fish.

So lets start with the basics, which is a basic white sauce, which can be done in a few ways, but to do it properly, you must remember that you have to cook the flour.

All you need is butter, flour and milk. You can season (salt and pepper) but its really simple to make.

Equal parts butter and flour and the milk is usually measured by how thick you want the sauce.

So lets say

1oz (30g) Butter

1oz (30g) Plain Flour

¾ pint (450ml) Milk

Put the butter into a small sauce pan and let it melt, once melted add the flour, and stir for about a minute. This is where the butter and flour mix to a roux and the flour is cooked, so don’t have the heat too high. Simply add the milk a little at a time, and the roux will absorb the milk and begin to thin to a sauce, then thicken up again, just keep adding the milk until you have the amount you want at the consistancy that is required. This can be used to make a cheese sauce, a fish sauce, or even used as a bechamel for lasagne.

If you add parsley, you have a parsley sauce, I like to add a drizzle of white wine.

To make it into a cheese sauce simply add grated cheese, and half a teaspoon of dijon mustard. Mustard is excellent in any cheese dish, it really brings out the flavour. I would recommend either a mature cheddar, or gruyere. A blue cheese sauce is the same, just replace cheese with your chosen blue cheese, danish blue or stilton maybe. For gluten free, use cornflour, just not as much, or if you want a richer cheese sauce simply warm some double cream into a pan, and melt your cheese in the cream, add seasoning and a pinch of herbs. Ideal for pasta.

For a basic tomato sauce, you need any type of tomato, tinned will do, so

Large tin chopped tomatoes

a large onion

two cloves of garlic or garlic puree

tomato puree

glass of white wine (or red if preferred)

mixed herbs

seasoning

Put a little olive oil into a large fry pan and gently soften the chopped onion and garlic, after about a minute or so the onion has softened, add the wine, and after about a minute add tomatoes and puree, and cook for about five minutes on a mid heat, when the tomatoes are cooked down, add the mixed herbs and seasoning, then cook for a further five or so minutes.

Most people don't make gravy anymore, it's made from granules or powder these days, because gravy used to consist of meat stock from the Sunday roast, cooked down with flour, water, and browning, but we don't cook a roast everyday.

However you make your gravy, it can be used as a base for many sauces. One is pepper sauce, a favourite with steaks, and there are many ways to make this. The quick way is quite simple, gravy, cream, cracked black pepper, heated in a pan and simmered for five minutes. But to make a half decent peppercorn sauce doesn't take all that long to make.

A decent sized shallot – finely diced

A mix of peppercorns

butter

some stock or gravy

Double cream

salt to taste

other options

worcester sauce

whisky

brandy

white wine

Lightly brown the onions in a fry pan with the butter. Crack the peppercorns with pestel/morter or rolling pin, and add to the pan with the gravy and cook for about three minutes, then add the cream and cook for another three minutes. I like to add a cap of white wine to the onions, but some people like to use the other options listed.

If you add brandy, a little mustard and mushrooms, you have a basic Diane sauce.

Something a little different now, a sauce great for beef or even grilled smoked mackerel, it a simple horseradish sauce.

¼ pint double cream

fresh grated horseradish

white wine vinegar

a teaspoon of fine caster sugar

seasoning

Pour the cream into a bowl and whip it until it thickens to form peaks, mix the grated horseradish and white wine vinegar together, then gently fold this mix into the cream, adding sugar and seasoning as you go, to your taste. Easy

One way of adding flavour to a sauce is the humble stock cube. I buy a brand of stock cube that is dry and crumbles, a famous brand. I have a small tupperware, sealable tub about the size of my fist, that I crumble the stock cube into then I can use it liberally rather than adding too much. It comes in handy when I make Red Pepper sauce. It just gives it that something extra, and I don't have to make a veggie stock, which saves time.

A little olive oil

a small red onion (diced)

couple cloves of garlic

2 large red peppers (capsicum, bell)

a tin plum tomatoes or a couple of fresh

about 3 or 4 oz (100ml) Veg stock

pinch of mixed herbs

½ cap red wine topped up with ½ cap water

Before you start, you need to decide whether you want to roast the peppers or not. I don't tend to roast them, but you do get a richer flavour. You can simply use the gas burners of the hob, or put them a red hot oven or grill (broiler). I usually half, deseed and oil, roast until skin blackens, then put them in a large bowl, and clingfilm the bowl. Makes it easier to peel off the skin.

Heat a pan with a little oil and saute the onion, garlic and red peppers for 7 to 10 minutes, after which, you add the cap of wine, to lift the bottom of the pan, then add the tomatoes, veg stock liquid, herbs and seasoning. Boil, the simmer for about 20 minutes. You can then either keep it as it is, or you can blend down with a hand blender or food processor, then pass through a sieve. When passed, you can use hot, by returning to the stove, or allowing to cool, and serve cold. Make for a great dip at parties.

Keeping with the veggie stock, you can make a great mushroom sauce rather quickly. The thing about this one is that it works better with fresh herbs, although it's fine if you use dried. If you want to try it with fresh herbs, then you can use parsley, chives, oregano or even tarragon. Each herb will bring a different flavour to the dish.

You will need

¼ pint veg stock

½ pint double cream

large knob of butter

a choice of mushroom

a choice of herbs

½ cap of white wine

seasoning

you will need a saucepan, heat the veg stock and stir in the cream, let this simmer, as it will thicken. While the sauce is reducing and thickening, saute your sliced mushrooms in a frypan with the butter, until they have softened, and any liquid has evaporated. Add the cap of wine to the fry pan, stir and then add the mushrooms to the now thickened sauce, along with the herbs of your choice. Season to taste. Goes well with chicken

One good all-rounder to know is the veloute sauce. It's basically a thickened stock, similar to gravy, and goes quite well with just about anything. Its basically a stock, thickened with a roux or liason, I like to make a mirepoix, cook it down as much as I can, add the flour to make the roux and the add a jug of vegetable stock. You can use any stock you wish, thicken with roux and you have a white veloute sauce. Try it with a drop of white wine, some double cream and a squeeze of lemon.

I really enjoy new potatoes or jersey royals, in butter with a teaspoon of mint sauce. Absolutely love 'em, but I came across another method a few years ago where the potatoes were dress in a home made pesto. Now pesto isn't really a sauce, but its worth trying, trust me.

Pesto is basically basil and pine nuts in olive oil with parmesan, so you'll want the following

fresh basil, about 50 – 100g rough chopped

about 50g of pinenuts chopped

a large clove of garlic

150ml extra-virgin

50g fresh parmesan

grind down the pinenuts and garlic in a pestel and mortar, or crush and chop under the flat of a large cooks knife.

Crush, grind or chop the basil. Add the olive oil a bit at a time. Add finely grated parmesan and seasoning and your done. Most people like to store it in a jar in the fridge for at least 5 days before using it. You can add chilli's or sun dried tomatoes to change to flavour and density if you desire.