Help me to get saucy in the kitchen

Jastons

Hello :hello:

I am a very keen, and fairly capable, cook but I tend to only ever use the same sauces. Those being tomato based (a tin of tomatoes, garlic, onion, bell peppers and then either chilli or curry spices), a white sauce (a roux, usually turned into a cheese sauce), gravy or a chocolate sauce (for deserts).

I find those versatile but I would like to cook something different so my question is this, What sauces do you use to turn an OK meal into a great meal?

I am prepared to give anything a try at least once

hotcookie101

I love pork chops fried in a pan, remove to rest, deglaze with a little cider (or wine, or vermouth) add a good heaped tbsp wholegrain mustard, and then some double cream (or creme fraiche) its very nice
Chopped dill and creme fraiche or soured cream gently warmed through sweet sweated leeks is lovely with fish (especially salmon or trout)
I tend to look at what I'm cooking, decide if I need a sauce and then go from there. I don't tend to do a lot of sauces on the side if thats what you are looking for, its usually cooked in things, but I do like the ones above. Sorry if not much help-I am still half asleep!

kitschy

I like a red pepper sauce for pasta. I grill red peppers until the skin goes black, let them cool a bit and then peel the skin off. Fry a bit of onion and garlic and then cut up the peppers and sling in the pan. Then pour in some double cream and a couple of chopped red peppers. After about 5 minutes, take off the heat and blend to make a smooth sauce.

Goes really well on pasta (you can change it by lumping in a decent handful of parmesan) and chicken dishes.

Butterfly_Brain

I love Honey and mustard sauce and a nice mushroom sauce both very easy to make

curlytop12

1/3 red pesto added to 2/3 cream is yummy for pasta.
french mustard and brown sugar for chops.

giantmutantbroccoli

Thinking about it pretty much everything I make is basically "fry/heat ingredients in frying pan, add liquid, add thickening stuff, congratulations you made a sauce". There's a lot of variations though, and that's where the fun comes in.

Basic tomato sauce (tinned tomatoes put through a seive, or tomato juice, garlic, salt, pepper, dash of tabasco or hint of chilli) plus fried anchovies or anchovy paste (or fish stock if you're desperate) = sauce for seafood spaghetti. Just fry some fish, prawns and mussels - or whatever seafood you fancy - and cover in the sauce.

Garlic cream sauce - fry loads of garlic (really loads, like a bulb loads!) and use to make a roux, thicken with cream. It's not very good for you though! And of course you have to really like garlic. Goes well with fried tuna steak or beef and either mash potatoes or chips. And spinach, but I'm told that's weird

Curry sauce - Fry main ingredient to be curried - e.g. lamb or beef, with garlic and chillis in butter (not a lot!), add curry powder (or corriander, cumin, chilli powder, etc separately), pour coconut milk over the top to thicken. Add any fresh herbs, then add stock until you get the right consistency.

Chinese Stir-fry sauce - Fry some spring onion (or normal onion cut up really small), ginger (a lot) and garlic (a little). Sprinkle over some 5-spice powder if you have any. To this add the main flavouring - I use prunes (or preserved plums from the chinese supermarket) to make a sticky plum sauce, then a bit of cider vinegar or rice wine to give it a nice sour flavour. If you add red peppers and paprika, and a bit of orange juice, you get sweet and sour (add lemon to adjust the 'sour'). If you add red peppers and chillis or chilli powder, plus a lot more onions, you get schezchuan sauce.

gs1967

:hello: I cook things in sauces too, my favourite at the moment is creamy tarragon chicken.

Fry some shallots, stir in a tablespoon of flour, add about half a pint of chicken stock and four tablespoons of dry vermouth and some tarragon. Stick it in the slow cooker (or not) with some chicken, then when the chicken is done stir in about three tablespoons of double cream.

You can also do this exactly the same but use white wine instead of vermouth and pesto instead of tarragon.

Who knew I'd give away a recipe. Go me! :rotfl:

maman

I like this sauce for pork steaks: Brown the steaks then put in ovenproof dish (lasagne type). Cover with good layer of sliced peppers, mushrooms and onion (or whatever). Make a sauce from 1tbsp cornflour, 2tbsps soy sauce and half pint of orange juice (just basic from a carton) add plenty of pepper and a splash of sherry if you want. Pour over and cook for 45mins to an hour, giving a stir to make sure veg goes into the sauce. It's delicious and I usually serve with small jackets and broccoli.