Nourish Network » Sauces & Such

Easy Homemade Plum Sauce

Lia Huber — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:37:26 +0000

I’d never thought of making plum sauce with dried plums (duh). Turns out it’s that rich plum puree that gives this iconic Chinese sauce its signature taste. This one has a bit of zing from the orange juice and shallot, and is less cloyingly sweet than the store-bought versions.

1 teaspoon finely minced shallot
1 scant cup dried plums (pitted)
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
sea salt

Pulse the shallot, plums and water to a paste in a food processor. Add vinegar, brown sugar, orange juice and salt and continue to pulse until a smooth paste.

Makes 1-1/2 cups

Easy Mushroom Ragu

Lia Huber — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:48:53 +0000

This easy vegetarian ragu is also an incredibly versatile little number. Toss it with pasta, serve it over polenta, or spoon it onto crostini smeared with goat cheese.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons shallot, minced
5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1-1/2 pounds wild mushrooms (or cremini), cut into thick slices
2 teaspoons thyme, minced
¼ cup dry marsala
2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese (optional)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add shallot. Cook for 5 minutes, until shallot is a deep golden brown. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes, until softened. Add mushrooms and thyme to pan and saute for 8-10 minutes, until mushrooms are golden brown.

Pour in marsala and scrape up any bits stuck to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until most of the liquid is evaporated. Swirl in mascarpone, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 4

Basil-Mint Pesto

Alison Ashton — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:00:02 +0000

This emerald pesto is ideal when the weather starts to warm up – the mint adds a springy note while the basil offers a hint of summer to come. Stir it into Maria Speck’s Speedy Chickpea Couscous with Pesto, serve a dollop atop fish or poultry, spread it on crostini or add it to hot pasta. This recipe yields a generous amount. Use whatever you need now, and freeze the leftovers in an ice-cube tray. Once it’s frozen, pop the pesto cubes out of the tray and transfer them to a heavy-duty zip-top bag and freeze up to 1 month.

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
2 garlic cloves
1 ounce fresh basil (about 1-1/2 cups loosely packed)
1/2 ounce fresh mint (about 3/4 cup loosely packed)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh lemon juice, to taste
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place the nuts and garlic cloves in a food processor or blender; pulse until coarsely chopped. (Or make your pesto the old-school way and pound it in a mortar and pestle.) Add basil and mint; pulse until coarsely chopped. Add oil and juice to taste; pulse to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Yields 2/3 cup

Fennel and Mint Raita

Alison Ashton — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:50:39 +0000

Raita is an Indian condiment made with yogurt, vegetables, herbs and spices. It’s often made with fresh cucumber, but in spring, we like to use fresh fennel and mint. Try it with our Red Lentil Dal with Caramelized Onions, Carrots and Peas. It’s also delicious with lamb, poultry or fish. Save the pretty fennel fronds to garnish the bowl.

1 (7-ounce) container Greek yogurt
1/4 cup finely chopped fennel
1 tablespoon cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice
Pinch ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne
Sea salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. yogurt, chopped fennel, mint, pinch of cumin, cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon lime juice in a small bowl.

Yields about 1 cup

DIY Ghee

Alison Ashton — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:42:02 +0000

Ghee, the preferred cooking fat in Indian cuisine, is nothing more than an intense form of clarified butter that has been cooked until the water has evaporated and the milk solids have browned. The result is pure butterfat with rich, nutty flavor. According to the Indian philosophy of medicine called ayurveda, ghee is a healing food that enhances immunity, fights inflammation and calms the nerves. From a culinary perspective, it has a high smoke point, which means you can cook it at higher temperatures than regular butter without burning. You can buy ghee in Indian markets and health-food stores, but it can be expensive and it’s very easy to make. Although ghee is associated with Indian cuisine, you can use it to rev up the flavor of any dish.

1 pound unsalted organic butter

Place butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter melts, it will start to foam. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook for 10 minutes or until the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan and brown. You’ll need to gently tilt the pan to be sure the milk solids don’t burn.

Line a fine-mesh strainer with 2 layers of cheesecloth; place the lined strainer in a clean bowl. Strain the ghee. Decant the ghee into a clean jar and let it cool. The ghee will solidify as it cools. Refrigerate, tightly covered, up to 6 months.

Yields about 2 cups

Kelly’s “Sneaky” Veggie-Laden Marinara Sauce

Alison Ashton — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:30:22 +0000

Chef Kelly Anderson, founder of The Lunch Bunch, is a master at getting kids to eat their vegetables. One of her strategies: Sneak veggies into favorite foods. This thick marinara sauce is packed with tomatoes (of course), plus a boatload of onions, carrots, celery and fresh herbs. But once it’s pureed, even the most skeptical kid will just see–and taste–bright-flavored tomato sauce. It’s familiar enough to win over little ones, yet bold and vibrant enough to appeal to grown-up palates. Use it on pizzas, over pasta or as a soup base.

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28-ounce) can organic crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 (2-1/2-ounce) bunch fresh basil, roughly chopped
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil. Add the carrots, celery and onion; cook 5-7 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds or until fragrant. Stir in the tomatoes, thyme, oregano and basil. Simmer 30 minutes until thickened to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cool to room temperature.

Puree in a blender or food processor or with an immersion blender. Refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 6 months.

Yields about 6 cups

Spicy Sage and Parsley Pesto

Alison Ashton — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:40:24 +0000

As Jonathan Bloom notes in his book, American Wasteland: How America Wastes Nearly Half of Its Food (DaCapo Press), bunches of fresh herbs are among the most common items languishing in our refrigerator crispers. Chances are, you bought some fresh herbs, only needing to chop a tablespoon or so for a recipe, and tucked the rest away with every intention of using it up. Pesto is easy to improvise with whatever herbs you have on hand. In this version, sage and parsley provide the anchor for a hearty winter pesto. Serve it over pasta, as a condiment with roast poultry or fish, or spread over crusty bread.

1 dried red chile OR 1/8 teaspoon dried red chile pepper flakes
1/4 cup blanched, slivered almonds
1 garlic clove
3/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley (about 1/2 ounce)
1/2 cup fresh sage leaves (about 1/2 ounce)
1 plum tomato, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons grated pecorino Romano cheese
Sea salt, to taste

Place the chile in a small bowl. Cover with hot water and let stand 15 minutes. (Skip this step if you’re using chile pepper flakes.) Drain.

Place chile, almonds and garlic in a food processor or blender; pulse until coarsely chopped. Add parsley, sage and tomato; pulse to coarsely chop. Add oil; pulse to combine. Add cheese; pulse 1-2 times or just until combined. Season with salt.

Yields about 3/4 cup

Star Anise and Brown Sugar Pear Butter

Alison Ashton — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:00:42 +0000

We’re calling this a “butter” but it’s really more of a cross between butter and sauce–a thin butter or a thick sauce, if you will. It’s inspired by an abundance of gorgeous pears in a holiday gift box and adapted from a recipe of Farmgirl Fare, a delightful blog that chronicles life on a 240-acre farm in rural Missouri. Most of the sweetness comes from the ripe pears themselves (any variety will do here), but a touch of brown sugar adds a caramel-y touch while the whole star anise brightens the overall flavor. It’s dandy spread on toast or dolloped on waffles or pancakes, and it would be a delicious condiment with our Spiced Roast Pork.

4 pounds ripe pears (any variety), cored and cut into chunks
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of sea salt
3 whole star anise pods

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Place pears in a food processor; pulse until pureed (depending on the capacity of your processor, you may need to do this in batches). Add sugar, juice and salt. Pour mixture into a 9 x 13-inch (4-quart) baking dish. Add star anise. Bake at 300 degrees F for 3 hours or until thick, stirring every 30 minutes. Cool completely (mixture will continue to thicken as it cools). Refrigerate up to 1 week.

Yields about 4 cups

Easy All-Purpose Tomato Sauce

Alison Ashton — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 23:00:46 +0000

I make this when great fresh tomatoes aren’t in season and I need a basic sauce for pizza or pasta. The trick these days, of course, is finding preserved tomatoes in a BPA-free container. While many manufacturers are working to phase out use of BPA in canned goods (Muir Glen is using its first BPA-free cans for this fall’s tomato pack), right now the only way to know your tomatoes are BPA free is to buy them in an aseptic or glass container. Adding a dash or two of Worcestershire deepens the flavor of the sauce.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (26- to 28-ounce) container chopped or whole plum tomatoes, undrained
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil. Add onion, and saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; saute 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add tomatoes (if you’re using whole tomatoes, just break them up with your hands before adding them to the pot) and remaining ingredients. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until desired thickness. If you like a chunky sauce, leave it as is. If you like it smoother, puree it in a blender or food processor or use an immersion blender to puree it right in the pot.

Yields 2 cups

Quick-Pickled Red Onions

Alison Ashton — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:25:46 +0000

The bright flavor and crunch of these pickled onions makes them a perfect accompaniment for Carnitas de Lia or on a sandwich with roasted chicken, Spiced Pork Roast or Devilish Egg Salad. I also like to add them to a quesadilla. You can alter the flavor profile by using a different type of vinegar and changing the herbs and spices.

1 large red onion, thinly vertically sliced
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed
2 oregano sprigs
1 bay leaf

Place the onion in a 1 pint jar or other container.

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns and cumin seeds in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes or until the sugar and salt dissolve. Add the vinegar mixture to the jar. Add the oregano sprigs and bay leaf. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate up to a week.

Yields about 2 cups