Sauce

Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries with Curry Ketchup and Sriracha Aioli

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One of the health food trend’s best contributions is the ubiquitous sweet potato fry. Of course not all fries are the same and I have standards for these nutritious little treats. They should be crispy on the outside and soft, but never mushy, on the inside. They need to be properly seasoned and they always need to be baked, not fried (sorry Paula Deen cronies). In short, please don’t serve me limp, under-seasoned fries that are mushy with oil. I am not entirely sure why but I have had a standing craving for sweet potato fries since about mid-July and this recipe, admittedly, is something of a Semi-Homemade approach (though I really cannot stomach Sandra Lee). Hey, I am a full time-grad student who works full-time, until December I will need all the help I can get. The secret…Alexia Sweet Potato Fries (in your freezer section). These are awesome. Sure sweet potato fries are not insanely hard to make but now that Alexia has an all natural brand that you can just pop in the oven, why spend a minute longer doing prep? Now if you will excuse me, I have to go read 150 pages of advanced policy economics by tomorrow.

Note: I fortified my ketchup to make a quick (read four second) tasty dipping sauce. Because I like options, I also made a Sriracha aioli really quickly – if you have some chipotle aioli or another favorite dipping sauce feel free to use it instead.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries with Curry Ketchup and Sriracha Aioli

One Half Bag Alexia Chiptole Sweet Potato Fries

Cook according to package instructions, preferably on a vented baking tray to achieve optimal crispiness.

Sriracha-Curry Ketchup

Two to Three tablespoons (depending on preference) Sriracha
One Tablespoon (plus more depending on preference) Red Curry Paste
One-Fourth Cup Ketchup

Mix all ingredients well in a small bowl.

Sriracha Aioli

Squeeze of lemon or lime
Four tablespoons Sriracha
Four tablespoons Garlic Mayonnaise 

Mix all ingredients well in a small bowl.

Meaty Porcini Marinara

/ andreah94 / 2 Comments

This week’s cooking spree continued with homemade “meaty marinara.” I call it this because marinara is traditionally a tomato sauce and a Bolognese is a meaty version of marinara in a round-about-way. But, to the dismay of Italian cooks everywhere, I made a bastardized version of both and have chosen to call it meaty marinara. It was my first ever attempt at making either marinara (not surprising since I do not eat marinara) or meat sauce, and it was really – ummm -incredible. This accompanied turkey and arugula pizza pockets, but it would be wonderful tossed with fresh pasta and a bit of cheese, tossed with gnocchi, or made into a pizza sauce. If you choose to use Porcini, you will need to be dried as they only grow in Italy and must be imported. You can either grind them or you can reconstitute them in liquid before adding them to the sauce. This is a great sauce to make and then let hang out on the stove whilst you turn your attention to something else. Additionally, it gets better the longer it sits and this includes fridge time. Make a big batch and freeze it or use it to make three different dishes over a three or four day span.

I fear I must apologize as this “recipe” was concocted in true Andiland style. I threw stuff in a pan (without measuring as always) and then adjusted as necessary. The measurements I provide below are guesses at best, feel free to adjust to your preferences.

Note: I did not add celery to my Soffrito, only garlic, onions, and carrot. I did use celery seed in the sauce as a replacement. You can use whichever you like.

Meaty Porcini Marinara

Two slices Bacon
1/3 pound of Hot Italian Pork Sausage (bulk)
Four Large Shallots, sliced
12 Cloves Garlic, whole and slightly crushed (skin removed)
3/4 Tube of Good Quality Tomato Paste
Two Tablespoons Butter
Red Wine (I used a Malbec), about a half a cup
Beef Broth, about 2 and a half cups
Chicken Broth, about a half cup (this was added to thin the sauce out some and is optional)
About a quarter cup of porcini mushrooms, either ground or reconstituted
Three tablespoons Herbs de Provence and Italian Seasoning, split
A couple good pinches of salt
Three tablespoons black pepper
One large carrot, diced
One tablespoon celery seed (or a few stalks of celery cut into large dice)
One tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (adjust according to preferences)
12 campari tomatoes on the vine, halved and gently squeezed of seeds
Fresh torn basil for garnish

In a large dutch oven, heat a couple glugs of olive oil over a medium heat high. Once fat is smoking, add bacon (or its porky sub) and all to crisp. Then add hot Italian sausage and brown slightly. Push meat to the side and add the soffrito (carrot, onion, garlic, celery seed) with a touch of salt. Once the onions turn glassy, add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, HDP and Italian Seasoning, Crushed Red Pepper, Tomato Paste, Ground Mushroom, and give a good stir to mix everything well. Then add in wine and broth (in 1:2 ratio), reduce heat and cover. Allow to simmer for a few hours (I cooked it for about four hours). Adjust seasoning as necessary. Once you are ready to serve, use an immersion blender to partially puree the mixture. Top with basil and serve or reserve for use with pasta else.

A few ideas of uses for this sauce:

Dipping Sauce for Pizza Pockets
Sauce for pasta and veggies
Lasagnameat sauce
Served individually with a little bit of cheese and fresh basil
Pizza sauce

Sweet Corn Puree

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Another beauty of this insane heat (please do a rain dance everyone), is that it means that summer corn is in season and fabulous as always. Is there a bad way to serve corn? I honestly do not think so. This wonderful green-husked, annoyingly silky beauty has filled the bellies for centuries regardless of budget. Incidentally, corn goes into just about everything you eat, or ingest, and even into vehicles this day in age (I will spare you the rant), but I prefer to think of corn the way that mother earth (or nature) intended it to be…REAL, WHOLE, WONDERFULLY LUSCIOUS, Corn Kernels from a COB, and – just for a shout out to the south – this includes the creamy milk the cob renders. Summer stalks are a shining example of corn’s ability to make a silky sweet puree that can pair with a lovely dab of butter for a hint of richness. To me, summer is defined as: the simple luxury of a good quality ingredients shining in their element. Being that corn is in season, and I have the week off, this was my lunch today. I can promise this beats any Lean Cuisine you can imagine – it was a superb 35 minutes of cooking, eating, returning for seconds, and looking at the plate wishing for thirds. Perfect for my staycation and for this too-hot-to-handle-summer in Texas.

Notes: I used coconut milk as my “cream.”  I do not use much dairy and only had Soy Milk on hand, I decided that coconut milk would add a better richness and contribute more to texture than my alternative. If you use dairy and have it on hand fee free to sub whole milk, half and half, or cream for the coconut milk. Also, feel free to add as much butter as you like and season a bit less according to taste.

Sweet Corn Puree

One Cup Roasted Corn (use frozen in a pinch)
One-Third Cup Coconut Milk
Nice pinch of salt
Black Pepper To Taste
One Tablespoon Butter
One Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Boil Coconut Milk in a small sauce pan. Once bubbling, add corn, salt, pepper, and butter. Reduce heat and simmer for 4-6 minutes. Add Cayenne and any additional seasoning and spoon corn mixture into a food processor. Process until smooth. Serve chilled as a soup, or reserve to incorporate as a sauce for fish or chicken, or incorporate into sweet corn risotto.

Scallops in a Lemongrass-Coconut Broth

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I love lemongrass. Recently, I found Lemongrass Mint Vanilla Water (with no calories) and am still over the moon…I am also drinking one right now.  Yesterday, around lunchtime, I managed to find time to get to Whole foods for my weekly shopping trip. I was dying for scallops and new that I wanted to make a lemongrass sauce for them. Alas, WF was out of lemongrass and my frozen supply was out as well. However, I am happy to say that I feel back into my old supermarket addiction yesterday because when I went back for something lemongrass had been stocked! With my previous disappointment assuaged, I went home hoping that D would not mind that Piccata would no longer be on the menu. He went with it and I got my lemongrass infused sauce. My apologies for the lack of picture, I was too hungry and tired to clean the dishes and arrange the food and photograph it. Similarly, I was also too tired to actually cut the fresh herbs to top this – though I did have the fresh basil, cilantro and green onions out. If you add them, it will certainly heighten the flavor (even though I still licked my plate).  I suggest serving this in a bowl – rice on bottom, protein on top, sauce poured over to make an sort of semi-soup.  You can use any kind of protein you want. A nice, thick white fish, scallops or mussels work best. D had a Thai-crusted chicken breast (that I completely burned on one side…oops).

Lemongrass – Coconut Broth

One cup shallot or onion, diced
Three garlic cloves, minced
Two inch knob of ginger, peeled and sliced into large discs
Six lemon grass stalks (bottom 4 or 5 inches only), Bruised
One can of Lite Coconut Milk, separated (1/2 cup for rice and rest for sauce)
One cup White Wine
One cup Chicken Broth
One tablespoon red curry paste
One teaspoon Saffron, toasted
Squeeze of a half-lime (or you can use Kaffir Lime leaves frozen or fresh)
Sriracha to taste

Heat some oil in a large skillet. Combine the shallots, garlic, ginger, and chiles (is using) and allow to sweat for a few minutes. Add in white wine and chicken broth and reduce slightly to cook out the alcohol. Add curry paste and coconut milk and let simmer for a few minutes. Check for seasoning and then season according to taste. Finally, add Sriracha to taste and the juice of the lime. Strain and reserve sauce.

Scallops (for two)

Four U-10 Scallops (U-10 indicating how many per pound)
Salt and Pepper

Dry scallops thoroughly, but gently to prevent breaking. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper. In a small fry pan heat a good amount of oil over a medium high heat. Once hot, place the scallops gently into the pan and allow to cook, without moving, for two minutes on each side to achieve a nice sear. Remove from pan, pat dry and serve on top of Coconut Rice made with one part water, one part coconut milk.  Pour reserved sauce over both components and then garnish with your choice of fried shallots, cilantro, basil, green onions, or mint.

Brown Butter-Sage Sauce

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Brown Butter- Sage Sauce adapted from Giada de Laurentiis

7-8 tablespoons butter
Sliced Shallots to taste
10-15 fresh sage leaves torn
Dried cranberries (optional)
Shaved Parmesan
Ground Black Pepper

Melt 7-8 tablespoons of butter in a pan, adding to it 10-15 fresh sage leaves, sauté with sliced shallots until brown. Remove sage leave before serving and toss pasta or spoon over meat of choice. Excellent with cranberries added for a bit of tartness. Grated nutmeg optional. Good with Roast Chicken, butternut squash, ravioli and pasta.

Chipotle Aioli

/ andreah94 / 4 Comments

Chipotle Aioli is a great sauce to make and keep in the fridge. You can throw it onto/into all sorts of things from sandwiches to tacos to grilled fish or chicken to sweet potato fries to  tempura fired veggies. You can also make this to your dietary needs as well. I imagine this can be made quite successfully with yogurt and when using the sauce in an Asian dish feel free to use Japanese Mayonnaise instead of American (this is what I do and use as a dip for tempura-fried sweet potatoes).

Half can Chipotle Peppers in Adobo
Half cup of Garlic Mayonnaise (Central Market sells Garlic Mayo or you can add roasted garlic to regular Mayo)
Half lime, juice squeezed

In a small food processor, blend the Pepper, Mayo, and lime juice until desired consistency is achieved. Add more mayo if you find it too spicy.

Shallot-White Wine Sauce

/ andreah94 / 3 Comments

This is just the creation of stuff I had in the fridge and has become ubiquitous in my kitchen. You can adjust it however you need and it is absolutely perfect with a myriad of dishes from pasta sauce, sauce bases, to spooning over baked chicken or fish.

Five large Shallots, sliced (to taste – I like a lot of shallots)
Five cloves Garlic, minced
1 cup White wine
1/4 cup Chicken broth
One tablespoon Butter (or more if desired)
Squeeze Lemon Juice (optional)

Saute shallots and garlic in a butter (season properly) until glassy. Add in wine and broth and reduce to desired thickness.  Simmer until ready to use. Squeeze lemon juice and add fresh ground pepper as taste prefers.

To thicken this sauce you can add flour when sauteing the shallots and garlic. You can also add red pepper flakes for some heat if you like. If you need more liquid and are making pasta you can reserve some of the starchy pasta water after straining.