sauces in cooking?

Question

I go to lots of resturants with my boyfriend mainly italian and every dish he orders has a sauce over, i am a vegitarian so am not up on the sauces but i would love to cook him some lovely meals but cant find sauces in any cook books, there is one over steak one over chicken etc so any ideas on all different sauces i can make for him, i have just bought a blender and liquidiser. thankyou

Answer 1

I just saw an episode of Good Eats, Food Network, all about sauces. See the link below to see when the episode will air again. There were some good tips on making sauces.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_32858,00.html

Answer 2

A good sauce for pasta

Gently fry a finely chopped onion in a saucepan containing a little olive oil. Put the lid back on while cooking so that the onion softens rather than browns.

When soft, add 2 cloves of garlic, some basil, a 14oz tin of chopped tomatoes, a tablespoon of tomato puree, salt, pepper and a teaspoon of sugar (most important)

Then add two finely crushed walnuts

Bring mixture to boil and simmer, with lid off, for about 20 minutes until the mixture has reduced by about half.

Add contents to blender and blend into a paste.

Pour into cooked tagliatelle and stir, coating the pasta. Then add parmesan.

5 minutes preparation, 20 minutes cooking time, and you won't eat a finer sauce.

Answer 3

Begin with the basic sauces:
Bechamel
Veloute
Espagnole
Hollandaise
From these you can add and vary.
Bechamel: reduce milk over low heat, flavoring with and later discarding a bit of onion, a bay leaf and a couple of cloves. Then add in a bit of butter, and thicken with flour. Salt and (white) pepper to taste.
Veloute: same as Bechamel, but using stock instead of milk. If you're not used to making stocks, they're a pain in the rear.
Espagnole: a stick of butter or 1/2 cup of beef drippings melted over medium heat, add onions, carrots & celery, brown, then reduce and thicken with flour to make a roux, then add a pint or two of beef stock, a can of peeled tomatoes, and some parsley. Not for the faint of heart, and too much trouble except in the most unusual circumstances.
Hollandaise: 2 or 3 egg yolks and a Tbsp or so of water, whisked to a froth is warmed and thickened (be careful not to cook), add about 1/2 cup of clarified butter and whisk in a couple tsp lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste, and if you wish add a dash of hot sauce.
The basic white (Bechamel) is simple and open to easy variations. Add a little tomato paste, and you have Sauce Aurore. Or add some cheese and you have Sauce Mornay. If the cheese is Parmesan, it's Alfredo. Other alternative additions are mustard, onion, garlic or whatever you think of.
A simple roux instead of the formal sauces also works well. Just pan drippings and a liquid like milk or wine reduced and thickened with flour. Bacon drippings are a good start for a roux for chicken and if you make a big batch you can save some to make gumbo.

Answer 4

Restaurants have a basic sauce that they add to, to make different ones for various dishes.
A very good book I can recommend is Leith's Cookery Bible. ISBN number 0 7475 1044 x. It has a wonderful section on sauces. Prue Leith also has a reputable cooking school in London if you really want to learn serious cooking to please your boyfriend.
A quick tip when you are roasting a chicken, is to rub it with butter, a good slug of olive oil and a glass of white wine into the roasting pan and cook it. This way it makes it own sauce. You can add chopped shallots at the beginning and at the end stir in some double cream. Serve with mash to soak up the sauce.

Answer 5

A mix of sauteed fresh vegetables makes a very nice sauce to go over pasta or chicken. Our favorite mix includes plum tomatoes, lots of fresh garlic, some onion, mushrooms, zucchini, and lots of fresh basil. Dice the vegetables, and chop the garlic and basil. Heat up some extra virgin olive oil in a large pan. Put the onions in first and let them caramelize a bit, then add the zucchini and the garlic. When they've started to get soft, add the mushrooms and tomatoes. When they've cooked a bit and the mixture is looking sauce-like, add about a tablespoon of flour to the pan and stir it in well. Then stir in about a cup of liquid total. I use white wine and chicken broth, but you can substitute vegetable broth. Stir that all in and cook until it thickens some, then stir in the chopped basil. Season with a little salt and pepper. Sometimes I'll put a little dried thyme and bay leaf in as well -- they should go in with the tomatoes.

I hope this is helpful. I cook by feel, so it's hard for me to give recipes.

Answer 6

you can make an alfredo sauce and add different seasoning to change the flavor here is the ingrendence
1 quart heavy whipping cream
one sauce pan
parmarn\majon cheese grated
motterella cheese shredded
salt pepper
romano cheese shredded
ow put he heavy cream i the sauce pan on low heat stir often to get the heavy cream to thicken add the sheeses slowly and continue to stir so it dosen't stick to bottom of pan. (my sister uses a double boiler so hers wo't stick)
now after it is thick add salt and pepper this is a nice sauce for noodles and potatoes. If you want to chance the flavor add basil or chicken base. This is another sauce called italiano. Also you can add diced tomatos and sauted mushrooms when the sauce is done sprinkle them on the top he will love the dish use this sauces with white meat like pork and chicken and the one with tomatoes on baked fish
If you add romano cheese motzerlla and a little white mustard to the base you can put it over beef steaks
enjoy I hope you like it my family love the sauces and they are rich

Answer 7

The book "Sauces" by James Peterson is probably the best book you can buy on sauce making. He goes into great detail of classic and contemperary sauce making.
But even with you being vegetarian, you should know how to make several sauces to flavor and enrich your vegetarian dishes. You may not use beef or chicken stock, but vegetable stock is a lot easier and cheaper to make. Also consider any type of vegetable puree mixed with veg. stock and seasoned with fresh herbs. And tofu can easily be processed and seasoned into making any mayonaisse based sauce, and any tapenade or pesto can be made just as flavorful without having to use any dairy or meat by-products.

Answer 8

residing in Ohio and interior the city that so some distance away (40 5 miles) from an Asian save, I too use soy sauce quite of fish sauce. I made Thai fried rice applying soy sauce earlier and it tasted in basic terms superb aside from the flavour enhancement sauce which you place on later on. you recognize, the only that combines fish sauce with clean or dried chilli pepper and lime and a tiny little bit of sugar. you won't be able to truly use soy sauce for that. i've got made the two purple and green curries with soy sauce earlier, it tasted in basic terms superb. i assume if the recipe demands fish sauce for use interior the technique of cooking the meal, you may substitute soy sauce for fish sauce, yet while for style enhancement to be eaten with the meal, there is not any substitution for that. desire this help.

Answer 9

Try recipes.com or search "sauce recipes" on yahoo. I always get very good recipes such as alfredo for chicken. Also most grocery stores have sauce mixes- just add water or milk.

Answer 10

Try this sauce over pasta:
Boil Ragu spg sauce and add mazarella cheese and vodka.
Let it simmer a bit.
He will marry you after a few taste.