Basic sauce recipes - suggestions?

SideWinder

SideWinder

SideWinder

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At the moment i simply buy stir in ready made sauces or gravy and serve with chicken or whatever but i'd love to make my own.

I tried making a sort of sauce with a vegetable stock cube and seasoned the chicken with curry powder, paprika and chilli powder and it came out pretty good so something like that would be great.
 
Paprika Chicken:

dash of oil, 1 diced onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1 or 2 chicken thighs diced/sliced/whatever, 1 heaped teaspoon of paprika, some honey or brown sugar, squeeze of lemon (or 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar if you have no lemon), pinch of salt.

Add a dash of oil to pan, set to medium heat, throw in onion and fry until soft, heat to low, throw in garlic, fry for 1 minute, heat to high, throw in chicken and paprika, lower heat to medium and fry for a few minutes, throw in sugar/honey and lemon/vinegar. Reduce to low and fry until chicken is cooked.

Very simple and pretty tasty with some salad and pitta bread.

If you want to make cheaty fajitas buy a bottle of jalapenos (pickled) and add a level tablespoon of the vinegar from the jar instead of the lemon/vinegar. Also add a pinch of smoked paprika. Serve the end result with some sour cream, sliced peppers (raw ftw) in a wrap.

edit: forgot the salt
 
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Beef Chilli Noodles:

sesame oil, 1 diced onion, thinly sliced broccoli (ideally purple sprouting or tender stem), 2 medium red chillies, thinly sliced rump steak, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, pinch of sugar.

Heat oil to hot in a large wok, add onion and fry until browned, throw in broccoli and fry for 1 minute, throw in chillies and then immediately throw in the steak and garlic, fry for 1 minute, throw in the soy sauce and sugar and fry for another minute.

Serve with rice or noodles (I often cheat and use straight to wok udon noodles. If you do use these, fry separately at a high heat with a little oil - fry the noodles first and leave them somewhere to stay warm. If they are left for a while they won't taste as bad as if you leave the stir fry alone for a while).
 
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Annd...Still waiting for Payday 2 to do it's thing so here's another one.

Pork Adobo:

dash of oil, 1 diced onion, 1 diced garlic clove, 1 tablespoon of dark soy, 1 tablespoon of light soy, 1 heaped teaspoon of brown sugar, 12 whole pepper corns, pinch of star anise, diced pork shoulder.

In a large pan fry the onion on a medium heat until soft/golden, add garlic and fry for 1 minute, add everything else and heat/stir until it's all nice and hot (5 minutes or so on a medium heat). Add enough hot water to cover the pork and leave on a low heat for an hour (make sure to check it every 10 minutes to stir and make sure it hasn't dried out).

Eventually you will end up with a gloopy sweet sauce and some caramelised pork. Serve with a little sticky rice and be sure to keep all the whole pepper corns in there, which will now have softened up and be delicious to eat.
 
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I often make a chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew with a sauce not a million miles away from what FrenchTart posted.

Dice an onion and fry in a little oil.
Add some diced chicken and cook on a medium heat until browned.
Add diced chorizo and cook until it starts to release its oil.
Then add a few tablespoons of sherry, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, some crushed garlic and either a chopped chipotle chilli or a teaspoon of chipotles in adobo (can buy from most supermarkets) and cook for a few minutes.
Add a can of chopped tomatoes, a can of chickpeas and some salt to taste.

Cook for a further 20 minutes and serve.
 
Basic as you like italian tomato sauce.

1-2 clove garlic, 1 chilli, fry in 6 tbsp olive oil for about a minute, add 2 tins of really high quality plum tomatoes (cheap won't do here) break them in half with a spoon. Bring to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes.
Season well and serve with pasta or whatever you like.

Literally takes less than 10 minutes to make and tastes delicious.
 
pitchfork said:
Basic as you like italian tomato sauce.

1-2 clove garlic, 1 chilli, fry in 6 tbsp olive oil for about a minute, add 2 tins of really high quality plum tomatoes (cheap won't do here) break them in half with a spoon. Bring to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes.
Season well and serve with pasta or whatever you like.

Literally takes less than 10 minutes to make and tastes delicious.
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Six TABLESPOONS of olive oil?! :eek:
 
A basic cheese bechamel sauce.

Heat equal quanities of butter and plain flour in a pan till it starts go go brown. A teaspoon of both is plenty for one. Add half a pint of warmed milk slowly and keep whisking and it will thicken. Add cheese and season.
 
monkeyspank said:
4 is enough for me with 2 tins of toms, but I could understand why someone might want more
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I use a lot of oil in some recipes but it tends to be more curries where you want a lot of fat in there for the spices.

I'm not one of those that has a problem with fats/oils in food (far from it) but I would've thought six would leave you swimming in grease. I guess if you're serving with pasta it is partially there to generate that half sauce/half oil 'sheen' on the pasta though?
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I personally see no need in paying out for premium tinned tomatoes for sauces. Oil is a different matter though.
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I used to be the same, trust me, they are much much sweeter when you buy the good ones.

The cheap ones are bitter, they use a lower grade tomato, less flavour, less sugars.

I tend to buy Pomodorino, those vs a tin of cheapo tomatoes? Might as well be a different fruit altogether.

Would you see a good restaurant using cheap, fast ripened, poorly processed tomatoes? Would you heck.
 
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yeh I used to get Tesco value tinned tomatoes thinking "well, tomatoes are tomatoes right?". I was wrong. Now I've gone to the other extreme and just get whichever looks the best :p Passata is also a good shout.
 
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