Curry Sauce

I’d opened a can of coconut milk last night and only used 1 tablespoon in the fish stuffed cabbage, so tonight I was using the rest to make this..

I only had a red Thai curry paste and decided to use a mango chutney for this and obviously was using coconut milk rather than stock..

The onions were browned in the butter for about ten minutes before they were turning golden. Next I added the paste, curry powder and regular plain flour, and the smell from all that frying together was good.

Next in went the garlic and coconut and once that was starting to simmer slightly I added the chutney and seasonings. It starts off at this point as quite a pale sauce..

…but after about 30 minutes its transformed into a dark, thick, sticky sauce that smells pretty damn good!!

I served this with some chicken thighs and rice and took another great looking picture….

It is a really thick sauce which is maybe edging towards slightly gelatinous and do perhaps think it didn’t really need the flour, but I don’t mind at all because it tastes so good! It was perfect with the chicken and the combinations of all the flavours from the chutney and pastes and powder is really really good.

Would I make this again? Yes, I think this will taste even better if eaten the next day!

Mint Sauce

As well as an abundance of chives I also have rather a lot of mint growing in my garden, it’s almost taking over my herb garden! So always looking for things to make with it and tonight we were having lamb chops for tea and this recipe seemed like an obvious choice!

The recipe says a small bunch which is a touch vague, so I used this much..

So because the mint quantity is a bit vague it made me wonder how the sugar quantity can be so exact!! Anyway I sprinkled that over the mint..

Then chopped the mint as finely as I could..

I put that into my sauceboat then added the water and then vinegar. I just used white vinegar and that’s a pretty vague quantity as well!! I put in one tablespoon first then tasted later on and added splash more. So I guess it depends on how you like it, it was quite sweet and I prefer it a bit tart so added more vinegar.

After an hour the mint was much darker and all very soft..

We were having this with lamb gigot chops, homemade oven chips and watercress salad..

Well I loved this! I’ve always liked mint sauce and remember we had it a lot as kids, it was either sauce or mint jelly which was much sweeter! I do think it could’ve done with a fraction more vinegar or I should’ve reduced the sugar, but I really loved the freshness if it.

Would I make this again? Yes, still loads more mint!!

Egg Sauce

We were having steamed salmon for tea, and the chives growing in my garden are getting slightly out of control, so I decided to try this sauce tonight..

This recipe actually comes under a sub heading of variations on simple white sauce, and that’s exactly what it is! First off I made a simple white sauce..

Then I boiled an egg, chopped that up, cut some chives from the garden and chopped them up..

So once the sauce is done, the egg and chives are added..

So that’s it! A simple egg sauce..

We were having steamed salmon, potatoes and spinach for tea which was perfect for having with this sauce!

Well as sauces go this isn’t too bad at all!! I don’t think I’m completely over my dislike of eggs but when it’s coated in a well seasoned sauce and combined with some fresh chives it’s bearable!! I did actually really enjoy this sauce with the fish and veg but for some reason the other two weren’t so keen!!

Would I make this again? Yes I would!

Chocolate Sauce

This is obviously in the sauce chapter but comes under a sub heading of ice cream sauces. I made the butterscotch sauce a while back and it was brilliant! I’ve also made the chocolate sauce from this same chapter but made slightly differently with cocoa powder and corn flour. So tonight me and my daughter decided to try this with our ice cream..

Not really much cooking to this more just some mixing, easy enough that a 6 year old can manage! First off the chocolate and butter are melted together..

We had several arguments during this first process, mainly due to her continually asking when the spoon was ready for licking!

The chcolate and butter do melt together nicely, and I was wondering how the milk would affect it, and quite surprisingly it does change into a darker, glossier sauce..

We quickly poured it over the ice cream..

Ordinarily I’d leave it just like this but considering there is an abundance of other chocolates and sweeties in our house we decided to add another couple for decoration..

I remember this chocolate sauce we used to get as kids and it set when you poured it over the ice cream, we loved it as kids! I found it in a shop recently and it wasn’t as nice as I remember, maybe my taste buds have changed or they don’t make things as good as they used to!

Anyway this sauce does start to set in the ice cream and it’s fantastic! It’s just perfect with the ice cream and quite possibly the best chocolate sauce I’ve ever had!! I do also think it would be great with warm chocolate cake but then you wouldn’t get the setting effect. It doesn’t set as solid as that stuff we used to get but sets to a really really great consistency.

Would I make this again? Most definitely, and there was a fight over who got to like the bowl!

Mushroom Sauce

This recipe doesn’t excite me at all! It’s pretty much a white sauce with fried mushrooms flung in..

I had some mushrooms that badly needed using up and we were having chicken for tea so thought this would be a good sauce to try.

The white sauce bit is easy enough but then I think I may have overcooked the mushrooms..

So once the mushrooms are cooked and the white sauce is ready then they are just mixed together..

So we had this with some stuffed chicken thighs and mashed potatoes, and was ok. I just felt it really needed something else, some paprika or chives or anything really! It’s another recipe ticked off but not one of my favourites!

Would I make this again? Probably not!

Mornay Sauce

We were having salmon for dinner and this sauce says to serve with fish so gave it a go..

First off I made a bechamel sauce using the recipe from the same chapter..

That was pretty straightforward..

Once the sauce was thickened I added the cheese and paprika and I was using Parmesan for this.

As I was stirring in the cheese and seasonings I was thinking I had let the sauce thicken a bit too much as it all did look a bit gloopy!

I just served this at is with steamed salmon and veg..

I have to say I didn’t love this. The consistency was all a bit unpleasant and there definitely wasn’t enough paprika. The only thing I think I did wrong was let it thicken too much. So then I had to google mornay sauce to see how this compares and most other versions were similar; a bechamel sauce mixed with gruyere and/or Parmesan. Although most other recipes said the sauce should be used to glaze fish veg or eggs before grilling or baking them! Wish I’d read that before!

Would I make this again? Doubtful

Fruit Crumble with Custard Sauce

It’s been a while since I made a crumble, and I’ve never actually made custard before. Think that this is very much a cheats custard but thought it was a good place for me to start as a custard novice..

I had some already stewed fruit in the freezer so I defrosted a tub of stewed apples and rhubarb that I had made earlier in the year for this

For the crumble topping I fancied adding cinnamon so I went with that variation.

So the custard isn’t really a proper custard as there’s no egg yolks involved! I think I was put off custard by the horrible gloopy stuff they served in my school, I even remember they used to serve this awful cold pink custard!! I honestly don’t remember the last time I ate custard!

So it was easy enough to make, I was halving the recipe and think I wanted thicker custard so opted for 1 tbsp of custard powder. The custard powder is pure white, but the minute you add the milk it turns dark yellow, and at this point I was thinking this wasn’t going to go well!

Then when you add the milk and then cook until it thickens it actually starts to smell and look like custard!

Even though I was using already stewed fruit I think it was in the oven for closer to 40 minutes before I felt that the topping was properly cooked..

So I was serving the custard slightly thicker and warm with the crumble hot from the oven, and together it was great! The fruit isn’t too sweet and good combination of apple and rhubarb. The crumble topping is just fab, I think it could do with even more! The custard is nice with the crumble but it wasn’t that good on its own! I think I need to make the effort and do the proper egg custard and see what that’s like! Overall all though it was a great pud!

Would I make this again? Yes I would, good pud

Lemon Sauce

I think I’ve said this the last few times I’ve made a sauce recipe from this book, but again I was thinking this would be a really boring post and wouldn’t really be much to say about a sauce..

I don’t like chicken and lemon, but the only time I’ve had that was from a Chinese takeaway and really didn’t like the sauce. I was tempted to try this with chicken but instead opted for fish and tonight we were having salmon.

The sauce was easy enough to prepare, I halved the recipe so only used 1 tbsp of butter and flour to make the white sauce. The milk/stock mix did smell good after the 5 minutes simmering with the lemon.

I think all in this only took about 10 minutes to prepare. I tasted the sauce before adding seasoning and I didn’t think it was too sharp, I actually thought it could be even sharper!

My extra secret ingredient is this amazing salt..

I picked this up at the Foodies Festival earlier this month along with a few other flavours and is amazing! I do have a slight salt obsession and have a variety of flavours in the kitchen, but this was a new one for me! The sauce was nice pre-salting but after adding this it really was brilliant!!

I know it doesn’t look like much in my photo but it really is a good sauce, it was perfect with the salmon. We were having steamed salmon, potatoes and samphire and the sauce was fab with them all!

I have some left over and can’t face pouring away so having a rethink about this weeks dinners so I can factor in using the last of this sauce! Am thinking it would be good with some fishcakes..

Would I make this again? Yes, delicious and quick to make

Macaroni with Tomato Sauce

This is two recipes, well if you can call the macaroni a recipe! I made the tomato sauce using a recipe from the sauces chapter..

I made the sauce earlier in the day. Once I had added all the ingredients it was looking very pale…

So I opted to add the tomato paste as suggested, and by the time it had simmered for 30 minutes it was much darker looking..

I didn’t want to seive it as I didn’t want to waste the veg, so I fished out the clove and bay leaf and I blitzed the rest until smooth..

I had to taste it at this point and it tasted brilliant!

I then started with the macaroni recipe, well I made some a macaroni and mixed it with the sauce! I made the full amount, but I had also made the full amount of tomato sauce and that was too much. So I have put the left over sauce in the freezer. As suggested we had with Parmesan on top and more on the table.

This was great, a really delicious mid week dinner. The sauce is really really good and would be brill with any other pasta. I think when I mentioned to my family that we were having macaroni for tea they were disappointed that it wasn’t good old macaroni cheese!

Would I make this again? Yes I’ll be making the sauce again to have with pasta

Caper Sauce

I love capers and can eat them by the teaspoon right out of the jar!!

So the recipe says this should be served with boiled mutton, I didn’t fancy that at all and decided it would go nicely with some steamed salmon!

I halved this recipe and made a white sauce using all milk (I obviously didn’t have any liquid from the boiled mutton!!). Then I didn’t think half a tbsp of capers seemed enough so I have to admit to adding a bit more! I opted to use the vinegar from the jar rather than lemon juice.

I didn’t let the sauce boil to long as I didn’t want it too thick. As I mentioned we were having this with steamed salmon and veg.

I thought this was great with the salmon, and I actually ended up dipping my broccoli into the rest of the sauce! It was lovely and sharp from the capers, and I did give it a good grind of pepper! Don’t think my fellow diners loved this as much as me, which suited me fine, I was quite happy to finish it myself!

Would I make this again? Yes I would, think I’d add even more capers and may be tempted to try with boiled mutton!