A little bit saucy
I sometimes think that the difference between average food and excellent food is pretty simple - sauces. Be they a splash of lemon juice and olive oil, a spicy chili and tomato number, or a light and delicious gravy (or jus) with a piece of meat, I reckon you can elevate pretty well anything by dressing it, somehow.
Often, it is as simple as deglazing a pan you have used to cook a piece of beef, pork or chicken in. I would generally use white wine, or lemon juice, or chicken stock, or some combination of the three for white meat, and red wine or beef stock for beef - just whip out the meat and let it rest (somewhere warm, use tinfoil to keep the heat in if you wish), and reduce what's in the pan over a medium heat, seasoning and maybe adding a little butter to create a silky, flavoursome sauce that perfectly complements the meat. I like these sort of sauces to be reasonably thin, but concentrated, so don't hold back on the seasoning, and there is no need to add a thickening agent such as cornflour. Generally, I would strain it, and mostly I would pour it on the plate under the meat, so as not to spoil the appearance of the meat's (hopefully!) perfectly caramelised outer crust - it just looks better than tipping it over.
The other sauce I have been really digging lately is a spicy chili tomato number with a Middle Eastern twist, rather akin to something Yotam Ottolenghi would make. Garlic, chili, canned tomatoes, cumin, olive oil, sugar and some red wine vinegar are reduced down to make a sauce that is delicious with fish or grilled chicken, or on the rice and lentil mixtures Mejadra or Kosheri - it is also great with some grilled haloumi.
With our (vague) health kick at present, often a salad dressing can be as simple as a splash of lemon juice or good balsamic vinegar (I really like Pedro Ximenez's aged balsamic vinegar) with some olive oil - as someone pointed out in a comment this week, undressed salads are pretty unappetising, but the dressings can be very, very simple.
Another fave is a dressing of sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and brown sugar - terrific on a roasted vegetable salad of potato, kumara, carrot, parsnip and caramelised onion.
I made mention this week of a lemony vinaigrette that I like to add to coleslaw - one of my favourite salads. There is no longer any need for a coleslaw to comprise thick, indigestible chunks of cabbage, soggy grated carrot and hideous, gloopy mayo. Here is The Omnivore's suggestion for a light, tasty and delicious, summery coleslaw - with a similarly light and fresh-tasting vinaigrette:
You will need, for the 'slaw:
- Half a head of cabbage (red cabbage is good, and it looks nice)
- A couple of peeled, grated carrots (or, even better, shredded or very finely "matchsticked")
- A crisp Granny Smith or Braeburn apple (something tart and tangy is best)
- 2-3 spring onions
- A handful of sunflower seeds
- A handful of chopped coriander (you can sub in parsley if you're one of those peculiar creatures who don't like coriander)
- A handful of chopped mint
And for the dressing:
- 150ml of good olive oil (or grapeseed oil, which I also like - "nutty")
- The juice of a couple (or three) juicy lemons - roll them on a board first to extract maximum juice!
- A generous teaspoonful of mustard
- A garlic clove, peeled and flattened a bit
- A decent pinch of salt
- A good grind of pepper
- A teaspoonful of sugar, to taste
Shred the cabbage, carrots, apple and spring onions into a large bowl - the finer the better, really - using a mandolin gets good results. Throw in the chopped coriander, and dry fry the seeds in a hot pan until you can just smell them giving off a nutty, sweet aroma - chuck 'em in the bowl.
Now, the dressing - add the oil, juice, mustard, garlic and seasoning to a small jar - and give it a good shake, emulsifying the oil, imparting the garlicky flavour (subtly), and getting the seasoning to dissolve a bit. Taste it, and adjust the seasoning - you may need a little more sugar, salt, pepper - or all three. If you like, add a little water and give it another shake - sounds a bit gross, but you probably won't notice, and it makes it go a bit further.
Now - toss the dressing over the salad - you might like to remove the garlic clove first. Mix it through, and let it "rest" for 10 or so mins - the citrus will "cook" the cabbage a little, and mesh the flavours together. Give the whole thing a bit of a mixup.
Voila! Too easy, huh? And so much classier than my grandmother's.
What are your favourite quick and easy sauces or dressings? Do you agree that an undressed salad is... actually just raw veges? And gravy - over or under?
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I know it's unclassy of me, but i always put undressed salad on the table, with a jug of viniagrette, and bottles of balsamic vinegar and mayo. That way people can decide what they want and how much, and also any leftover salad can go into a tupperware box for tomorrow!
My fav dressing at the moment uses white balsamic vinegar, oil and wholegrain mustard -super tasty! I tend to like my dressings more vinegar-y than oil-y so go for a 50:50 split rather than the traditional 1/3:2/3
I'm big on salad dressings and usually have a half dozen bought ones in the fridge to keep variety in my salads.
I made a mean pasta sauce last night. I try and avoid too much pasta but the abundance of tomatoes and my new herbs garden was too hard to resist!The only problem is the red splatters everywhere!
I hate dry meat, so I'm all about the gravy. But I usually cheat and mix a packet gravy mix in with the pan juices - does this make me a bad person? I prefer a thick gravy that sticks to the meat rather than a thin one runs off onto the plate. And definately, gravy on top (of everything).
I never buy salad dressing, I like to make my own using my ex-boyfriend's mother's recipe - as it turns out, he was good for something ;-) - equal quantities of olive oil and vinegar (balsamic/red wine/cider/white wine), about a teaspoon dijon mustard, a teaspoon of honey (or sweet chilli sauce for a change), salt and pepper, taste and add more of this or that as necessary. Shake it all up in a jar and pour over the salad - yum!
We currently have an abundance of chilli at the moment, so I have been making a chilli sauce which I use 1/2 a teaspoon in everything, just brings out the flavours even more.
But I agree with #2 JCC - I LOVE vinegar bases dressing... I could do straight white vinegar with my salads if necessary!! But prefer balsamic!
Salad without dressing makes me feel like a rabbit. And I like having gravy ALL OVER my veggies (Being a vegetarian) but the same when I use to eat meat.
AND being Australian... HOT CHIPS AND GRAVY IS THE BEST! Don't knock it until you try it!
SAUCE!!! I am a horrible horrible oversaucer (and kind of proud of it). I can't stand anything that doesn't have sauce and struggle with pastas and meat that isn't swimming (I also drown peas). Sauce is my favourite part of the meal and the whole reason for everything else! Perenial favourites - balsamic salad dressing with smoked paprika and mustard powder + crushed garlic; the de-glazed pan + soy, wine and mayple syrup; stir-fry sauce with soy, mirin, fish sauce and worcestershire sauce. YUM!!
I'm also loving a lighter summery slaw, but instead of the apple and sunflower seeds am adding red capsicum and bean sprouts to the cabbage/carrot/red onion mix, all thinly sliced not grated, add in lemon zest and coriander, then finish with an asian style dressing with lemon juice, sesame oil, garlic, coriander, fish sauce, soy sauce a bit of sugar and water. So yummy and even the kids like it.
Salads with no dressing are definitely not on our menu. With abundant tomatoes at the moment, I like to just slice them and arrange on a plate, top with some finely sliced red onion, add a drizzle of balsamic and olive oil, top with chopped fresh basil and some freshly ground pepper and salt. Leave this to marinate for an hour, or while you prepare your other dishes. Summer favorite. The tomatoes must be at room temperature though. Mind you, my tomatoes never go in the fridge anyway.
And yes, gravy! Always! I like to serve gravy in a jug for everyone to help themselves. For me it needs to go on top, over everything. Gravy at the bottom is too hard to spread around and pick up and there's never enough of it.
If I don't have / can't make gravy, I often do a quick salsa from finely chopped tomatoes, red onions, coriander, garlic, chile and a bit of lime juice. Goes well with chicken and with my home made empanadas.
I don't mind an undressed salad, but I think you might be right - it's just raw veggies if there's no dressing to bring it all together.
What drives me to despair is the chronic tomato sauce-er. You serve up a delicious, perfectly balanced and seasoned meal - only to watch them violate it with puddles of red muck. Kills me.
That dressing with the sesame, soy etc is also fabulous as a marinade for salmon, especially with a splash of lime added.
Personally, can generally take or leave the sauces... a good sauce is well worth having but I hate having my food drowned - am definitely in the "put the sauce on the table and let people pour their own" camp. My five year old gets a small amount of sauce on the side of his plate and is encouraged to dip his food in it.
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I do the same deglaze as you, though for duck I use red wine and cranberry (or redcurrant) jelly, and for pork (or sometimes steak) brandy (or marsala) and cream. Amazing how good these sauces taste from two minutes minor effort.