Sauce

Cashew Butter Dipping Sauce

June 1, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I came across a recipe for this Vietnamese-style cashew dipping sauce over at Steamy Kitchen. It looked awesome so I knew I had to give it a try. I ended up doing a few things differently from the original recipe but it turned out really well! You could easily change the sauce’s flavor by using peanut butter to use with other recipes. I used chili oil and sriracha to change things up a bit and I thought it tasted great! My favorite part was the combination of the garlic and hoisin sauce with the cashew butter. It was a match made in heaven!

…

Gochujang (Korean Red Pepper Paste)

March 31, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Gochujang is a fermented chili paste made from red pepper powder and is used in a lot of Korean dishes. The great thing about this recipe is that it makes a lot and can be stored for up to a year in the refrigerator. It isn’t too hard to make, but it does take some time to acquire the right ingredients. I could not find soybean flour/powder at the local grocery store so I bought it at an asian market instead. Malt powder is the same thing as “malted milk powder” which can be found at the grocery store. Glutinous rice powder is the same as rice flour and I bought the “mochiko” brand which worked nicely. I am letting the jars sit out in the sun for a few days to ferment and age properly. Right away, the gochujang had a nice spicy and sweet flavor so I can only expect it to get better with age.

…

Cranberry Sauce with Pinot Noir

November 25, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

I ended up making quite a bit of cranberry sauce this year for Thanksgiving. The nice thing is that it can be stored in the refrigerator or even frozen. Cranberry sauce is easy to make from scratch and tastes fresh and tangy–a perfect topping for a roast turkey or slathering on a piece of bread for a leftover turkey sandwich. I normally go with an orange-ginger cranberry sauce but this year I tried making it with pinot noir. I really enjoyed this version of cranberry sauce, and the addition of the pinot noir gave it a more full-bodied flavor.

…

Spinach Pesto

October 14, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

I was craving penne pasta the other night but I wanted to do something different than a tomato or cream sauce. I decided to go with a pesto sauce and I was not disappointed with the results! This pesto recipe has a light creaminess with just a hint of mint and walnuts. I threw in a little crumbled feta for extra creaminess. It was great on pasta and I would imagine it would be tasty on panini sandwiches as well. Since I don’t have a food processor I used a standard blender which worked fine.

…

Korean BBQ Sauce

August 18, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This all purpose BBQ sauce is great for sandwiches, marinades, and grilling. It has a nice balance between spicy, tangy and sweet with some added nutty flavor from the roasted sesame seeds.

…

Penne with Vodka Sauce

July 16, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This dish required a technique I had never tried before–flambe. Flambeing alcohol involves setting the alcohol on fire in a saute pan until it burns out. What’s leftover is all the aroma and flavor of the vodka, without all of the alcohol. The vodka is the critical component of this dish because it reacts with the sauce and brings out the flavor of the tomatoes. I have tried this dish before without the flambe technique and I like the results of flambeing a lot better. I have also tried this dish with bacon instead of pancetta, but I have come to prefer the pancetta. Lots of vodka sauces are pale pink but I only put 1/2 cup cream in the sauce so mine was a pale brick red instead. I prefer the darker sauce–I think the cream can mask the flavor of the tomatoes. I topped the pasta with a little grated parmesan and basil.

…

Flourless Chocolate Torte with Raspberry Sauce

February 14, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Happy Valentine’s Day! In my opinion, chocolate and raspberries are a flavor combination that can’t be beat.B I don’t do a lot of baking so this was a very new thing for me to try.B Making a dessert that is “flourless” means only one thing: more room for chocolate and butter! As you can guess, this torte is very rich and dense. I was happy with how it came out though I wish it were a tiny bit more moist. Take it out of the refrigerator up to an hour before eating so that it softens a bit.

…

Hot Fudge Sauce

February 6, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

I am a big fan of baker’s unsweetened and semi-sweetened baking chocolate. They have great recipes written on the inside of their boxes and I think I have tried all of them at one point. My favorite of those recipes was the fondue sauce and this hot fudge is pretty similar to that recipe. The fudge is more syrupy and less rich (since there’s no heavy cream in it) than the fondue. The fudge thickens on the ice cream and can be easily reheated on the stove.

Hot Fudge Sauce
(Makes 2 1/2 Cups)
Printable Version

Ingredients:

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
2/3 cup water
1/3-1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste)
7 tablespoons light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or rum

Directions:

Melt the chocolate and butter very slowly in the microwave, stirring frequently until combined.
Heat the water to boiling in a saucepan.
Stir the melted butter and chocolate mixture into the boiling water.
Add the sugar, corn syrup and salt on low heat and mix until smooth.
Turn the heat up and stir until mixture starts to boil. Turn the heat down so that it is just bubbling. Cook for nine minutes.
Remove from heat and cool for 15 minutes. Stir in the vanilla or rum and serve.

Harissa (Moroccan Red Chili Paste)

January 6, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Harissa is a chili paste used in a lot of North African foods. It is usually added to couscous, soups, and meat dishes. You can use any kind of chili depending on how spicy you would like the paste to be. I used Arbol chilis which are on the spicy side but you can use serrano, ancho, or guajillo chilies for a milder flavor. I don’t have a food processor so I ground up the garlic and chilies very finely in order to form a paste–and it still turned out pretty chunky. I am excited to try this out on the Moroccan tagine I will be making soon!

…

Barbeque Sauce

December 16, 2010 by The Partial Ingredients

Barbeque sauce is one of my favorite sauces because it brings together sweet, spicy and tangy ingredients. It was easy to make and turned out great. The chipotle chili powder and smoked paprika gave it the necessary bite while the dijon and apple cider vinegar gave it the proper tanginess for a good BBQ sauce.

…