Sauces - quick and easy recipes - page 25

A roasted nut oil can give your vinaigrette a mild, earthy flavor—a nice change from bland vegetable oil or sometimes-overpowering olive oil. What to buy: We like the La Tourangelle brand of roasted nut oils like this walnut oil. Avoid brands that use refined nut oils—they don’t taste like the nuts they came from. Store nut oils in the refrigerator or freezer to prevent rancidity. Game plan: If you’re making the dressing ahead of time, add the minced chives just before serving.

When it comes to hot sauce, our photographer, Chris Rochelle, likes it fiery. For the faint of heart, we suggest using his sauce as a light seasoning in things like tacos, eggs, hummus, curry, or our Turkey Chili recipe.

This fresh salmon tartare recipe by Chef Frank McMahon of Hank’s in Charleston, South Carolina, is a light and delicious starter loaded with fragrant herbs. Scoop it up with crunchy taro chips or a toasted baguette. What to buy: If you can’t find sockeye salmon, get the freshest salmon possible. To shape the tartare into perfect circles, use small round cookie cutters. Game plan: To make the salmon easier to cut, place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes before dicing.

Guacamole may be the most popular accompaniment to tacos, nachos, or tostadas, but this crema is just as easy and flavorful. Using a food processor to blend an avocado with sour cream, cilantro, and lime juice creates a smooth sauce that works great as a dip for Chorizo Scotch Eggs or as a topping for Black Bean Cakes with Fried Eggs.

Dicing the avocados, cucumber, and pineapple gives this guacamole a chunkier salsalike texture rather than the standard smashed or smooth style. The cucumber and pineapple lighten the mixture and add fresh, sweet, and acidic flavors. Try it on fish tacos or for chip-dipping and margarita-sipping. What to buy: Look for avocados that give slightly when pressed but are not completely soft. We used Hass avocados.

This unique guacamole recipe adapted from Rick Bayless veers from the common avocado, lime, and cilantro combination, and instead is sweet and nutty with the flavors of dried apricots and almonds. Try it with a chicken quesadilla or simply on a tortilla chip. What to buy: Look for avocados that give slightly when pressed but are not completely soft. We used Hass avocados.

The flavour in this rich caramel sauce is balanced out by the addition of bourbon and espresso powder. Start by boiling butter, brown sugar, and cream, plus some light corn syrup to keep the caramel from crystallizing. When it’s ready, flavor it with bourbon and espresso powder for a boozy sauce that adds a little extra pizzazz to a scoop of ice cream or a slice of Mississippi Mud Cake. Game plan: The sauce can be made up to 4 days ahead.

This shortcut version of the classic Spanish romesco sauce—a combination of tomatoes, red peppers, bread, and almonds—is an easy, quick dip to prepare for cocktail parties. Its flavors pair well with anything from vegetable crudités to grilled chicken breasts and pasta, but one of our favorite ways to serve it is with roasted shrimp. Try pairing it with easy homemade chimichurri sauce for a garlic twist on this classic dipping sauce.

Most people don’t try making hollandaise sauce at home because the classic method requires a water bath and constant attention to ensure a perfectly textured sauce. In this fast and easy version, we use a blender to emulsify butter and egg yolks into a perfectly smooth sauce with a hint of brightness from lemon juice. Use it for classic eggs Benedict, or drizzle it over broiled fish or steamed veggies. Pick a great new blender to make this sauce and everything else you want smooth.

Rémoulade is essentially a homemade mayonnaise loaded with flavor. The sauce was originally created in France, but we put a Creole spin on it with the addition of Louisiana-style hot sauce, Worcestershire, and bell pepper. Though it’s normally served with fried-fish dishes such as our Cornmeal Fried Catfish, we also like it with boiled shrimp or mixed into a potato salad. What to buy: Have all the ingredients at room temperature before you start—the rémoulade will come together better.

I grew up eating a version of this dip made with only dried dill weed, and though it tasted pretty good, I like the addition of some fresh dill and a little parsley as well. The dip needs to hang out in the fridge for a couple hours for the flavors to blend, so this is an ideal recipe to make ahead for a party. Serve alongside some Long Island Iced Tea for an impressive party spread.

This is a milder and more accessible version of my first hot sauce recipe, Habanero Blood Orange Death Kick. When my dad (who grows his own Trinidad Scorpion peppers) said it was way too hot, I took his advice and left out the serranos to curb the heat a bit. I also used easy-to-find domestic oranges and limes. Spoon it over a breakfast frittata for a punch of heat.

This hot sauce gets its heat from hot paprika and cayenne pepper rather than chile peppers. To make it, throw boiled carrots, roasted red peppers, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, smoked and hot paprika, and cayenne into a blender. Serve this tangy, smoky sauce over grilled steak or stir it into hummus for an easy dip. Game plan: The hot sauce is ready to be served after 1 day, but the flavors will continue to meld for 2 to 3 days.

Add sweet cherry heat to your favorite recipes with this easy hot sauce. Just blend boiled carrots, roasted red peppers, and habanero chiles with cherry juice, vinegar, ginger, and a touch of sugar and salt. This sweet and spicy sauce is an awesome complement to pork dishes like cochinita pibil or Cuban-style rotisserie pork loin. Game plan: Habaneros are particularly spicy chile peppers, so we suggest wearing a pair of latex gloves when removing the seeds.

This classic cocktail sauce is a tangy, slightly spicy mixture of ketchup, prepared horseradish, lemon juice, and Tabasco sauce. Serve it with poached shrimp for a traditional shrimp cocktail or on briny oysters on the half shell. Game plan: This recipe can be made up to 1 day ahead, covered, and refrigerated.

With a flavor somewhere between cocktail sauce and Thousand Island dressing, this tangy, versatile recipe starts with ketchup and mayonnaise as the base and is flavored with brandy, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and lemon juice. Use it as a dip for chilled seafood or french fries, or smear it on a toasted bun and proclaim it your secret house sauce for a bacon cheeseburger.