Showing posts with label Sauces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sauces. Show all posts

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Cheesy Dipping Sauce (Or Pasta Sauce)

A cheese sauce:
For reluctant broccoli eaters.
To mix in with your favorite pasta.
To serve as an incredibly rich base for a sumptous soup.
Or to dip your head in after a long, bad day.

It's your call.

Whatever your choice may be, I hope you love it.

 To begin, melt butter in a medium-sized sauce pan.  Then add in the flour and whisk away.

 Keep whisking while the flour cooks into the butter.

 Then pour in the milk. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes as it deliciously thickens.

 Remove from heat (do as I say, not as I do...) and add the cheeses and spices.


Stir until lovely.

Here's the printable recipe.

Cheesy Dipping Sauce
Makes about 2 cups

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2.5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1.5 cups milk
7 ounces cheddar cheese grated (about 1.75 cups)
1 ounce Monterey Jack cheese (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper powder (optional)
Pinch of garlic powder

Using a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour and continue to whisk and cook for 2 minutes.
Slowly pour in the milk while continuing to whisk the butter/flour mixture.  The sauce will begin to thicken.  Stir for about 10 minutes.  Remove pot from heat and add in the cheeses and remaining ingredients.  Stir very well, until all cheese is melted and ingredients are well-incorporated.
Use immediately as a dipping sauce for veggies, breads, chips, etc.  Or as a sauce for pasta.  

Refrigerate unused sauce for up to 3 days.

Reheat cheese sauce in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until heated through.
(Recipe slightly adapted from here.)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Orange-Rosemary Sauce


This is often my go-to meal:  sauteed chicken breasts (with or without a sauce), steamed veggies and a salad.

Very easy and healthy and tasty.

Sauteing chicken (and making a sauce) is a basic kitchen skill that's simple to learn!

So here we go...

Trim/remove skin, if necessary.

Slice each breast in half lengthwise
(You don't have to do this, but it helps it cook more quickly.)

Pound between sheets of plastic wrap for even thickness
(which contributes to even cooking times). 
I like to lay a sheet of plastic wrap on my cutting board, put the meat on the wrap, cover with another sheet of wrap, and TUCK the edges of the wrap underneath my cutting board...
 
Like this...
This way, no nasty chicken juices will escape and freak me out as they microscopically infect my kitchen counter. 

Now pound the suckers...
(Please excuse my gross-looking mallet. 
It's made several trips unauthorized through the dishwasher...hence the white dots.)


Blot meat dry with a paper towel. 
Moist meat does not brown well.

Dredge (coat) in flour.


Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet.

Saute chicken in olive oil until nicely browned on each side;
about 3-5 minutes per side on medium-high heat. 
(If you're paranoid, cut into a piece to check for doneness.)

Resist the urge to flip it too soon. 
Good things are happening to the side you cannot see. 

I like to use this ancient spatula to flip the chicken.

Gently wedge the spatula under the meat and flip. 

After the meat has browned on both sides (again, cut through a piece if you are concerned about doneness), move the chicken to a clean plate and cover it with foil to keep warm.

You can stop here. 

These sauteed chicken breasts are very tasty just as they are. 

Or you can forge on and make a sauce. 

Today I'm making an orange-rosemary sauce. 

You can modify these steps with many different ingredients to make a wide variety of sauces.  The basic technique stays the same.

Important:  don't scrub out the brown bits of goodness from the bottom of the pan in which you sauteed the chicken!

The little brown bits are the keys to a delicious sauce. 

While the chicken was sauteing, I minced some fresh rosemary leaves.  But feel free to substitute the dried version.  Just use a little less.

Remove the leaves from the tough stem.  Then mince the leaves.


I'm also going to use a shallot. 
This one wasn't particularly lovely (they should be more purple),
but it was all I had on hand.  Kids were sleeping.  You know how it goes.

Peel off the papery skin and slice it thinly.

Use your thumb to "punch" the shallots into pretty little rings.


See all that yumminess on the bottom of the pan?  Mmmmm. 

Toss in the rings.  You might have to add a splash or two of olive oil.

Add liquid for sauce (low-sodium broth, vinegars, wine, etc.). 
I'm adding orange juice here.

Now, while I was fighting with my camera to take that pic of the OJ
(it wouldn't focus!),
some of the shallot slices were burning. 
But I'm not worried about it.

And you shouldn't be, either.

'Cause it's going to happen.

Especially if you have kids in the kitchen with you.

Just roll on. 
Add the OJ.

And two teaspoons of Dijon mustard and the minced rosemary.

Now I'm going to "deglaze" the pan.

Deglazing is just a fancy term for scraping up the browned bits of meat and juice from the bottom and incorporating them into the liquid.

Crank up the heat and start whisking away!
See those bubbles?  You want the sauce to boil in this step. 


Really get into it.  Use the whisk to scrape the bottom of the pan to liberate the brown bits.

Because look what will happen. 

In the picture below, I'm tilting the pan so you can see that all of the brown bits which were previously stuck on the bottom are no longer a clean-up nightmare

They have been incorporated into the sauce.

Add some brown sugar.

This little unassuming fellow may very well be the most important piece
of cooking equipment in your kitchen.

Never underestimate the power of the tasting spoon.

Taste the sauce.  Does it need salt?  More brown sugar?

You're the cook!

You're in charge!

Earlier, before I began sauteing the chicken, I "zested" an orange.

"Zesting" is a means by which you remove the flavorful peeling of citrus fruit without picking up the more bitter pith (the white part).

I LOVE my zester.  I also use it for grating cheese and nutmeg.

Gently run the zester over the orange.  Be sure the orange has been well-washed AND well-dried. 

Moist citrus does not zest well. 
Back to the sauce.

Keep cooking it over medium-high heat until it's thick and bubbly. 
Some of the liquid will evaporate, causing the sauce to "reduce."

Add in the orange zest during the last few minutes of cooking.

(See how the sauce is darker in the picture below?  That's another common element of reduction.)

(TIP:  You should end up with less liquid than what you poured in.  I have found that sauces reduce better when I have dredged the chicken in flour and then use the same skillet for making my sauce.  Flour causes the sauce to thicken.  If the sauce isn't thickening for you, mix a few pinches of cornstarch with a little bit (a teaspoon or two) of water to make a paste.  Whisk the paste into the sauce.  Keep doing it in TINY increments until the sauce thickens.)

Pour sauce over meat...

And serve.

This is so good.


Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Orange-Rosemary Sauce
Serves 3-4

3 boneless chicken breasts, skin removed and sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 cup of flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
1 large shallot, chopped into thin slices and separated into rings
1 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced (or substitute dried rosemary)
2 teaspoons zested orange peel
salt and pepper to taste

To saute the chicken:
Cut chicken breasts in half.  Pound lightly with a mallet and then pat dry with a paper towel.  Mix salt and pepper with the flour.  Place flour mixture on a large plate.  Dredge the meat in the flour (just lightly pat the meat into the flour, coating it on all sides).  Discard flour and set meat aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Carefully sprinkle a drop of water in the oil.  If/when it sizzles, the oil is hot enough. 

Add the chicken to the skillet, being mindful to not crowd the pan.  Saute the chicken in two batches if you need to.  But use the same pan to cook both batches of chicken if you will make the sauce.  

Saute chicken about 3-5 minutes on one side.  Then gently "pry" it up from the pan with a large spatula, flip it, and saute it for another 3-5 minutes.  (Don't flip the chicken too soon.)  If you are concerned that the chicken isn't done, cut into a piece.  Once chicken is done, remove it to a clean plate and cover with foil to keep it warm.

To make the sauce:
Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet.  (DO NOT WASH THE PAN OUT AFTER YOU SAUTE THE CHICKEN.)  Saute the shallot over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it begins to turn brown, about 4-5 minutes. 

To deglaze the pan, pour in the orange juice.  Then add the mustard, brown sugar, and rosemary.  Increase the heat to medium-high and whisk very well, intentionally scraping up the brown bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Cook and whisk for 5-7 minutes or so, until the sauce begins to "reduce" and darken in color.  (It will be thick and bubbly.)  Add in the orange peel and cook for a minute more.  Add salt and pepper to taste (be sure to use that tasting spoon!). 

Pour sauce over chicken breasts and serve. 

Recipe adapted from here.

Linking up to:  Lady Behind the Curtain "Cast Party Wednesday"

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

"Mama Saves the Day" Tomato Sauce

As of last Sunday, we'd been "snowed in" for almost a week.

The contents of my fridge and pantry were swiftly being consumed.

That night I was overcome with an intense desire to make a tomato-based sauce for some chicken breasts.

But I was out of every sort of stewed or diced tomatoes. 

And this is what my driveway looked like:


What's a girl to do? 

My mother's words from childhood, when I was desperately searching for a lost Barbie shoe, rang in my ears: "Ginny, did you look everywhere, really well?"

I had not!

Back in a dark corner of my pantry sat a quiet, humble Ball jar of tomatoes that my mom had canned this summer from her garden.


Mama saved the day!


"Mama Saves the Day" Pasta Sauce
serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, halved
14.5 can tomatoes (stewed, diced, whole, or quartered will do)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Heat oil in skillet.  Saute garlic over medium high heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add tomatoes and juice.  Add spices.  Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes to several hours, depending on how much time you have.  The longer the better.  Stir occasionally.

Of course, you can increase the yield of this recipe and freeze the sauce for future use.