Sauces can make the simple sublime. Whether they’re sweet or savoury, basic or complex, based on butter, oil or purée, they dress our meat and vegetables to create a memorable dish. Here are my favourite sauce recipes.
Profiteroles with Chocolate Sauce Choux pastry seems daunting until you make it and realise just how easy it is. It can be used for a whole range of sweet and savoury recipes, but classic profiteroles with chocolate sauce is my favourite. Profiteroles can be filled with whipped cream or custard, but it’s hard to beat […]
Vitello Tonnato This elegant Italian version of surf and turf hails from the north-western region of Piedmont. It is delicious, though when prepared correctly not particularly attractive, and its English description of ‘poached veal in tuna mayonnaise’ doesn’t do it justice at all! You have to wonder why anyone would want their veal to taste […]
Chicken Kiev I love this retro dish of deep-fried chicken breast wrapped around garlicky herb butter – it looks so impressive, but is really quite easy if you follow the recipe step-by-step. I use chives, parsley and tarragon because that’s what’s in the herb patch, but any combination of herbs works well. The traditional chicken […]
Satay Chicken Some of my favourite memories from trips to Malaysia and Indonesia are of eating satay chicken skewers from street stalls – I tried all sorts of complicated recipes at home to recreate the flavour without success. Then I came across Ayam satay sauce – made in Malaysia from peanuts, coconut milk, lots of […]
Steak with Green Peppercorn Hollandaise I was served steak with green peppercorn hollandaise at the comfortable Kilchoan Hotel on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula on Scotland’s west coast. A simple hollandaise with pickled green peppercorns is such an easy way to dress up a steak with what’s in the fridge and pantry, that I told the chef […]
Sticky Date Pudding Also called sticky toffee pudding, this dessert is pure comfort food and, assuming you keep a packet of dates in the pantry, is quick and easy to whip up without any special shopping. The Grand Marnier in the sauce isn’t traditional, but I like the hint of orange that it adds, of […]
Entrecôte Café de Paris A compound butter is one of the easiest ways to to turn a piece of meat into a meal. It can be as simple as anchovies, garlic or fresh herbs mixed through butter, or as complex as the most famous version: Café de Paris. This butter was created in the early […]
Beef Tagliata with Salsa Verde In Italy, steak is usually sliced into strips – bistecca tagliata (tagliata meaning ‘cut’) – which looks much more appealing than a big slab of meat on the plate. It’s often served with a salad of rocket and shaved parmesan but any salad works well (as does the delicious pan-fried […]
