VEGETABLE, CHILE, AND NUT SAUCES

THE RECIPES IN THIS CHAPTER ARE UNITED BY A MARRIAGE OF CONVE-

NIENCE RATHER THAN A DEEP AFFINITY OF TECHNIQUE OR INGREDIENT.

The sauces are similar in that they are purées (for the most part) of vegetables,

chiles (which are vegetables), and nuts, and some of the sauces use vegetables,

chiles, and nuts together, so it made sense to corral them all here, even though

they have distinct and varied personalities. Many of these sauces have roots in

cuisines from around the world, though they are not meant to be authentic ver-

sions of anything other than authentic to the way I cook at home. And they only

scratch the surface of the countless sauces that cooks in other parts of the world

make every day.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THIS SAUCE?

Most of these sauces are made by simply cooking the main ingredient until soft,

pureeing it, and then seasoning it (you’ll see that not all are cooked, or puréed, but

most are). The question the cook needs to ask when making these sauces is how

to capture enough depth of flavor so they become sauces and not simply purées.

One answer comes with a little help from our usual friends: flavorful oils, vinegars,

spices, and aromatics such as garlic and herbs. Each of the sauces in this chapter

benefits from another ingredient that is an accent, counterpoint, or underpinning

for the flavor of the primary ingredient in the sauce: fruity extra-virgin olive oil

blended with nuts in the walnut sauce or the reduced balsamic vinegar that gives

nerve to the butternut squash sauce.

Another key is cooking the main ingredient enough so that its flavor and texture are

more concentrated than they were in the ingredient’s original state, ensuring the

sauce delivers the necessary flavor punch. Finally, it’s critical to control the texture

of these sauces. The primary ingredients have seeds and skins and fibers and

chunks and other textural elements that you need to wrangle.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG AND HOW CAN I FIX IT?

These sauces are dependent on texture, whether fluid and flowing or thicker and

“dollopy,” and that ideal texture can be elusive, given the variation in the consis-

tency of your main ingredients. The methods for most of these sauces are straight-

forward: puréeing and straining. Although these techniques are seemingly simple,

how you execute them can make or break your sauce.

You can purée your sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor, pass them

through a food mill, or, if very soft, push them through a sieve. The French use a

sieve designed specifically for this purpose called a tamis (pronounced tah MEE),

which is also known as a drum sieve. (I bought one during cooking school, but

after a few years, I realized that I was only using it as a steamer basket, so I sold it

at a yard sale.)

THE BLENDER will give you the best consistency. But, as I’ve noted elsewhere, I

think a blender can be a pain to use and clean, so I use it only with large quantities.

The trick, however, is to begin by puréeing only the solids, adding any liquid ingre-

dients once you have a thick purée. That way, the blades are more efficient and you

don’t end up with solid bits floating in liquid that sometimes just bounce around

and never become thoroughly pulverized. Do stop the blender as needed and

scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, being careful not to push so far down

that the spatula snags on the blades (one of the reasons I hate blenders).

A FOOD PROCESSOR is a good choice if the main ingredient you are puréeing is

quite soft. If the vegetables or chile is undercooked, the processor doesn’t always

do the best job of eliminating the graininess. You also need to scrape down the

sides of a food processor midwhirl, but that’s simple enough to do. A mixture with

a lot of liquid can be trouble, however, because of the hole in the center of the pro-

cessor bowl.

A FOOD MILL is a good old-fashioned piece of equipment that is fantastic for

puréeing potatoes, celery root, and other fall-apart starchy vegetables and is also

brilliant at separating out skins and seeds. So while the bell pepper skins in the

Smoky Red Pepper Coulis are puréed along with the flesh of the peppers if you use

a blender or food processor, most of the skins will be strained out if you use a

food mill. This results in a silkier sauce, though some volume is lost.

This leads me to the issue of straining. I’m all for leaving things natural if the flavor

is satisfactory. But with a sauce, straining is often worth the extra effort. Not only

does it remove distracting bits of cellulose, but it also aerates the sauce, adding

just a hint more creaminess to the feeling on your tongue.

To strain, I use a fine-mesh sieve that is 7 inches/17 centimeters in diameter and

has a long handle on one side and a small loop on the other, which allows me to

secure the sieve over a bowl or saucepan as I work the contents through the mesh.

The best way to do that is with a rubber spatula, though a wide wooden spoon is

good, too. One of my prize kitchen tools is an unassuming white plastic card that I

bought in Paris, curved on one side and straight on the opposite side. It’s called a

racle-tout, or “scrape-all,” and it’s excellent for scraping out the last bit of batter

from a bowl and for forcing a mixture through a sieve and scraping off the purée

that clings to the underside. You’ll find a few different versions of this handy tool at

cookware stores. The one I like is made by Matfer.

HOW MUCH SAUCE PER SERVING?

The sauces are so diverse in this chapter that the serving sizes vary from a couple

of tablespoons for something like the Butternut Squash and Apple Cider Sauce to

¹/2 cup/120 milliliters for the red chiles sauce when used in the Simple and Deli-

cious Enchiladas.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Almost all of these sauces are pureed, which is best accomplished by using a food

processor or blender. I prefer the processor unless the sauce is very liquidy, in

which case the blender is best. A fine-mesh sieve lets you give your sauces a satiny

texture.

STORAGE

Most of these sauces need to be eaten within a few days, so it’s good to have a

plan in mind when you make them. The Roasted Green Chile and Tomatillo Sauce

with Avocado is an exception—no need to plan, because it’s so good that you can

put it on everything.