back to basics - salad dressing

Salad dressing is probably one of the first things I started making on my own.  I've never been a huge fan of bottled dressings, thinking they either too heavy or too caloric to be worthwhile.  Eating a salad at a restaurant always tasted better, where the dressing was fresh. However, the dressings you get in restaurants are often incredibly caloric, using a three-to-one ration of oil to vinegar/acid. I prefer a more acidic dressing, or diluting the sharp vinegar tones with something like honey to make the dressing more well-rounded, instead of doubling or tripling the amount of olive oil involved. Once you start making your own dressing, you'll be amazed at how easy it is, and how your salads start tasting better.

Lemon Vinaigrette
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp honey/agave

Combine the lemon juice, salt, pepper and honey in a small bowl.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil. That's it!

You can do endless variations - substitute the lemon juice for any sort of vinegar (balsamic, red wine, apple cider, sherry). You can also add in 1 tsp of mustard to the vinaigrette to give it a little more of a bit and make it a little heartier.  The salt here is very important - without putting enough salt in your dressing your entire salad will be lacking in flavor.  After you're done combining the ingredients, make sure you taste the dressing. If you think it's too sharp, you can add more olive oil or add a bit more honey to mellow out the flavors. Whichever flavor you chose, all you need to do each time is do two parts acid to one part extra virgin olive oil to make a healthy, bright dressing for whatever you chose to put it over.

Note: the lemon vinaigrette above also works great over seafood, such as steamed or roasted fish, or on roasted chicken to add a punch of flavor. 

back to basics - perfect pesto

Another basic recipie that can be changed to suit your day to day tastes is pesto.  Everyone loves the classic pesto - basil, parmigiana cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil, but there are many variations you can make using the same basic recipe. All you need for a pesto is some sort of green, some sort of nut, cheese, and olive oil.

This week for a vegetarian "meatball" recipe we made a watercress pesto - and by we, I mean Steve.  It was incredibly simple and tasted amazing - a nice variation on the regular basil pesto that we've all used before.

Chunky Watercress Pesto
One bunch watercress
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
salt/pepper
olive oil - about 1/4 cup
1/4 cup parmigiana cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions: Thoroughly wash the watercress and spin dry.  Place the watercress and toasted walnuts in a food processor and let them go until completely combined and chopped up finely.  While the food processor is on, slowly stream in the olive oil.  The 1/4 cup is just an approximation on how much to use. I don't like to add too much oil to my pesto in an effort to keep it healthier. The pesto should be completely combined but still pretty thick at this point.  Add in salt and pepper to taste and the cheese - pulse to combine.  Add in the lemon juice and let it puree a second to thin it out a bit.

We used the pesto in its thicker form, on top of lentil meatballs. If you want the sauce thinner you can add more olive oil or thin it out with water or chicken stock. If you are using this for pasta, toss the pasta in the thick pesto, and then slowly add pasta water to the mixture until the sauce is your desired thickness.

Variations
Substitute the following for watercress to make a pesto: basil, spinach, mint, arugula, or any light green that you like - use about 2 cups worth of either of these greens (or a combination, like spinach basil), and use 1/4 cup of some sort of toasted nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, slivered almonds).  Follow the directions above to complete the pesto.

versatility

I like making things that have multiple uses - that way once you learn one recipe you can use it in many different ways.  This weekend I made tomatillo sauce to use in a  mexican type lasagna.  The tomatillo sauce is my go-to green sauce to use whenever I make enchiladas or need a quick different salsa.  It's cheap, easy to make ahead, and freezes well - all good things in my book.  In this recipe I call for one jalapeño with the seeds and ribs removed, but use more or less depending on how spicy you like your food.

Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
2 lbs tomatillos, husks removed, washed and either cut in half or quartered depending on size
1 jalapeño, cut in half and seeds removed
4 cloves garlic
1 medium sized onion, peeled and quartered
2 limes, cut in half
1/2 bunch cilantro

Directions
Heat the oven to 425 degrees
Place the tomatillos, jalapeño, garlic, onion, and two lime halves on a roasting sheet.  Toss everything with olive oil, salt and pepper
Roast until the tomatillos start to break down and the vegetables start to caramelize, about half an hour depending on your oven.

Let all the veggies cool.  Place all the veggies in a blender or food processor.  It will look like this:

Squeeze the roasted lime into the blender.  Squeeze the fresh lime into the blender and add the cilantro in there as well.  Puree everything until completely mixed together and the sauce is somewhat smooth (note - if you are planning on using this as a salsa you can mix it to however chunky you want the salsa - if you're using it as a sauce puree it completely).  Taste for salt and pepper and add as necessary. If using as salsa cool completely and then serve with chips- if using as a sauce either cool or use warm.

A note about spiciness...when I made this sauce this weekend I accidentally made it WAY too spicy (unfortunately this was not my first time messing up and making something incredibly spicy by accident).  I initially added one whole jalapeño and one seeded jalapeño to the sauce. It was ridiculously spicy.   If you make thves sauce too spicy, all you need to do is add more ingredients to bulk up the sauce. If you have extra tomatillos, cut them up and put them in the blender, adding enough until the spice level is what you want.  I didn't have any extra tomatillos, so I used a few cut up roma tomatoes and added some extra lime juice to tone down the heat. A smarter person would start with a little heat and then add more if necessary since that's much easier, but that's not always me....

back to basics - tomato sauce

There are a few things that every home chef needs to know how to make.  I will be starting a variety of "back to basics" posts on these basic recipes everyone should know how to make.  Tomato sauce is the first of these.

When I started cooking more, one of the first things I started making on my own was tomato sauce.  I have never really liked jarred tomato sauces - I've always found them too sweet, too caloric, and just not tasty.  The only jarred sauces I like tend to be the most expensive ones, and that's not helpful for someone who is trying to save money.  So I started making sauce and haven't bought a jar since then. Here's the recipe - whats great about it is that this is a base recipe that you can alter and change depending on what type of sauce you want.

Basic Tomato Sauce
1 can of whole tomatoes in puree, or 1 can of tomato puree
1/2 large onion, cut in a small dice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
salt/pepper
1 tsp dried thyme, basil, and/or oregano

Instructions
Saute the onion in a sauce pan in about 2 tbsp olive oil until its translucent. Add the garlic and sauté one minute until its fragrant, but be careful not to burn it.

Add the tomato paste and sauté 1-2 minutes to let the flavor develop.  Add whatever dried herbs you are using and mix through.  Add the can of whole tomatoes or tomato puree. If using whole tomatoes, break them up with your spoon (or a potato masher) carefully after adding into the pan (be careful because they will splatter).  Add about 2 tsps salt and 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper to the sauce and bring it up to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and partially cover the pan, letting it simmer for about 1 hour.

Variations
This recipe is easily doubled or tripled - I usually make a large batch of sauce and then freeze whatever I don't use right away in small containers in the freezer. Once you have this down, you can switch it around for whatever type of sauce you want.  For a basic tomato sauce, if you have fresh herbs use them instead of dried.  If using fresh herbs, use one tablespoon instead of one teaspoon of them. Fresh thyme or oregano can go in in the beginning of the cooking.  Fresh basil should be added towards the end so it stays fresh.  If adding fresh basil you can add as much as you want - pretty much you can never have too much fresh basil.

Tomato Basil Sauce - basic tomato sauce with about 1/2 cup of fresh basil added in the end.
Arribiata Sauce - a spicy italian tomato sauce - add about 1-2 tbsp red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you want the sauce) in the beginning of the cooking process after adding the tomato paste.
Creamy Tomato Sauce - add 1/4 cup cream to the basic sauce and puree the entire sauce.  Once the cream is added be careful not to bring the sauce up to a boil or else the cream might separate.
Vodka Sauce - add about 2 tbsp of vodka to the sauce before bringing it to a boil. Once the sauce simmers for about an hour, add 1/4 cup cream and then puree the sauce.
Meat Sauce - start the sauce by browning your meat of choice ( I use either 1/2 pound of sauce out of the casings, ground beef or ground turkey).  Once the meat is browned and cooked through follow the basic sauce recipe.

The possibilities are endless for whatever you want to do with a basic tomato sauce recipe.  So go throw out those old cans of Ragu and start making your own sauce. It makes a huge difference in your cooking, and it's easy to make. Enjoy!