Sauce Recipes

Arugula Pesto
We have a 3 ft by 6 ft patch of arugula growing in our garden and for the last two months I've been looking for ways to make use of it. By the way, arugula (a.k.a. rocket) grows like a...
Asparagus Pesto with Pasta
I recently got together with Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks to try out one of the recipes from her new cookbook, Super Natural Cooking. The recipe we selected is perfect for spring, a pesto made with blanched asparagus, baby spinach...
Basic Tomato Sauce
A good tomato sauce is the foundation for so many wonderful dishes - pizza, pasta, chicken, and fish. Here is a recipe for a basic tomato sauce that starts with a soffritto of onions, carrots, and celery cooked in a...
Bolognese Meat Sauce
This Bolognese sauce is a family recipe of one of our readers and is used in our Lasagna Bolognese recipe. Slow cooked for at least a couple of hours, the sauce is deep, rich, flavorful and worth the extra effort.
Caramel Sauce
Making your own caramel sauce from scratch is a lot easier than you might think, and it takes practically no time at all. This recipe comes from my friend Suzanne who is a baking genius. I've watched her make caramel...
Cilantro Lime Herb Butter
An herbed butter is a great way to dress up corn-on-the-cob, veggies of all kinds, chicken, fish, prawns, pork, steak, you name it. Here's an herb butter recipe, Southwestern style, with cilantro and lime. Do you ever make herbed butters...
Cilantro Pesto
I have, over the years, attempted to grow cilantro several times. Each time the plants bolted before I got much use out of them. This year I planted a bunch of seed in October, when the scorching Sacramento summer weather...
Cranberry Relish
This is a great cranberry relish for all turkey dishes and turkey sandwiches, and a tasty alternative to a more traditional cranberry sauce. The relish consists of raw cranberries, apples, and an orange, all put through a grinder with sugar...
Cranberry Sauce
My father loves cranberry sauce. I think he enjoys turkey during the holiday season just as an excuse to eat more cranberry sauce. He stocks up on fresh cranberries when they are in season in the fall, and freezes them...
Fresh Basil Pesto
Every year we plant basil and every year the plants do so well that we can't use it up fast enough. What to do? Basil pesto, of course! Here is a simple recipe. Note that pesto is always made to...
Horseradish Sauce
I grew up with horseradish, sometimes called "German mustard", as a common accompaniment to steak and pork dishes. With dad's German heritage, no wonder there was always a jar of it in the house. These days I suspect many people...
How to Make Butterscotch
Please welcome guest author pastry chef Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater who shares with us the (almost) lost art of making butterscotch. ~Elise When was the last time you tasted authentic butterscotch? Flavor, sauce, memory, aroma, era: butterscotch was an...
Lemon-Garlic Butter Sauce for Seafood
A few weeks ago I spent a morning with Chef David Lamonica of Scott's Seafood in Folsom, California, learning all about preparing seafood and sauces that work well with seafood. Of everything we prepared that morning, simple pan fried haddock...
Mexican Red Chili Sauce
Red chili sauces are used in many Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes, such as red chile enchiladas or tamales. On doing research for this post I found references to many different ways of making red chile sauce; in Mexico alone there...
Orange Beurre Blanc Sauce for Seafood
Beurre Blanc is a French sauce ("white butter") based on a reduction of shallots and an acid such as vinegar, citrus juice, or wine, mixed in with cold butter. Its creamy tanginess works well with mild fish such as trout...
Pomegranate Molasses
Liquid rubies Ever since Pom Wonderful started marketing the health benefits of pomegranate juice, and selling them in those cool pom shaped bottles, more and more recipes calling for pomegranate molasses have been popping up. Pomegranate molasses is a traditional...
Spicy Cranberry Sauce with Pinot Noir
Here is a delightful spin on a fall favorite - cranberry sauce. The cranberries are cooked in Pinot Noir and spiced with curry, ginger, fennel seeds, and other spices. Simply Recipes reader John Klem passed this Epicurious recipe on to...