Horseradish Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
- 1/2 cup prepared horseradish
- 2 tablespoons chives
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Kosher salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk heavy cream until thickened, but not yet at soft peaks.
- Fold in crème fraîche, horseradish, chives, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
- Refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes before using, or transfer to airtight container and refrigerate up to 2 weeks
Mayonnaise
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 1¼ cup olive oil not extra virgin
- ½ tsp mustard seed
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Place ¼ cup of oil in a food processor, and add the egg, ground mustard, and salt.
- Process thoroughly, for about 30 seconds, until combined and pale yellow in color.
- With the blender running, slowly drizzle in the remaining oil until the mixture is emulsified and thick. Adding the oil slowly makes for a creamier mayonnaise. The total pouring time to aim for should be 60-90 seconds.
- With the food processor still running, add the lemon juice, and mix briefly, for only about 5-10 seconds, until incorporated.
- The mayonnaise is now ready to be used.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
*Try to remember to pull an egg out an hour or two before making the recipe. If you forget, you can put the egg in a glass of warm water for about 10 minutes instead.
**You can use any neutral oil you’d like here. I like a light olive oil as my first choice, as well as sunflower oil. Avocado oil is trendy because it’s healthy, but I find the taste to be terrible and don’t recommend it. Make sure not to use extra virgin olive oil here, because it will make the mayonnaise bitter and the flavor is too strong.
This makes about 1.5 to 1.75 cups of mayonnaise.
Real Ketchup
Ingredients
- 2 cans whole peeled plum tomatoes 28 ounces each, or 3 pounds fresh Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 medium yellow onioin cut into chunks
- 2 garlic gloves peeled and left whole
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar or less, as desired
- 1 stick cinnamon 2-to 3-inch
- 2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon whole cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
- 6 black peppercorns
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to your taste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Put half the tomatoes and their juices in a blender.
- Add onion and garlic and blend until smooth.
- Pour mixture through a fine strainer, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon.
- Discard solids. Repeat with remaining tomatoes.
- In a large pot over medium-low heat, bring tomato mixture to a simmer. Lower heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is reduced by half and is beginning to thicken, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, celery seeds, peppercorns, dry mustard, cayenne and salt to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar, turn off the heat, and let it sit while the tomatoes continue to reduce. When tomatoes are reduced by half, strain the spice-infused vinegar into the tomatoes, discarding the spices. Continue to simmer the ketchup, stirring often, until thick, 20 to 30 minutes (or more if necessary). Taste for salt and spice, and adjust to your liking.
- Cool before transferring to a covered jar and placing in the refrigerator. The ketchup will keep 2 to 3 months.
Notes
Note: If fresh tomatoes are used, the ketchup will take about 2 hours to reduce and thicken, will have a final yield of about 2 1/4 cups, and will be slightly less smooth than commercial ketchup.
• Critical steps: Not burning the ketchup. There is a lot of occasional stirring in this recipe, so don’t think you can set it and forget it. Keep a watchful eye as you’re putzing around the house. There’s nothing worse than discovering your whole batch is ruined because you got sucked into a movie.
• Comparison to its commercial counterpart: Homemade ketchup is delicious. After nearly two hours of simmering, I figured I’d be left with a bland tomato purée. Not so. Mine was packed with flavor that rivaled the most popular ketchup brands on the market (except I think mine was better because of the freshness). It is slightly sweet, so if you’re worried about sugar intake, try using only a tablespoon or two instead of 1/4 cup. It also has a bit of heat from the cayenne. The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, but I highly recommend using 1/4 teaspoon and adding more if needed. Unless you’re serving this only to adults, it’s best not to pack on the heat. Consistency-wise, homemade ketchup has the same smooth texture as commercial ketchup.
• Is it worth it? Definitely. Keep this recipe in your arsenal when you have a bumper crop of tomatoes to use up. Because tomatoes aren’t in season now, I used the canned variety and was thrilled with the results.
• Other notes: One way that commercial beats homemade is the shelf life. Although you can have a store-bought brand in your fridge for a year or more, making it yourself decreases that time to two to three months. But with grilling season upon us, and if your ketchup habits are anything like mine, you’ll have no problem consuming this way before then.
Tartare Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 small clove garlic very finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh onions
- 1/4 cup of chopped onion greens or chives
- 2 tablespoons piccalilli or chopped pickles
- 2 tablespoons chopped stuffed green olives
- 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice
Instructions
- Cream 1 cup of mayonnaise with a wooden spoon, and add to it the following ingredients to form proper consistency. If desired, one tablespoon of granulated sugar may be added.
Notes
A 1/2 teaspoon fresh French Tarragon, finely minced, adds a unique flavor, so we always add this extra tough whenever this fresh herb is in season.
Tartar Sauce
Servings: 2 cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup Mayonnaise or Salad Dressing
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 large Dill Pickle cut into pieces
- 1/4 small Onion
- 1 large Egg hard boiled, quartered
- 1 Tbsp Capers drained
- 1 tsp Chives snipped
Instructions
- Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until chopped. Chill. Serve tartar sauce with your favorite fish.
Lemon Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp Dill Pickle finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp Green Onion finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Peel freshly grated
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Keep covered in refrigerator at least 4-6 hours before serving.
Traditional Tartar Sauce
This very traditional tartar sauce is better after resting a day or two in the refrigerator, giving the flavors a chance to meld.
Servings: 2 cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons minced shallot or onion
- 2 tablespoons minced dill pickle
- 2 tablespoons sweet relish
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons drained capers
- 1/8 teaspoon hot sauce such as Tabasco
Instructions
- In medium bowl, whisk all ingredients to blend. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Dip can be made in advance and refrigerated, covered, up to 2 days. If it gives off some liquid, carefully drain before serving.
Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe
Servings: 1 cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1 teaspoon capers chopped
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons chopped shallots
- 2 Tbsp chopped scallions
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 6 drops Tabasco sauce or more to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
Olive Spread
Ingredients
- 1½ cup green and black olives (8 ea)
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- ¼ cup chopped pecans (about 15 halves)
- dash pepper
- dash garlic powder
- 1 T olive juice
Instructions
- Process in small food processor
- Chill tightly covered for 24 to 48 hours
- Serve with crackers
Olive nut spread
Ingredients
- 8 oz . cream cheese soft
- 1/2 c real mayo
- 1/2 c chopped walnuts
- 1 c chopped green olives
- 2 T olive juice
- dash of pepper
Instructions
- Mix well and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving
- Serve with crackers
Notes
September 2014
Tapenade
Use on Bread, crackers or boiled potatoes
Ingredients
First:
- 1½ cups Kalamata olives
- ½ cup salted black olives
- several anchovies
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- ½ cup pine nuts ground up in food processor
Second:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Give first ingredients 15 pulses in food processor
- Let sit a while to blend flavors
Notes
November 2016