|
Note: I cook with
tomato juice quite a lot. I found out that commercially canned
tomato sauce and paste give me indigestion, and I don't always
have the time to create my own tomato based sauces. So, I 'invented'
a lighter version using cornstarch and tomato juice for a tomato
'gravy' that is easy and tasty and pretty versatile.
Instant
Tomato Sauce
Heat a little oil in
a small saute pan. Blend 1/2 cup of tomato juice with a little
(2 - 3 teaspoons) of cornstarch. Add to the hot oil and stir.
Add salt and pepper to taste. As it thickens up, blend in more
juice until it's the consistency, texture you need.
If you prepare a flour
gravy, you need to cook it to get the floury taste out of the
gravy or sauce, but cornstarch doesn't impart much flavor and
can be used as soon as the dish reaches the consistency required.
(thin sauce, thick gravy, etc). Vegetable juices, milk, etc, can
be used in place of the tomato juice with equally good results.
(Absolute heaven in my book is the juice from steamed asparagus
turned into a sauce with cornstarch.) Read my mac and cheese recipe
for a great cheese sauce made in this method!
Macaroni
and Cheese Sauce
Bring
2 cups salted water to a boil and add a cup of elbow macaroni,
spirals, or other favorite pasta noodle.
Add a few sprinkles of salt. (not a lot, the cheese is pretty
salty)
Simmer
until the pasta is done, then strain and keep warm while you create
the sauce:
Heat a
few pats of butter or margerine in a small sauce pan or skillet.
Add 2
- 3 teaspoons of cornstarch to 1/2 cup of milk and add to the
butter.
Add (grated)
sharp cheddar cheese, at least 1/2 cup grated.
When the
sauce is thickened and the cheese has melted, I like to add a
piece of a block of cream cheese. (2 - 3 spoonfuls, or, if it's
a solid block, no more than an 'inch x 2 inches' ) Stir until
the cream cheese is warm and melted and well blended. Sour cream
is a nice substitute.
I never
know if I've made enough sauce for the amount of macaroni I made,
so I like to divide the hot macaroni in half and add the sauce
to one half. After it's well blended, and looks like it's 'soupy',
I'll start adding more of the cooked macaroni to the cheese dish
until it's as coated and the consistency I like.
This cheese
sauce is great in a variety of dishes. Cooked ground beef, tossed
in the sauce and rolled in steamed, limp cabbage leaves with more
sauce poured over makes a wonderful last-minute oven dish. Add
your favorite Mexican spices (hot chiles, cilantro, etc) to it
for a great sauce over casserole style (oven baked) burritoes.
Dump in a little hot picante sauce and rewarm in the cheese sauce
and it's a quick and easy cheese dip for nacho chips.
BASIC
NOTE: I encourage everyone to stop shopping the convenience aisles
and go back to the basics for your own recipes. The nutrition
hasn't been processed out of the foods, the length of cooking
time isn't any greater than 'quick n easy box meals', and YOU
DON'T HAVE A BOX OR JAR TO TOSS AWAY! Uh, sorry for shouting,
but check out my other soapbox, the landfill issue. (Backing
into Compost).
Great
Gravy
Butter,
olive oil, or pan drippings
1/4 cup
(or more) flour
1/2 cup
milk (plus more as needed)
salt and
seasonings to taste
If I've
cooked a roast, the drippings left in the pot make sinfully good
gravies. Olive oil works, but combined with flour, it makes a
pretty tasteless gravy, plan to 'perk it up' with lots of other
seasonings.
Heat the
fat (drippings, etc) in a skillet on high heat, or leave in the
pan the meat was braised in and heat that on top of the stove.
When hot,
almost smoking, add the flour and stir to incorporate. This should
instantly congeal into a lump. Add water, milk, whatever liquid
you're using, a few spoonfuls at a time until you have the flour
smoothed out into a paste, it should take over 1/2 a cup.
Note:
If I'm having potatoes with a meat and the gravy, I reserve the
water the potatoes were boiled in for gravy-making. A blend of
milk and this cooking liquid makes a wonderful light gravy.
Cook on
low-med heat, stirring often, and adding more liquid as necessary.
This will
make a cream gravy if you're using milk. I don't make brown gravy,
but when I want a 'brown' look, I add a couple of dashes of Worchestershire
Sauce, Oyster Sauce, etc to the gravy, and cut back on the amount
of salt and other seasonings I add. My friend "Artiz"
has been known to add instant coffee granules for a brown gravy.
I laughed at the notion until I tried her results. It does create
a rich, 'nutty' taste to an otherwise bland gravy.
Text
and images copyright 1998 Martha
Wells
|
