A selection of sauces that I use for a lot of the recipes and can be used in a variety of different dishes. I tend to use a hand blender for most of the sauces. It is a good idea to make up a larger quantity of the sauce you may use for a recipe. If you save it in the fridge, you can then use it in different ways throughout the week, therefore saving on time, but still being able to have interesting food all week.
Mushroom Sauce
This was a quick and easy sauce I made for a roast dinner. Mainly because I had to use up some cream and I don’t like wasting anything! I used a selection of mushrooms so that the flavour was really good. Just a little garlic, salt and pepper, mushrooms, thyme and cream. Sorted!
- About 10 mushrooms
- 3 garlic cloves
- 50ml lactose free cream
- Some dried or fresh thyme
1. Chop and fry the garlic for a couple of minutes, add the chopped mushrooms and cook down for a few minutes.
2. Once the mushrooms have cooked down, add the cream and thyme and cook for a few minutes more.
3. Blend the mixture down. Serve as an alternative to gravy, a dipping sauce or use tossed through pasta.
Wild Garlic Pesto
So for this you have to go foraging! It grows everywhere in March and August, near forests or rivers and you can smell it before you see it.
For this pesto I have used Wild garlic leaves, olive oil, flaked almonds, dash salt, blend and use
Olive Tepenade
Black or Green olives, sun dried tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. Blend together
Vegan Pesto
Basil, olive oil, cashew nuts. Blend together
White Sauce
This is a basic sauce can be used for herb sauce, cheese sauce and several other sauces and it works well with GF flour.
- 2 tbsps Gf flour
- 2 tbsps lactose free Margarine
- Lactose free milk
To make a roux, melt the margarine, add the flour. Take off the heat and mix. Put back onto the heat and add the milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly until the sauce becomes thicker.
Add grated cheese if making into a cheese sauce. Or you can fry off garlic at the beginning and make it into a garlic and herb sauce.
Arrabbiata Sauce
- Tin tomatoes
- Basil
- Chilli flakes
- Garlic
- Onion
Such a simple and versatile sauce, fry off garlic, onion and chilli flakes. Add tomatoes and tin water, add basil and cook off for about 30 minutes.
Red Pepper (capsicum) Tapenade
So you can use this as a spread on toast, or I use it as a pesto.
- 6 Sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 Roasted red capsicum
- Handful almond and hazelnuts
- Olive oil
- Smoked Paprika
- 30ml Sherry vinegar or lemon juice
- 3 Garlic
- Red chilli flakes
- tomato paste
Slice and Roast off the red capsicum, cover with a little oil and 2 tsp smoked paprika.
Let the capsicum cool and remove the skin.
Add all the remaining ingredients into a jug and blend down. I add a little oil at a time until it’s a consistency that is not too thick.
Tahini Dressing
Great quick dressing that can be kept in the fridge and used on salads, or even used as a marinade.
- 2 tsp tahini
- 60ml olive oil
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1/2 lemon squeezed
- Mixed herbs, I used curly parsley and basil
Blend all ingredients together and put in the fridge and use when needed.
Lemon curd
I think it’s literally my favourite. I love lemon curd in everything!! I am so pleased that I am now able to make it, with vegan butter. Wow it tastes so good. Ok I know it is still not vegan, as it has eggs, but it is at least gluten free.
Such a simple recipe and you can halve it if you feel that you only want a small quantity. This made a full jar and a plastic tubs worth! I needed it for cupcakes and wanted some in my fridge for every day as well!
- 4 lemons
- 6 eggs
- 300g sugar
- 110g unsalted vegan butter
1. Squeeze lemons for the juice and zest.
2. Add all ingredients apart from butter into bowl over saucepan of boiling water
3. Whisk continuously for approximately 10-15 minutes or if you have a thermometer to 75 degrees. This is the only hard bit as it gives you arm ache!!
4. Once thickened, take off heat and melt in the butter to emulsify.
5. Then put through a sieve to remove pulp from the zest and then pour into a jar with seal proof lid. Store in fridge for up to 10 days.
Lemon and Mustard Dressing
I am using this dressing all the time. Simple quick and livens up any salad. Fresh burst of vitamin C with a lemon zesty flavour and mustard kick.
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp English mustard
- Tsp honey
- 1 clove garlic crushed
1. Simply put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together. As I do not have a crusher, I thinly chopped the garlic. Ensure you season with salt and pepper.
BBQ Sauce
This is my favourite sauce of the moment, I have to be careful not to make too much, otherwise I just want to coat everything in it! I have tried to reduce the sugar a little in this recipe, as when doing my research a lot use treacle and a lot more sugar. This worked well though, and goes great with the roasted cauliflower.
- dessert spoon 2 red wine vinegar
- dessert spoon 2 Brown Sugar
- dessert spoon Honey
- dessert spoon sunflower oil
- dessert spoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp english mustard
- tsp smoked paprika
Mix all together and season with salt and pepper.
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