Korean BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

2–3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 inch ginger, grated 

1/3 c. gochujang

1/4 c. mirin

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 tbsp. sesame oil

1 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp. fish sauce – optional but it really brings it together

1 tbsp. avocado oil

Directions

Over a low simmer, add the avocado oil, garlic and ginger and cook long enough to soften, no more than 2 minutes. Next, add the remaining ingredients and let simmer over low heat for 10 minutes to combine. Remove from heat until ready to use. 

Sesame Miso Tahini Dressing

Ingredients
1/4 c. tahini
1/4 c. water
1 tbsp. miso
1 tbsp. sugar or agave
1 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar
1 clove garlic
fresh parsley, as garnish

Directions
Place all ingredients except parsley in high speed blender, and blend until smooth. 

Use as dressing for salad, wraps or veggies. 

Simple Tahini Sauce

Ingredients

2 c. high quality tahini

3/4 c. lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1 head of garlic

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. ice water

Directions

Break apart the garlic cloves, putting the cloves into a high powered blender, including paper skins. Add lemon juice and blend for a few minutes until you have a coarse paste. Let sit for 10 minutes so the garlic can mellow a bit. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a large mixing bowl and press the mixture into the sieve until you've extracted as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. Add cumin and salt. Whisk in the tahini until smooth; the sauce will lighten in color. Whenever the tahini seizes up or tightens, add ice water bit by bit, whisking energetically until you have a perfectly smooth, creamy, thick sauce.

Makes 2 1/2 cups of tahini sauce to be used as an ingredient in hummus or baba ghanoush. 

1 cup = 724 calories

Ricotta Fritters with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
For the sauce:
25 g. dried porcini mushrooms
1 dried red chilli
2 cloves of garlic
700 g. passata (tomato puree)
8 black olives (stone in)
½ bunch of fresh basil

For the fritters:
1 large free-range egg
400 g. ricotta cheese
1 whole nutmeg, for grating
1 lemon
40 g. Parmesan cheese
1 heaped tbsp. plain flour
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Directions
Put the porcini into a mug and cover with boiling water. Crack the egg into a mixing bowl, add the ricotta, finely grate in ¼ of the nutmeg, the lemon zest and Parmesan, add the flour, then beat together. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the frying pan, then use a tablespoon to spoon in 8 large dollops of the mixture, turning carefully when nice and golden.

Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the casserole pan, crumble in the dried chili, and squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher. Finely chop and add the porcini with half their soaking water and the passata, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Squash and add the olives, discarding the stones. Pick and reserve a few basil leaves, then chop the rest and add to the sauce.

Place the fritters on top of the sauce, then scatter over the reserved basil leaves, drizzle with balsamic and serve with lemon wedges

Serves 4.

Basic Chunky Tomato Sauce (for canning)

Ingredients

2 pecks canning tomatoes (15 lb. each)

8 c. onions, chopped

24 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 bulbs)

6 c. red wine

fresh basil, chopped

fresh parsley, chopped

2 tbsp. pickling salt

4 tsp. brown sugar

6 little cans tomato paste

Directions

Blanch, peel, core, and chop tomatoes. Add tomatoes and all other ingredients to the pot, and simmer for many hours. If you get impatient, add more paste. Otherwise, cook down sauce to desired consistency. Process 40 minutes in a hot water bath, 20 minutes in a pressure canner. 

Peeling and dicing will take an hour per person. All other preparations take about an hour.  

Savory Chocolate Barbeque Sauce

Some of you may have heard the rumor that I participated in a chocolate cookoff with Sky's family... this dark, intensely flavorful sauce won 1st place in three categories! While I served it over pork tenderloin, I'm anxiously anticipating some very special chicken wings to follow!

Ingredients
1 tbsp. butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ Spanish onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced small
1 ½ oz. dark brown sugar
3 tsp. chili powder
4 oz. apple cider vinegar
8 oz. of basic BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s)
14 oz. vegetable stock
¼ tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
2 oz. very dark chocolate (I used 1/3 of a bar of Lindt’s 70% cocoa)
2 tbsp. fresh, chopped cilantro
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. fresh, ground pepper

Directions
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and sauté until golden brown (or if you get impatient, translucent and starting to brown). Add tomatoes, stir, and sauté an additional five minutes. Add sugar and chili powder, mix well, and cook for five minutes. Add vinegar and reduce (on medium-high) for five minutes. By this point, the mixture should have a thicker, pasty consistency. Add BBQ sauce, stock, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper. Mix well. Bring to a boil and reduce to a slow simmer for 30 minutes. Add chocolate and cilantro and then allow to simmer for an additional five minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes to cool. At this point, you may choose to puree the sauce, but I like it better with the chunks of tomato and onion, etc.

Transfer to a clean container and cool. For best results, allow to refrigerate 12 hours before using.