Sound like rock stars, don’t they? That’s because these Three Saucy Babes are culinary rock stars!!! And with not a single “walk of shame” between them! They bring the kind of giddy “sauciness” to my cooking life that I simply can’t live without in my kitchen! Spiciness, sweetness, piquantness, freshness…each one adding their own fascinating and lively taste to the food I serve. And with such great variation! Are you in love yet? You ready to turn them up to 11 and rip off the knob??? (Ha!…my attempt at humor has me cracking myself up.)
Introducing Three Saucy Babes:
Salad Sauce (aka, my go-to salad dressing)
Good Goo-ka-moo-kee Sauce (aka, my favorite BBQ sauce that also doubles as a marinade)
Green Sauce (aka, “Holy Moly that’s awesome sauce”…not to be confused with Chimichurri Sauce)
PART ONE (of a 3 Part Mini Series)
SALAD SAUCE – The “salad sauce” is really a beautiful vinaigrette especially designed for a Greek Salad. I first became obsessed with it after seeing the recipe on the “How Sweet Eats” blog (her post is here) and have made it a staple in my fridge ever since! Hear me loud and clear when I say this is EVERYONE’s favorite salad sauce in my circle of friends and family! I’m always asked about it…by children, adults, parakeets…all walking and talking things really. So make it tonight…and “I told you so!”
There are nine very humbling, very beautiful ingredients in this salad sauce (aka, dressing) that will elevate ANY salad you make from here until eternity. Sure…you’ll wander off and flirt with the Green Goddess Buttermilk Dressing or dance with the Caesar Dressing…but you’ll never make those dressings your “go-to” salad sauce…your main squeeze…and this one, you will…
Salad Sauce Ingredients
Salad Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of one large lemon
3 tbsp. good honey
4 garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed
1 tsp fresh dill weed (it’s ok to use dry dill if you don’t have fresh)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients, except olive oil. Continue to whisk while streaming in the olive oil at the end. I have also been known to pop the ingredients in a bottle and simply shake them up. The salad sauce will be good to go sealed, in the fridge, for a week or so.
Salad Sauce will separate…but no worries! Just stir it or shake it before serving.
Use it with any salad combination your heart desires. I love the simplicity of this one made up of butter lettuce, radishes and shaved white carrots. This salad literally “sings” when combined with my salad sauce! Fresh, crisp, light and full of flavor!!! Think about it? Lemons, garlic, honey, a little vinegar and good oil and spices are the perfect summer playmates for your favorite bouquet of garden greens and veggies. Not to mention how quick and easy it is!
Beautiful and Simple Salad – Undressed
You may recall that I declared this dressing as a staple or “go-to” for me? You might even call it a building block in my kitchen. Almost every salad variation I make like my Orzo Salad (my niece, Cally’s, favorite) or my Shrimp Salad, uses this dressing as its “sauce”. What about grilled veggies mixed with crisp greens and crumbled candied bacon? Marinate the cut grilling vegetables like onions, squash and red peppers in some of the salad sauce before putting them on the hot grill; after grilling, toss them in more sauce and add to the crisp greens and bacon! I do this all summer long!!!! Don’t worry, I’ll share some of these salads recipes, as well as others, in upcoming blog posts…
Up next?…Saucy Babe #2! Good Goo-Ka-Moo-kee Sauce! Your barbecue will never be the same!!!!! This sauce will make sure of that!!!
Cheers everyone!
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My mama makes a MEAN Pork Roast. It’s “slap your mama good”..pardon the pun! My family and I grew up eating her roasts on Sundays and holidays, and the taste always conjures up those memories. Lavish, over-filled plates of roasted meat, rice and gravy and fresh from the garden vegetables or ones pulled from the freezer from last summer’s harvest. It conjures family and community and glorious chit chat that I long to remember and revel in my heart and mind. No matter how many times I make Roasted Pork, it seems I always find myself dialing her number and asking the specifics of her recipe yet one more time. Her tips no doubt change with each call…and that’s probably on purpose, don’t you think? I mean, the magic she’s putting into her roast is her magic…the love and pixie dust she puts into her food is hers alone. That magic is hard to communicate on a recipe card or pinterest board, or even in a phone conversation. But still…I call, I ask, I attempt.
My Roasted Pork is a “riff” on my mama’s roast. She would say, “well, you’ve gone and messed it up” but au contraire! “Mama…wait ’til you get a load of this…and a taste!” ROASTED PORK with WHISKEY PLUM SAUCE . The sauce may change your life! The tanginess of the plums marries so beautifully with the richness of the pork. The faint sweetness of the whiskey is a delicious and unexpected note. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables as you serve or on the side as I have done and then make sure you have nice bread on the table to help clean the plate of all the saucey goodness!
ROASTED PORK WITH WHISKEY PLUM SAUCE
INGREDIENTS:
3 – 4 pound pork butt roast
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Plums, pitted and quartered
1 Large Yellow Onion, quartered
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
Couple Splashes of Worcestershire
1 Tbsp chopped fresh Rosemary
1 lb carrots
6 – 8 Red Potatoes, diced
1 Cup Chicken Stock
All purpose Flour
salt and pepper
1 shot of Whiskey (optional and I used Jack Daniels)
Turn oven to 325 Degrees F.
Place 2 Tbsp EVOO into Dutch Oven. Turn stove top on high and heat oil (watch carefully…don’t burn the oil).
Salt and Pepper your Pork Butt on all sides. Don’t skimp…the roast can take it!
Now sear the meat on all sides. Make sure you end with fatty side up. This way, the fat flows down into the meat while it’s roasting. Juicy!!!
Once the meat is seared, throw in your onion, minced garlic, plum and chopped rosemary… turn heat to med. high.
Now douse with two or three splashes of Worcestershire Sauce over meat, plums and veggies.
Pop into the 325 Degree oven…UNCOVERED. It should look something like this going in…
Walk away and cook for two hours. Your home will be filled with the most delicious aromas.
At the two hour mark, add your carrots and potatoes to the dutch oven. I like to make sure I salt them as I layer the vegetables. I also put a bit of the cooking liquid over the potatoes and carrots before returning to the oven.
Set your timer and cook uncovered, one additional hour. At the end of that time, your pot should look like this…
Turn off oven. Remove the roast, potatoes and all but TWO carrots from the Dutch Oven onto a Serving Platter to rest. Cover lightly with foil.
The broken down bits of heaven that are left in the dutch oven should look like this and you are about to make sauce magic out of them.
Dump this mixture into a blender, reserving 1/4 quarter cup of the liquid drippings and leaving in the dutch oven.
Pulse the roasted veggies and plums until pureed.
Meanwhile, heat the reserved roasting drippings over a medium high heat. Once bubbling, scatter a couple Tbsp flour into the reserved liquid and make a roux. The flour will ball up immediately and at this point you will need to whisk in the chicken stock slowly. Whisk out any lumps as it begins to cook and thicken, about 3 – 4 minutes. It should look like this…
Return the roasted plum and vegetable puree’ back into the pot and cook on medium, stirring to heat through.
Add the shot of whiskey and stir (optional). Wait for the alcohol to cook out, about a minute, and then taste for salt and pepper. Add as needed. You may not need very much, if any, because you layered with salt as you added the vegetables to the roast.
Simmer on low for about five minutes or until ready to serve.
Juicy and flavorful Pork
Comfort Food
Rich and Decadent Sauce
Enjoy this meal anytime but it’s especially great for Sunday Suppers, Holiday Celebrations and Friends and Family Gatherings! And one more thing!!!…Roast Pork leftovers make excellent Pulled Pork Sandwiches later and I will be sharing my crave worthy BBQ Sauce in an upcoming post that you will want to make again and again!
Peach and the Willow 