Olive Basil Sauce

OK - I found this recipe about 20 years ago in one of my Bon Appetit magazines and it was from a really cute column called, "Honey I Forgot The Guests." As with many people this couple would invite guests to their home for a dinner party only to realize that they had this bad habit of leaving the menu and the shopping until the very last minute. So what was the secret to ending this madness? Making lots and lots of multipurpose sauces they could defrost and toss into pasta, over ice cream, in an omelette, you name it. Quite a charming idea actually. I'll post their second sauce, Apricot-Orange too.

Olive-Basil Sauce (makes 1 1/4 cups): 1 cup of pittled Kalamata olives, 1 cup of fresh basil leaves, 3/4 cup of toasted walnuts, 1 large garlic clove, 1 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. of dry mustard, 1/4 cup of olive oil.

Blend first 6 ingredients into a processor to course the puree. With the machine running gradually add oil through feed tube. Season with pepper (can be prepared 2 weeks ahead. Refrigerate or freeze.)

Uses? Toss into pasta, smear in an omelette, dollop over grilled fish or meat, or spread on baguette.

White Cheese Sauce with Rosemary Sprigs

Last night I made ham steaks and cauliflower for dinner. It so reminded me of the kind of dinner my Grandma used to cook up - simple, traditional, economical, and delicious. My Gram always made a homemade cheese sauce to go with ham. Did anyone else do this? Anyways it's very good though last night I threw in some fresh Rosemary on a whim and it was spectacular!

To Make Cheese sauce, first....
Make a roux: Melt 4 tbsp. of butter in a pan over medium heat. Then add 1/4 cup of flour to the melted butter and whisk quickly until it resembles crumbs. Then add 2 cups of cold milk to the flour/butter mixture and whisk like crazy to keep the liquid smooth. When the liquid begins to bubble, add 1 cup of cheese (I added one cup of all white shredded Kraft four cheese Italiano). Then turn down the heat and continue stirring until all the cheese is melted. Finally toss in 2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary and continue cooking for about 10 minutes so the flavour of the Rosemary distributes through the cheese sauce. Serve over ham and let it seep into your cooked cauliflower or broccoli. Yum!

Garlic Tarragon Cream Sauce

1/4 cup of butter, 2 sliced garlic cloves, 1/4 cup of chopped white onion, about 10 tarragon leaves, 6 Laughing Cow soft cheese wedges (or use cream cheese), 1/4 cup of milk, 1/3 cup of white wine, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. **I'm trying to stay away from flour so I'm using cream cheese and Parmesan as the thickener.

Melt butter in a pot over low/medium heat and sautee onion and garlic (don't burn). Then add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until smooth and simmer. Feel free to adjust the ingredients with more seasonings, more soft cheese, etc. I'll be serving this tonight over my Halibut.

Sunday Meat Sauce for Spaghetti

OK - this is too delicious and one of my absolute favourites!

Saute in a pot one chopped large onion in 1/4 cup of olive oil over medium heat until the onion is just clear. Then add 1 lb. of lean ground beef and 4 chopped cloves of garlic to the onion and olive oil and saute for about 5 or so minutes or at least until the meat is brown. Then add 6 chopped up tomatoes to the pot together with 2 tbsp. of tomato paste, 1 divine cup of red wine, 1 cup of beef broth (use a carton of already made), 2 bay leaves. Stir until all is well blended and cook, uncovered on a low heat for 1 hour, stirring frequently. Salt and pepper to taste then toss over tortellini or spaghetti and top with fresh Parmesan.