"He who eats with most pleasure is he who least requires sauce."
"In cooking, a sauce is liquid, cream or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsa, meaning salted. Possibly the oldest sauce recorded is garum, the fish sauce used by the Ancient Greeks."
To me the emphasis here is on "they add flavor, moisture and visual appeal to another dish". If the sauce overshadows the actual taste of food on the plate, it doesn't belong there. And on the contrary, it is only needed IF it compliments the dish!
Yes and no! There is a reason why those, who understand food tell their guests when serving a dish - "I do have ketchup if there's anything wrong". But then again - even ketchup may be a wonderful addition, depending on what is on the plate. One thing I will never understand is pasta, pizza or bbq'ued meat with ketchup or even french fries for that matter.
I guess I could say the same about mayo - only to be used where it actually compliments the flavors of the dish, but to be forbidden or illegal to be used on anything delicate!
The topic on sauces may be quite extensive - there are so many perceptions of what a sauce is! Let's see what wikipedia suggests:
"In cooking, a sauce is liquid, cream or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsa, meaning salted. Possibly the oldest sauce recorded is garum, the fish sauce used by the Ancient Greeks."
To me the emphasis here is on "they add flavor, moisture and visual appeal to another dish". If the sauce overshadows the actual taste of food on the plate, it doesn't belong there. And on the contrary, it is only needed IF it compliments the dish!
A friend of mine once said - I'm one of the only two people she knows who actually make their own sauce. At the time it was balsamic reduction.
One of the main reasons why I love making home made sauces (condiments) is that I don't get any mysterious ingredients (you know - those you read on the labels, but have no idea what they actually are), I get it fresh and can improvise with it depending on the food I am making.
So now cutting the story to essence. First time I tried green parsley sauce was when my colleague brought it in for lunch at work and purely out of curiosity - at the time I still didn't like parsley. Very surprisingly - it tasted nothing like parsley, was supper fresh and did wonders with steamed white fish. Since then it is quite a frequent visitor in my kitchen.
Ingredients:
* 100 parsley
* 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
* 1-2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
* Salt'n'pepper
* (sometimes) 1-2 cloves of garlic
Garlic + parsley in general is a good marriage. If you don't overdo it, it will not drown the taste of your dish (especially if it's fish).
Preparation? Just blend everything well together and taste for salt'n'pepper.
Bon appétit!
