Category: Sauce

Roasted Potatoes & Coconut Turmeric Sauce

1/17/2018

One year ago the BF and I did an abbreviated version of Whole30 (we allowed for an exception...or two). He lost 8.5 pounds and thought it was pretty easy to stay on the program. [Ed. note: You give me meat an potatoes and I shall find a way to survive.] I didn't fare that well in the weight-loss department, but it was a terrific reboot, and the real saving grace was the coconut milk sauce I developed that was incorporated into everything. With the exception of Indian and Thai dishes, I rarely used coconut milk. This turned out to be a worthwhile challenge, and the result was a savory sauce that is a brilliant dairy-free option.

Here the coconut milk –infused into a garlic turmeric sauce– is a perfect foil to the crunchy cabbage, spicy chives and crispy skinned potatoes. We actually had this as a main course, but it would work as a side dish for steak, chicken, pork, or any protein. (We are unapolegetic carnivoires.)

We will be hopping on the Whole30 again soon, and certainly will be incorporating this into the process.

Inspired by Dolly and Oatmeal
Number of servings: 2-3 entrees or 4-6 side dishes

Ingredients
Potatoes

2 pounds baby Dutch or fingerling potatoes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Pepper
2 cups shredded purple cabbage
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and sliced
¼ cup chives, minced
Black sesame seeds

Coconut-Garlic-Turmeric Sauce

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, finely minced
2 large garlic cloves, finely minced

1 ½ tablespoons curry powder (sweet curry from Penzey's was used here)
1 ½ tablespoons grated fresh turmeric or 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk (full fat was used)
2 teaspoons tahini paste (to taste)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Cayenne (to taste) optional

Directions
Potatoes

Preheat oven to 450 °F. Rinse and dry the potatoes thoroughly, then slice in half lengthwise. Toss on a large baking sheet with the olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place potatoes cut side down and spread out evenly on baking sheet. Roast at 450 °F for 20-25 minutes (longer if needed), until potatoes are caramelized, crispy, and fork tender.
Place cabbage on platter or in shallow salad bowls. Top with potatoes. Drizzle with coconut sauce and garnish with chives, avocado and black sesame seeds.

Coconut-Garlic Turmeric Sauce

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan. Saute shallots and garlic until softened, but not browned. Mix in curry powder and turmeric and saute 1 minute. Whisk in coconut milk and cook for 20 minutes or until it thickens to a gravy-like consistency. Whisk in tahini paste and apple cider vinegar and cook for 1 minute more.
Take a hand-held-immersion or standing blender and blend until very smooth. Taste. Add salt and cayenne if needed.

0 Comments

Pickled Balsamic Blueberry Sauce

9/6/2017

2 Comments

My BFF (since 4th grade) lives in a charmingly small Washington-state town in the shadow of Mt. Rainier. Her circa-1920s farm house is populated with every imaginable nut and fruit tree – chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, apples, cherry plums, pears, and bay. Wild blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, a summer garden, as well as a menagerie of animals (rabbits, chickens, birds, goats, cats) complete the picture.

The pièce de résistance is the blueberry orchard (see last photo below), with blueberries as large as grapes that, dare I say, truly taste “blue.” We recently reconnected, and I of course took the opportunity to bring home a good supply of the prize blueberries and put them to good use.

This sauce is the perfect compliment to pork chops, wild salmon, chicken and steak. Personally, I don’t like cloyingly sweet fruit combined with meat, but this is different as the balsamic and red wine vinegar give it just the right amount of acid to counter the richness of the protein.

By the way, this is peak salmon season in Washington and the recipe is as Pacific Northwest as they come.

Number of servings: 4-6

Ingredients

2 cups blueberries
1 teaspoon mustard seeds or juniper berries (not both, just pick one or none, this ingredient is purely optional)
½ cup sugar
½ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup (good) balsamic vinegar
1 stem thyme
1 large shallot, finely minced
Salt

Directions

Place blueberries in a shallow bowl.
Heat the mustard seeds or juniper berries (if using), ½ cup sugar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and 1 stem thyme in small saucepan for 3 minutes and stir until sugar dissolves. NOTE: turn your stove fan on and do not stick your face over the pan to take a whiff…the vinegar will knock you over.
Add minced shallots and a sprinkle of salt (to taste) and simmer 2 minutes.
Strain the sauce directly over the blueberries and let sit for 15 minutes.

2 Comments

Feast Mode

Roasted Potatoes & Coconut Turmeric Sauce

Pickled Balsamic Blueberry Sauce

Author

Archives

Categories