This sweet and tangy sauce is great on ribs as well as roast chicken—and it makes a terrific topping for your favorite style of burger!
Yields about 4 cups
Simple and superb! This sweet and tangy sauce is great on ribs as well as roast chicken—and it makes a terrific topping for your favorite style of burger!
Yields about 1/3 cup
This quintessential French sweet-and-sour sauce is a wonderful way to dress duck and beef, especially when the meat is seared. The ingredients are simple: sugar, vinegar, and fruit juice or purée. Here is the classic gastrique recipe, but have fun experimenting with different combinations using this basic technique.
Yields about a 1/4 cup, enough to sauce two portions of your chosen protein
The following recipe features a marinade of mojo, the Cuban classic built on a base of olive oil, citrus, and garlic. I like to double the salsa ingredients to have some as a dip for chips or for another dish the next day.
Yields 4-6 servings.
This Italian classic often gets its heat from pepperoncino (red pepper) flakes, but I love the depth that comes from including fresh serrano pepper in the garlic and onion sauté. For another layer of flavor, I use a full can of tomato paste. So delicious, plus you can make it your own with any seafood you like—go simple with shrimp, lavish with lobster tail meat and scallops or easy with chunks of your favorite fish!. As a final step to this recipe, you might stir in a pound of shelled shrimp and cook until opaque. Serve it with or without pasta. It’s also delicious with any legume-based pasta—top with a good amount of grated Parmesan or Pecorino.
Yields 4 servings
This versatile Italian sauce is traditionally served over poached veal. But we love it on chicken, crudités, cooked vegetables (like green beans), and even as a sandwich spread. For mayo, try Japanese Kewpie, Duke’s, Hellmann’s, or Best Foods. You can customize the tonnato by adding a pinch of red pepper flakes, a splash of hot sauce, Calabrian chile paste, or even fresh chile peppers.
Serves 4 to 6 as a starter — Recipe adapted from nomnompaleo.com
One of the most pleasurable evenings I ever spent in Australia was cooking dinner in the kitchen of food entrepreneur Melissa Wong and her husband, Robert. A simple vinaigrette, whipped up in minutes and serving as a salad dressing, a marinade, and a sauce, is the unifying factor in this dish. If you can’t find barramundi—a popular fish down under—halibut, cod, or another mild white fish is equally delicious. The quick-pickled red onions are a great condiment for this and many other dishes.
Yields 4 servings.
Grilled meat with herbaceous chimichurri sauce is a South American staple, popular in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Substitute flank steak or hanger steak if you can’t find skirt steak.
Yields 4 to 6 servings
This special blend of sweet, salty, and spicy will infuse any type of grilled meat with a smoky, garlicky flavor. It’s especially great on any cut of pork.
Yields enough rub for up to 8 pounds of meat.
No collection of Chilean recipes would be complete without pebre. Every cook, it seems, has their own version. If you want to tame the onion, soak it in cold water for about 30 minutes, then drain well. Serve the salsa with bread, meat, seafood, or eggs.
Makes about 1 1/4 cups — Recipe courtesy of the Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club
This Middle Eastern spice blend is as ubiquitous in that part of the world as our salt shaker is here, but far healthier. Every country in the Middle East, and even region within each country, has its own proportions of the ingredients. My twist is using black lime in place of the traditional sumac, which isn’t—yet—in everyone’s pantry. (You can leave out the salt if you need to for health reasons.) Za’atar is amazing when sprinkled over olive oil on focaccia or flat bread before baking…or when reheating bread from your favorite bakery.
Yields about 1/2 cup.
This guacamole gets a jolt of flavor from cumin. You can intensify the heat by leaving in some of the jalapeño seeds.
Yields 4-6 appetizer servings.