Five easy-to make homemade sauce recipes

Sauces are usually not eaten on their own as a dish, but instead add taste, colour, flavour and visual appear to your meals.

While most sauces can be bought pre-made, and packaged, nothing slaps quite like a homemade mayonnaise served with a fresh potato salad, a rich Béarnaise sauce or a creamy bechamel sauce for that extra, loving touch to your Lasagna.

Delicious homemade sauce recipes

Here are five homemade sauce recipes courtesy of the saucy chefs at Capsicum Culinary Studio to take your home-cooked meals to the next level.

ALSO SEE: Three recipes that are even better as leftovers

Marvellous Mayonnaise

The secret to making a good mayonnaise is ensuring all ingredients are at room temperature before you start.

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 250ml canola oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, optional

Method

1. Crack open an egg and place in the small bowl of a food processor and beat for 20 seconds.
2. Add the mustard, vinegar, and salt and beat for another 20 seconds. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, turn the food processor on and slowly add the oil in tiny drops until about a quarter of the oil has been added; this is important for proper emulsification.
3. When the mixture starts to thicken and emulsify, and with the processor still running, add the rest of the oil in a very thin stream.
4. Once done, switch off the processor and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl then process for an extra 10 seconds.
5. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt, lemon juice or extra vinegar to your liking.
6. If the mayo seems too thin, slowly stream in more oil with the processor running until it thickens.

Best Béarnaise Sauce

Pour over steaks or burgers, asparagus or salmon. The sauce’s richness improves virtually everything it touches.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup white-wine vinegar
• 1 shallot, peeled and minced
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1½ tablespoon tarragon leaves, chopped
• 2 egg yolks
• 170g unsalted butter, melted
• Kosher salt
• Splash of lemon juice, optional

Method

1. Place the vinegar, shallot, black pepper and 1 tablespoon of the tarragon leaves into a small saucepan and set over medium heat.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until there are only a few tablespoons of liquid left (about 5 minutes).
3. Remove from heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve, then let it cool for 5 minutes. Once cooled, pour into a blender and add the egg yolks, lemon juice and salt and blend for 5 seconds or until combined.
4. With the blender running on medium-high, slowly stream the melted butter into the mixture until it’s emulsified. Pour into a small bowl or jug, stir in the finely chopped tarragon, and serve.

Brilliant Bechamel

Without bechamel there would be no lasagne, mac and cheese, fish pie or cauliflower cheese, just to name a few!

Ingredients

• 50g butter
• ¼ cup plain flour
• 2½ cups milk

Method

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour. Stir with a wooden spoon for a minute or two or until the mixture bubbles. Gradually stir in the milk. Bring to the boil then reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Once you have made your bechamel, you can start adding to it to suit your purpose. When gruyere and parmesan are added it becomes a mornay sauce, used with tuna, oysters and eggs. When cheddar is added it is known as cheese sauce and is the one we’re most likely to use poured over cauliflower or broccoli.

ALSO SEE: 10 mouthwatering cauliflower dishes to try this week

The Perfect Pesto

While this Italian-style sauce is great stirred through pasta it’s just as good when dribbled over fish or chicken.

Ingredients

• 50g pine nuts
• 80g basil
• 50g parmesan
• 150ml olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves

Method

1. Heat a small frying pan over a low heat. Cook the pine nuts until golden, shaking occasionally. Put into a food processor with the basil, parmesan, olive oil and garlic cloves. Whizz until smooth and season to taste.
2. While this recipe is for the classic pesto using the three key ingredients of basil, parmesan and pine nuts, you can substitute them for a variety of similar components such as parsley, coriander, rocket, broccoli, kale, spinach and peas instead of the basil; walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts for the pine nuts; and pecorino, manchego, aged gouda, or aged cheddar to replace the parmesan.

Heavenly Hollandaise

A classic creamy sauce to drizzle over poached eggs or vegetables.

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• ½ cup unsalted butter or ghee, or more for a thinner consistency, melted and hot

Method

1. Place the butter in a microwavable bowl and heat in the microwave for about 1 minute until hot.
2. Meanwhile, place the egg yolks, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt and cayenne pepper into a blender and blend for 5 seconds or until combined.
3. With the blender running on medium high, slowly stream in the hot butter into the mixture until it’s emulsified. Pour the hollandaise sauce into a small bowl and serve while warm.

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