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Fruit sauces go by many names such as salsa, coulis and gastrique -- don't let them confuse or scare you. They're all a breeze to prepare. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune) |
You can spend the summer munching handfuls of berries or juice-dripping peaches, plums and apricots. Or you can give that fruit a job to do.
Turn it into a simple sauce with a fresh-picked flavor, then let it take a custard or cake into exquisitely chic territory or transform grilled meat into party fare.
Don't believe it? Don't doubt America's beloved "French chef." Julia Child so admired a raspberry puree called a "coulis" that in "Baking with Julia" she wrote: "A drizzle or two over the simplest dessert provides a polished, professional look — and an extra shot of great taste."
Figure Romney Steele, author of "Plum Gorgeous: Recipes and Memories from the Orchard" (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $25), would agree. Her fruit-focused book celebrates sauces, marrying them with meats, seafood and desserts.
And while they go by many names, such as salsa, coulis and gastrique, don't let them confuse — or, in the case of the last two, scare — you. "When you throw out the name gastrique or coulis, because usually the words come from France, people rear up and run the other direction," says Steele, a chef and cooking teacher in Oakland. "All of those kinds of sauce are really very simple."
Pureed fresh fruits may need only a bit of sweetener (sugar or honey) or tartness (citrus juice, for example) to balance the flavor. Chopped fresh fruits mixed with a few chopped vegetables create a salsa, especially when minced jalapeno is included. And you'll have a lovely gastrique to pair with meat or seafood if you enhance a reduction of sugar and vinegar with fruit syrup.
The key to success? "It takes tasting and thinking about the fruit you're using," says Steele. "Be gentle with the fruit. If you just take strawberries and start mashing the heck out of them, something happens differently than if you decide to puree them or mash them and lightly cook them.
"And if you cook strawberries for a long time, they get a really dark jammy flavor as opposed to the flavor nuances of fresh strawberries."
So before you start stemming, pitting, chopping, mixing and cooking, "really slow down to smell things and taste them," says Steele. "That's when you can start picking up those nuances."
Steele's tips
Try a few basic recipes, then get creative, augmenting flavors with a complementary liqueur or extract or fresh herb.
No-cook method:
Puree fresh fruit in a blender, using about 2 tablespoons water per cup to blend without overly thinning. Push through a sieve. Balance flavor with sifted confectioners' sugar or lemon juice.
Cooked berry sauce:
Simmer 1 cup lightly crushed fruit (such as blueberries) with 1/2 cup water until soft. Push through a sieve. Return sauce to medium heat; whisk in 2-3 tablespoons sugar. Simmer until slightly syrupy. Stir in lemon juice or other flavorings to taste. Add 1/2 cup whole or sliced berries.
Coulis (koo-LEE):
Keda Black offers a trio (strawberry, mango, rhubarb) in "My Cooking Class: Sauce Basics." Mango's the simplest: Puree pulp with a bit of lime juice. Serve with: Panna cotta.
Gastrique (gah-STREEK):
Richard Grausman, in "French Classics Made Easy," notes that the sweet-tart sauce called gastrique often accompanies savory dishes made with fruit. The basic sugar-vinegar reduction often includes fruit juice. Serve with: Rich meats, game, seafood.
Turn it into a simple sauce with a fresh-picked flavor, then let it take a custard or cake into exquisitely chic territory or transform grilled meat into party fare.
Don't believe it? Don't doubt America's beloved "French chef." Julia Child so admired a raspberry puree called a "coulis" that in "Baking with Julia" she wrote: "A drizzle or two over the simplest dessert provides a polished, professional look — and an extra shot of great taste."
Figure Romney Steele, author of "Plum Gorgeous: Recipes and Memories from the Orchard" (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $25), would agree. Her fruit-focused book celebrates sauces, marrying them with meats, seafood and desserts.
And while they go by many names, such as salsa, coulis and gastrique, don't let them confuse — or, in the case of the last two, scare — you. "When you throw out the name gastrique or coulis, because usually the words come from France, people rear up and run the other direction," says Steele, a chef and cooking teacher in Oakland. "All of those kinds of sauce are really very simple."
Pureed fresh fruits may need only a bit of sweetener (sugar or honey) or tartness (citrus juice, for example) to balance the flavor. Chopped fresh fruits mixed with a few chopped vegetables create a salsa, especially when minced jalapeno is included. And you'll have a lovely gastrique to pair with meat or seafood if you enhance a reduction of sugar and vinegar with fruit syrup.
The key to success? "It takes tasting and thinking about the fruit you're using," says Steele. "Be gentle with the fruit. If you just take strawberries and start mashing the heck out of them, something happens differently than if you decide to puree them or mash them and lightly cook them.
"And if you cook strawberries for a long time, they get a really dark jammy flavor as opposed to the flavor nuances of fresh strawberries."
So before you start stemming, pitting, chopping, mixing and cooking, "really slow down to smell things and taste them," says Steele. "That's when you can start picking up those nuances."
Steele's tips
Try a few basic recipes, then get creative, augmenting flavors with a complementary liqueur or extract or fresh herb.
No-cook method:
Puree fresh fruit in a blender, using about 2 tablespoons water per cup to blend without overly thinning. Push through a sieve. Balance flavor with sifted confectioners' sugar or lemon juice.
Cooked berry sauce:
Simmer 1 cup lightly crushed fruit (such as blueberries) with 1/2 cup water until soft. Push through a sieve. Return sauce to medium heat; whisk in 2-3 tablespoons sugar. Simmer until slightly syrupy. Stir in lemon juice or other flavorings to taste. Add 1/2 cup whole or sliced berries.
Coulis (koo-LEE):
Keda Black offers a trio (strawberry, mango, rhubarb) in "My Cooking Class: Sauce Basics." Mango's the simplest: Puree pulp with a bit of lime juice. Serve with: Panna cotta.
Gastrique (gah-STREEK):
Richard Grausman, in "French Classics Made Easy," notes that the sweet-tart sauce called gastrique often accompanies savory dishes made with fruit. The basic sugar-vinegar reduction often includes fruit juice. Serve with: Rich meats, game, seafood.
