Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–so glad you’re here!
For the last few weeks, I have used my blog to post articles about the foundational sauces of California Cuisine. Since California Cuisine doesn’t have an official set of foundational sauces like French Cuisine does, and I thought it should, I have chosen the following sauces: mayonnaise, vinaigrette, pesto, salsa, soy sauce, Hollandaise and tomato sauce.
I started this exploration with mayonnaise. I originally chose mayonnaise as one of the foundational sauces because of California’s rich history (some of it notorious) with aioli sauces. Because of the over-exuberant use of aioli on practically every menu item in California restaurants, aioli became a bit of a punchline for those poking fun at California Cuisine, which is a shame because aioli is a lovely condiment when used with restraint. At its essence, aioli is mayonnaise with garlic. Over time, ingredients such as roasted red pepper, sun dried tomatoes and pesto got added to basic aioli to become sauces for crab cakes, sandwiches and as a dip for fresh vegetables–and trust me–it’s delicious and an elegant enhancement to foods when used thoughtfully:
Mayonnaise is also the base for a great tartar sauce to pair with our ultra-fresh California seafood, as well as a tangy-sweet sauce for honey-pecan prawns:
And finally, I shared a wonderful recipe for chocolate mayonnaise cake that literally takes the cake!
For the last couple of weeks, I have been sharing recipes that feature vinaigrette, which is my second choice for a foundational sauce of California Cuisine. In its simplest form, vinaigrette is comprised of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper–but it is so much more than just that! In yesterday’s post, I shared five seasonal salads that pair beautifully with a basic vinaigrette: sumo and fennel salad, cherry, red onion, cucumber and arugula salad, tomato, watermelon, red onion and arugula salad and persimmon, beet and fennel salad. Each of these salads have different main ingredients from every season throughout the year, and each is enhanced by a splash of a good vinaigrette. Vinaigrette also makes a wonderful base for pasta salad and potato salad dressings:
And it’s as at home being sprinkled on a sandwich as a condiment as it is as a dip for fresh vegetables. It is also the base for chimichurri sauce–a delicious accompaniment to grilled meats and seafoods–which are also classic California Cuisine staples:
Finally, a good vinaigrette will pull a meal such as this one of farmer’s market asparagus, local ham and boiled potatoes together for a fresh, healthy and delicious meal in minutes:
Clearly, vinaigrette has earned a seat at the mother sauce table.
It has been fun taking a deep dive into these two sauces, and I could enjoy continuing my exploration, but I think it’s time to move on to my next choice for a “mother” sauce of California Cuisine: pesto. Traditionally, pesto is a mixture of sweet basil, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic, salt, pepper and lots of good olive oil. And it’s absolutely delicious. And I could eat it all day long and twice on Sundays.
But the literal meaning of pesto is “to pound” in a mortar with a pestle. So…pesto could be just about anything, couldn’t it? I mean, I think to be a pesto, it should be something edible–so like, rocks that you pound with a mortar and pestle don’t count. But a food stuff that you pound to make into a sauce seems to be kind of fair game. In future posts, I’ll explore an assortment of different pestos using some of the bountiful ingredients from the vast cornucopia of California produce.
But let’s start with basic sweet basil pesto:
Sweet basil pesto sauce is versatile enough to use on pasta, of course:
But it also makes a great sauce for salmon:
And it’s the finishing touch on a great minestrone soup:
And there’s so much more that I can’t wait to share with you in future posts. So tune in soon for more fun with the foundational sauces of California Cuisine!
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
