Versatile Sauces; more Monster Sandwiches

Bonus post – Versatile Sauces; Monster Sandwiches

 

So as I eat a lot of sandwiches and snack foods, as they tend to be the things that are usually reduced, we need something to go with them.  We'll come back to this behemoth above at the end of the article, but first, let's discuss sauces I've made. 

Teriyaki-style dipping sauce

I made this to go with 3 spring rolls I picked up for €0.60

• 2 tbsp dark soy
• 2 tbsp light soy
• Garlic, crushed with salt
• Ginger, sliced and crushed.  I used my good old budget pestle and mortar that I got from the charity shop, but the back of a knife or a heavy implement and a chopping board work as well. 
• Brown Sugar – about one small coffee-shop style packet will do.

Mix the whole lot together and leave for a few hours for the flavours to mingle.  If you have anything like flour or cornflour to thicken the sauce with, this works as well.

Multi-purpose Salad Dressing

Any oil and acidic ingredient will make a fantastic salad dressing, but did you know you can also add it to stale bread to make toasty croutons, or dip a basic supermarket sandwich into it?

So, ideally you want to get the nicest oil and vinegar you can, but even basic oil and a lemon will work.

The ratio is key.  

4 measures of oil to one of lemon is my preference.  
But always - taste and adjust!

Basic cheat’s barbeque sauce. 

I’m now going to reveal the secret of quick barbeque sauce.  I will probably never get service in the less discerning restaurants and cafes in Northern Ireland again, by revealing this...

Here it is:

 - Mix equal parts of ketchup and HP (brown) sauce.

  
That’s it.

 You could add chilli powder or more vinegar if you want, but really, this is the easiest thing you can do to make a burger taste a bit better, on the cheap. 

It works surprisingly well as a marinade, if not better than as a "BBQ" sauce. 

Alfredo sauce

Another sauce I like to throw over my dinner is a cheese sauce, sometimes called alfredo in the US, so let’s go through what you need to do for this.  It’s commonly used for pasta but I’ve found it works well on other dishes like chicken, fish or even on a ham toastie.  Or for nachos.  Cheese sauces are simple, but can catch you out if improperly prepared.  So let’s do it right.  

 - So grate up a couple of fistfuls of whatever cheese you have to hand, but I recommend cheddar or red Leicester (it’s usually quite cheap here)  Don’t use mozzarella for this one, it may be the cheapest cheese you see in the supermarket, but a cheese sauce needs a strong flavour.  

 -  Add a good dust of Parmesan as well.  Proper Alfredo sauce uses about a small tub of grated Parmesan, but for economic reasons, we use what we have. 

- Melt the grated cheese *slowly* in some milk in a saucepan.  Add some cream, and continue to stir.  

This is the tough part.   

Making a roux is a simple thing which can go badly very quickly.  It’s why trainee chefs have to practice this constantly. 

All we are doing is cooking some flour in butter, but it can go lumpy, or burn, in a second.  So pay attention!, watch the consistency by continually stirring it, and the instant it starts to go golden, remove from the heat.  

Whisk the roux into the melted cheese sauce, vigorously.  No lumps, please.  

 There you go.  Taste the sauce, add more cheese if necessary, and when thick, take off the heat.  Note that what you’re putting your cheese sauce on will affect how much roux you want to use to thicken the sauce.  For spuds or nachos, I like a thick sauce.  For pasta, a slightly thinner one.   

But don’t stint on the cheese.

Sandwich time

Now do you remember this sandwich?  It was composed (almost) entirely of leftovers at Christmas last year.  It contains:

On the top layer -

Sausage meat

Mozarella

Sage and onion stuffing

Gravy, just a little to get some moistness in there – leftover food can go dry!

On the bottom layer:

Turkey

Crispy Bacon, which was used to wrap the turkey to keep it moist as it cooked

Avocado – not leftover but works well with the turkey and bacon

Cranberry sauce

Scotch bonnet chilli sauce.

Method
 - Toast the 3 slices bread for a minute, then put the mozzarella cheese on the top slice, and start to melt it in a low oven.  My dad has an Aga at his place but I’d say about 150° in a conventional oven.    I then sliced up everything else, assembled it to my liking, and put the top slice with the melted cheese on the top of the sandwich, and back into the oven, for a few more minutes until things were looking heated and melted.  Easy.

*munch*

It goes without saying that this was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever made for myself.  The key to leftovers, is changing the taste up.  Sauces will feature in future posts, but for now, this filler was all killer.