Speedy Sauce Recipes

F&W's Grace Parisi created 500 recipes for her cookbook Get Saucy, which debuts this month. Here she shares her four favorite fast sauces, plus four speedy and delicious dishes that show them off.

The master sauce recipes have been adapted from Get Saucy by F&W Senior Test Kitchen Associate Grace Parisi.

Master Sauce
Cumin-Scented Carrot Raita
Favorite Saucy Dish
Chicken Salad with Cumin-Scented Carrot Raita

More Saucy Ideas
Serve the raita with grilled and roasted meats and poultry, or stir it into cooked lentils, beans or grains.

Master Sauce
Wild Mushroom Ragout
Favorite Saucy Dish
Wild Mushroom Soup with Parmesan Toasts

More Saucy Ideas
The ragout can be stirred into pasta or risotto, folded into omelets, spooned onto crostini or poured over polenta.

Master Sauce
Olive-Mint Pesto
Favorite Saucy Dish
Olive-Mint Pesto Meatballs with Fettuccine

More Saucy Ideas
Stir the pesto into mixed ground meats to make meat loaf, serve it on bruschetta with shaved Parmesan cheese, stir it into soups or whisk it into vinaigrettes.

Master Sauce
Classic Crème Anglaise
Favorite Saucy Dish
Dulce de Leche Bread Pudding

More Saucy Ideas
Serve the crème anglaise as a sauce for fresh berries or poached fruit; spoon it over pound cake or chocolate cake; or use it as a base for making ice cream.

Master Sauce
Smoked Gouda Béchamel
Favorite Saucy Dish
Creamy Spinach with Smoked Gouda Gratin

Spoon the béchamel onto toasts or steamed vegetables and broil, or stir into pasta.

Published March 2005