ASPARAGUS SALAD WITH ORANGE DILL VINAIGRETTE
I chose Dill Sauce for "D" in my alphabet of French sauces the moment I pressed a bouquet of soft, feather fronds to my face at my local market. Aromas of caraway, orange and clove transported me back to a cold April day some forty years ago when I planted my first herb garden. To this day, the scent of dill holds the promise of renewal.
This will sound like heresy, but I find sugar, the white granular kind, really boring. It's in our nature to crave sweetness as babies, but it turns into a life-long addiction to the ‘hard stuff’ that makes our teeth itch and worse.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not ready to ''unfriend” sugar completely. I choose instead to cultivate its best delicious but hidden 'dark side'
That's why the letter "C" in my ABC's of French sauces is Sauce Caramel. When cooked to a rich amber, sugar develops an agreeable bitter flavor that complements its naturally bland sweetness. Caramelized sugar also releases tantalizing flavors of roasted nuts and even a hint of smoke.
On its way to the dark side, cooking sugar becomes extremely hot, so a few simple precautions are required. The first is to add a small amount of water, two tablespoons or so, before you heat the pan. The second is to avoid stirring the hot sugar syrup. Swirl the pan as it nears the simmer, and watch as the granules of sugar dissolve and the syrup becomes clear. If you stir, the hot syrup will adhere to the utensil and crystalize around it. You will get well and truly stuck.
Sugar begrudgingly releases water of crystallization in the form of foamy bubbles as it cooks. Cover the pan for a minute or two so the evaporating water will wash down the spatters of sugar along the inner sides of the pan. Uncover the pan and watch the thickened syrup's bubbles become smaller and more densely packed. Stay with the unfolding drama - don't take your eyes off the pan to check your phone!
Once the caramel color begins to emerges. usually at the edges of the pan, it darkens quickly. Get ready to take the pan off the heat as it reaches the darkness you desire. Add butter immediately to stop the cooking process. Stir it in, and then gradually add cream. Place the pan back on a low heat and stir until the sauce is smooth. Voila!
Sauce Caramel has a long shelf life in the refrigerator. It's high sugar and low water contents keep bacteria at bay. Reheating it for a minute in the microwave at half-power will warm it enough to pour and restore its unctuous texture.
And what can't you do with Sauce Caramel? It's great on ice cream, with baked apples and pears, drizzled over cakes and pies - especially anything chocolate. A thin dessert crepe topped with caramel ice cream, caramel sauce and toasted almonds is one of our family's favorite treats.
Are you ready for a revolutionary idea? Replace granulated sugar with its caramelized form! The French call this praline. You can make it by simply adding whole almonds to hot caramelizing sugar instead of butter and cream. Pour the hot syrup and nut mixture onto an buttered surface and break it into pieces after it cools and hardens.
I've gotten into the habit of substituting coarsely chopped praline pieces for roasted almonds and sugar in biscotti. But why stop there? Go ahead and replace that pale white granular stuff with praline powder in pie fillings, custards, buttercream, cookies, granola, muffins. You too will soon be won over to the 'dark side' of sugar.
RECIPE LINKS: SAUCE CARAMEL; PRALINE BISCOTTI: DESSERT CREPES
Recipes: Sauce Caramel, Crepes Sucree, Praline, Praline Biscotti
What does a French chef eat on his day off? You'd be surprised. It is often a childhood favorite - roast chicken or a simple omelet. These are comfort foods mother or grandmother used to make. They remain the source of a love of food and cooking that began at home.