Lesson 05 Nutty Seedy Sauces

Nut & Seed Sauces

Welcome to class, we are at the the third section of the great Modern Mother Sauces. These sauces are versatile, add umami, enrich meals with protein, they thicken broths and soups, and are quick and easy to create. If you don’t have the text book yet consider buying it from this week’s favorite independent seller, Kitchen Arts & Letters.

Lesson:

Consider nut butters and seed pastes into your repertoire. The master recipe for this section is Nutty Seedy Sauce, p. 53, we go into it below in the homework section. The most popular of these sauces are Peanut-Ginger from China and Romesco from Spain, recipes on p. 55. Romesco is wildly delicious as a sauce but consider it as a thickener and flavor booster for stews and soups like Clams and Brothy Rice p. 154. And take note the Cashew Queso p. 54 acts as a sauce for nachos, as a dip or spread for toast. Vegan Nachos, p. 160 was always a hit at my restaurant, it came loaded with guac, beans, pico de gallo, fermented veggies and lots of cilantro and scallion. This sauce is nearly identical to movie theatre nacho dipping sauce but better. Cashews are some of the best nuts to make sauces with because they are soft and breakdown smooth and velvety in your blender, a great substitute for dairy or eggs when making creamy dressing vegan. You probably already have tahini and peanut butter in your pantry as well as whole nuts so being inspired and dashing to make some should not be a problem.

The lifespan of seeds and nuts;

They’re highly volatile ingredients meaning due to their oil content if they are not stored properly they will go rancid quickly. To keep things safe I like to think nuts and seeds have a lifespan of a year once harvested. And I like to use them and their oils, butters and pastes within a month after they are opened. If I foresee not using them within that time I store them longterm in the refrigerator. Do not store nuts, seeds or any type of oil in the cabinet above the stove, I see this often, you’re essentially rotting by keeping them warm. Please move them.

Of all these options the sesame seeds, it’s oil and paste/tahini have the longest shelf life, this ancient food is one of the oldest commodities because of ability to stay fresh through long trips. The only nuisance we may come across is usually how it separates, the oil rises and dense paste sinks to the bottom the longer it sits, its a natural occurrence due to gravity. Its why I shop SEED + MILL my local and very dedicated sesame seed mill, I get the freshest milled tahini and never deal with separation, they deliver nationally too. Use Camille10 at checkout, the 10% off is equivalent to shipping costs so now you can consider them your local mill too. The lady founders came together as passionate cooks, travelers and students of history and culture, they are hyper dedicated, we are lucky to have their work.

A tip from the tahini master and a co-founder of Seed + Mill, Rachel Simons, “My favorite hack for that last inch of tahini at the bottom of the jar that has gone a bit hard and is difficult to use is to add some brining liquid and give the jar a vigorous shake. I usually go for pickle juice or olive brine. The ratio is about 1 part tahini, 2 parts liquid. Depending on the liquid, I sometimes add a bit of water to loosen it or dilute the concentration for taste reasons. It's such an easy, no waste, no mess hack for a salad dressing, dip, sauce etc and means that people aren't throwing away the last bits of tahini in their jars!”

Homework:

The Rip and Double Dip

A hit for a crowd or as a solo snack. Rip a piece of soft pillowy bread, dip into a seedy sauce then double dip into a seed or nut mix. The seed-nut mix sticks onto the dip and it’s divine, so many different textures, crunchy, silky, and pillowy all in one bite.

I. Buy or bake your favorite soft bread

A brioche, challah, focaccia or milk bread. Crudité delicious too.

II. Pick out a dip

Beet-Sunflower Seed p. 53 or freestyle your own using the Master Recipe p. 53 (how-to below).

III. Pick out a seed mix

A store bought furikake or gomasio works best with tahini based sauces. Make your own with Gomasio Master Recipe p. 105 (a lesson we will dive into in the future). Or try recipes like Everything Dukkah and Turmeric-Chile Almonds both on p. 109. Toasted sesame seeds alone are honestly enough. As a treat, shop any one of these delicious infused sesame seeds from my favorite foodie chef emporium, SOS Chef online or at their East Village shop. My favorites are the plum and the wasabi.

How To Use This Week’s Master Recipe

Using this master recipe requires three main elements;

flavor base —-

items with strong flavor characters like kimchi, preserved lemon, miso, mustard, herbs, garlic, shallots.

liquid —-

a splash of water and your desired acid like lemon or lime juice, vinegar, or a left over pickle, caper, kimchi brine.

the seed or nut —-

whole nuts, seed paste or nut butter.

ratio —-

1 part pureed flavor base, 1 part acid, 2 parts nut or seed butter. A loose ratio, play around with your preferences. We are learning how to cook without rules here.

Incorporate smooth using a blender, adding little splashes of water to breakdown to desired consistency. Remember because if its high oil factor it is an emulsion and does seize up and thicken as it sits, you may need to add water every time you use it..

TRY IS RECIPE AS PRACTICE…

The other night my Korean friend who was over for dinner told me that my kimchi was sour. Not sour as in bad but tart. She was right, I made it this past fall and by now it had changed flavor profile from spicy to pickly. Her mom always used kimchi that went sour in soup or fried rice and never as a condiment like I had just done that night, paring it with seared duck breast she had brought for me to show her how to cook along with Addictive Cabbage (from friend Hetty’s newsletter) and steamed jasmine rice.

I haven’t gotten to making the sour kimchi soup yet but will! And have OD’d on kimchi fried rice so I used the sour kimchi for a lush tahini sauce and had it over noodles. This sauce is category crack, so go ahead and pair it with everything: an accompany to crudités or roasted vegetables, pair it with a roasted chicken or a dressing for shredded chicken or tofu cabbage salad, as a double dip stitch, or slather it on a bread for a sandwich like the Hippy Sandwich p. 153. On days you don’t want to cook simply steam the whole head of broccoli b/c you’ll eat it all, I promise, and serve with rice. Or simply on top of a steam whole Japanese sweet potato loaded with those savory seame seeds from SOS shop.

Sour Kimchi Sesame Sauce

1 cup kimchi

1/4 cup kimchi liquor or filtered water

1/2 cup tahini, preferably Seed + Mill

2-3 dots of sesame oil

1 teaspoon honey or maple

+in a high powered blender add kimchi and its liquor, if its dry add water and blend on high for one minute until smooth .

+add tahini and blend on medium until well incorporated, a few seconds.

+Mix in sesame oil and honey. Tip it into a glass jar or plastic container.

yields 2 cups

Next week, number five of the Modern Mother Sauces, Egg-Based Sauces with notes, tips and tricks on emulsions.

Thanks for joining today.