Remoulade Sauce

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This is a classic Louisiana recipe with French roots. It’s traditionally 
made with mayonnaise, but mine is a more heart-healthy version. This 
sauce is great with shrimp, over sliced tomatoes, with pasta, over 
vegetables and cold meats, in chicken or potato salad, or as an 
ingredient in deviled eggs.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Creole mustard, store-bought or homemade
1/4 cup catsup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons grated horseradish, or substitute prepared horseradish, 
store-bought
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon ground paprika
1 teaspoon Louisiana-style hot sauce or substitute ground cayenne
2/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons chopped celery
1 tablespoon minced capers
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
Salt to taste

Instructions

Combine the mustard, catsup, vinegar, horseradish, Worcestershire, 
garlic, paprika, and hot sauce in a bowl and whisk to combine.
Slowly add the oil while continuing to whisk to emulsify the sauce.
Fold in the remaining ingredients, taste, and adjust the seasonings.
Allow the sauce to sit for an hour to blend the flavors.

Homemade Tabasco®-Style Sauce

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The U.S.A. has become one of the world's largest producers of hot sauces 
and the flagship of the hot sauce fleet is Tabasco®, which is exported 
all over the world from Avery Island, Louisiana. Because the chiles in 
mash form are not aged in oak barrels for three years, this recipe will 
be only a rough approximation of the famous McIlhenny product. You will 
have to grow your own tabascos or substitute dried ones that have been 
rehydrated. Other small, hot, fresh red chiles can also be substituted 
for the tabascos. Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.

Ingredients

1 pound fresh red tabasco chiles, chopped
2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

Combine the chiles and the vinegar in a saucepan and heat. Stir in the 
salt and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, cool, and place in 
a blender. Puree until smooth and place in a glass jar. Allow to steep 
for 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
Remove, strain the sauce, and adjust the consistency by adding more 
vinegar if necessary.

Keeping “Pace®” with Picante Sauces

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Although most commercial salsas and picante sauces are made from similar 
ingredients, their flavors differ because of spices, cooking techniques, 
and the proportion of ingredients. Perhaps this home-cooked version 
outdoes the original of the best-selling American salsa--you tell me. It 
is important to use only Mexican oregano, as Mediterranean oregano will 
make this taste like a pasta sauce.

Ingredients

6 to 8 ripe red tomatoes (about 4 pounds), peeled, seeded, and chopped fine
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Salt to taste
6 jalapeño chiles, seeds and stems removed, chopped

Instructions

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, combine the tomatoes, onions, garlic, 
vinegar, oregano, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook 
for 15 minutes on medium heat to thicken the sauce.
Add the jalapeños and continue cooking for 15 more minutes. Remove from 
the heat, cool to room temperature, and serve with chips.

Salsa de Ají (Ecuadorean Fresh Chile Sauce)

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This is a basic but classic Latin American salsa recipe collected in 
Ecuador. Although this recipe calls for the use of an electric blender, 
one can follow the traditional method of using a mortar and pestle. 
Ecuadorians are very fond of putting beans in their salsa. The most 
popular beans are the lupini, which are large white beans about the size 
of lima beans. Just add the cooked beans directly to the salsa. Use this 
salsa as a dip for chips or as a topping for grilled meats.

Ingredients

2 large tomatoes, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
4 large, fresh ají chiles, seeds and stems removed, chopped or 
substitute yellow wax hot or jalapeño
1/2 cup water
Salt to taste

Instructions

Combine the tomatoes, onion, and cilantro in a bowl.
Place the chiles, water, and 3 tablespoons of the tomato and onion 
mixture in a blender or processor and puree until smooth.
Add the chile puree to the remaining tomato mixture and mix well. Salt 
to taste.

Miguel’s Peruvian Ají Sauce

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I grow a lot of Peruvian ají chiles in my garden every year, and I 
always put aside a large bag of them to take to Miguel, our computer 
wizard friend from Peru. On my second or third trip to Miguel's (it was 
a bumper harvest of chiles), he was having a late lunch with this ají 
sauce over his rice.

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
4 or more fresh ají chiles, seeds and stems removed, minced, or 
substitute jalapeños
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Instructions

Heat the oil in a small skillet, and when it's hot, add the chiles and 
the garlic, lower the heat, and stir constantly to avoid burning the 
garlic. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Simmer for ten minutes 
and then serve warm over rice or pasta.