Bolognese Sauce (Meat Sauce)

Ingredients:

2 medium onions, finely chopped

4 celery ribs, finely chopped

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 pound chopped bacon

1 pound ground veal

1 pound ground pork (not lean)

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1 cup whole milk

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup water

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Direction:

Cook onions, celery, carrot, and garlic in oil in a 6 to 8 quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add bacon, veal, and pork and cook over moderately high heat, stirring and breaking up lumps, until no longer pink, about 6 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste, milk, wine, water, and thyme and gently simmer, partially covered, until sauce is thickened, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Add salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Sauce may be made 2 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, before chilling, covered. Frozen, it keeps for 1 month.

Based on recipe from Epicurious.com

Béchamel Sauce

As a mother sauce, Béchamel sauce is used in so many dishes, either on its own or combined with other sauces. It is hard to imagine Lasagna, Cannelloni or Manicotti without this creamy sauce. Just add some grated Gruyere or other melting cheese and you have a Mornay sauce.

Ingredients

5 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups milk

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Directions

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg, and set aside until ready to use. This sauce freezes well.

Teriyaki Sauce

This is most versatile of all Japanese sauces. Great with fish, meat, poultry and vegetables. Make larger amount and keep in refrigerator for later use. If you reduce it by half through slow simmer it will become a teriyaki glaze.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine) or 1/3 c. honey and 1/3 c. sake

1 cup soy sauce

4 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/3 cup white sugar

7 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 dash red pepper flakes

Method:

Bring Mirin or honey-sake mixture to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour in soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar. Season with garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and black pepper; simmer an additional 5 minutes. Strain and store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.

Melted Onions

4 large Vidalia or white onions, thinly sliced

¼ cup olive oil

1t. sea salt

Heat oil in a saucepan then add onions and salt and sauté uncovered till soft, about 15 minutes. Cover with circle cut out of parchment paper to fit pan (cartouche), lower the heat to low and cook for about 4 to 5 hours. The onions will have consistency of a jam or spread.

You start with what looks like a lot of onions.

Cover with cartouche, turn heat to low and stir every 1/2 hour.

And, that's it!

The Saveur says that onions will be reduced by half. To me it looks like being reduced by 80%, at least. But, well worth it for sure. The taste is so sweet and deep. I can imagine what an incredible soup this would make. Looks like a next project.