Getting Saucy

In honor of BBQ season, here are three of my absolute favorite, easiest, spend the least time over a hot stove in summer steak sauces.

1. Chimichurri Sauce
The first time I had this amazing little sauce was in Amsterdam at an Argentinian steakhouse called Iguazu. If you're in The Netherlands and you want a steak, go there. At this place, there was on each table a little pot of some kind of olive oil based something. It was savory and powerful and tart. It was strange, all the flavors were very familiar but impossible to pin down. Whatever, it was INCREDIBLE on the meat. I have since learned of the Chimichurri Sauce, as varried in ingredients as in spelling. This is my version.

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1 tbsp + a little more red wine vinegar
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 tbsp Shallot, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/2 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp capers, rinsed (capers, disliked by most people I know, get a whole new lease on life when rinsed of their narsty brine)
1 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a sauce pan, heat the olive oil on low. You just want to warm it.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and gently stir. Add more vinegar for a more tart taste.
   
3. Heat this very gently on the stove, warming it to just the edge of hot.
   
4. Remove the bay leaf. Let cool to room temp, allowing all the flavors to mellow. Serve on the table as steak condiment

2. Horseradish Cream Sauce
This right here is some old school steak mojo. It is unabashedly rich and powerful. You could picture JFK putting this on his steak, or De Gaulle. In its flavor, it is a perfect cool and zangy counter to a nice grilled london broil. For all of its Cordon Bleu pedigree, this sauce is very easy to make.

Equipment
You'll need an electric beater or mixer.

1/2 heavy whipping cream
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 - 3 tbsp horseradish (the white kind, in the jar)

1. In a preferably chilled metal bowl, whip the cream. You are not looking for fully formed whipped cream here. No stiff peaks and standing up on it's own. You want a light, aerated liquid with just a touch of fluff.
   
2. Add the mustard and horseradish and mix. For a spicier sauce, add more horseradish.
3. Cover with saran and chill in the fridge.
4. Serve as a cool (not cold!) condiment
   

Two things -

• Horseradish + Oxygen = really freaking spicy. The longer you leave this out, the hotter it will get. Cover it to tone down the zing.
• You can add fresh herbs to this sauce as well. I like tarragon with this.
  

3. My Dad's Steak Sauce
I remember watching my dad make this for the first time. It was in our mod decorated kitchen in Albany, NY. It was summer and I was about 6. I remember all the windows were open and my dad had just come in from the back yard where he had grilled us dinner. It was comfortably lush and warm and dad just whipped this thing up without a thought. I was so impressed that he just knew what to go in to make it. This is one of the first distinct memories I have of cooking. I've used this super simple yet cannot be beat sauce for the last 30 years.

NOTE - this is a low-key sauce and therefore requires a certain easy going attitude towards measurements.

About 1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup or so ketchup (substitute catsup if applicable)
A couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce
A dash or so of Tabasco
Maybe a cap-full of soy sauce

1. Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a small sauce pan. Just a slow, easy melt
2. Add the ketchup and stir with a whisk or a fork to combine.
3. Add the Worcestershire and the Tabasco and the Soy. Stir. Adjust these ingredients for desired flavor and heat it through, but not very hot at all.
   

"Oh, the summer night Has a smile of light And she sits on a sapphire throne."

Winter is a time for the intellect, for introspection and thoughtfulness. Ssummer though, is a time for the senses and for play, long afternoons of blissful indolence and sweaty nights full of dancing. This recipe requires little effort, minimal time in front of a hot stove and yields a dish that will make you howl at that big summer moon.

I generally don't like summer pasta. Usually it's some kind of picnic salad thing, over dressed with goopy, hyper-tart vinaigrettes, brimming with metallic tasting olives and chalky beans. More often than not, this stuff gets pushed around the plate and then scraped into the bin - an ignominious fate for such a noble starch. My solution is to ditch the very idea of pasta salad there is no need to alter the basic palette of sauce just because it gets warm out. Don't try and make pasta what it is not, play to its strengths - warm, comforting taste, a slightly toothy texture and its ability to soak up sauce.

To this end, I'd like to introduce you all to My Favorite Summer Pasta. There is actually very little cooking in this dish. It places 3 amazing summer tastes in a room and lets them get down. I mean honestly, it is tough to mess up the combo of tomatoes, basil and cheese, especially when they are distilled down into some crazy Platonic realm of ideas, passion and pasta.

Equipment:

• You will need a LARGE bowl. When I have made this dish for 20+ people, I've used a 5 gallon bucket. Seriously, get a really big bowl.
• A lid or cover for the bowl
  

Ingredients
2-1/2 to 3 lbs fresh summer tomatoes - either romas or good beefsteaks.
1 to 1-1/2 lbs Brie
1 big bunch Basil, roughly chopped
1/2 large Onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1-1/2 cups good olive oil
1 - 2 lbs long, wide pasta (fettuccine, linguine, tagliatelle, papardelle)

NOTES:

• These measurements are fairly approximate.What you are going for is a fairly high sauce to pasta ratio with tomatoes comprising most of the sauce.
  
• Cooking Pasta: ALWAYS cook pasta in salted water. Not sea salty, but certainly enough that you can notice it. NEVER rinse your pasta after draining it. This washes away all the starch and renders the noodles incapable of absorbing flavors or sauce.
  

1. Chop your tomatoes roughly - quartered if using romas. Squeeze out the seeds as much as you can and toss them. What you are discarding is mostly water which will only dilute the flavah. Place the chopped tomatoes in the large bowl.
2. Add the basil, onion and garlic to the tomatoes.
   
3. Remove all the rind from the brie and tear it into 1/2 inch chunks. Add this to the bowl.
   
4. Add the vinegar and the oil. Toss everything to mix it all up. You want a bunch of oil. Cover this and let it sit in the sun for at least 2 hours, ideally for 4, giving it a stir every 45 minutes or so.
   
5. When you are ready to eat, cook the pasta to al dente. Toss the pasta with the sauce mixture thoroughly, until the cheese has melted and coated the noodles. Finish with salt and roughly ground pepper. Serve immediately.

That's it. The longer you let the sauce sit, the more intense the flavors. The secret to this recipe is the freshness of the ingredients. Don't cut corners on the tomaters. For a slightly lower cal and lighter tasting version of this, you can use fresh mozzarella instead of brie.