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04/16/08 |
            
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Spicy Berry Sauce Yields 2-3 c.
3/4 c. fresh raspberries 3/4 c. fresh blackberries 2 T. pickled ginger, minced 1 c. sake 1 T. yellow miso 1 T. sugar 2 T. honey 2 t. sambal oelek 2 t. butter
Macerate (marinate) berries and ginger in sake for at least four hours at room temperature. Afterwards, in a small saucepan, combine all ingredients but butter and heat to a heavy simmer over medium heat. Allow sake to reduce by about 3/4 or until thick like syrup. Mash berries with a fork, leaving a few larger pieces for texture. While sauce is still hot, add butter and stir to melt. Taste for your desired level of sweetness. May be served either hot or cold.
Note from GG: More sauces! That's about all I've got to work with lately, but at least it's something. Many thanks to Benny at work for leaving some cherries in the sauté station (the original version of this used cherries and not raspberries), inspiring me to get some work done. Now lemme explain what's going on here: First of all, it's a spicy dessert sauce. You can't tell me that your guests' heads wouldn't blow up upon seeing a berry sauce on their dessert and then taste it only to find out it packs a kick. That's so freaking cool. Like I said, I originally did this with Bing cherries, but I changed it to raspberries since I thought their tartness would help round out the flavour a bit better. Yellow miso is pretty sweet on its own, and there's not much in here to get in the way of everything else. Butter provides both richness to the sauce and a nice shine. The ginger is there for a different kind of piquant spice than the sambal. What is sambal? Sambal is a generic term encompassing all ground chile pastes from Indonesia; oelek is just a version of sambal, like chocolate chip is a version of cookies. You can find sambal oelek at pretty much any Asian grocery out there, but if you can't substitute something that has heat but not much flavour. Don't go putting Tabasco or Tapatio in here because their vinegariness (a new word!) would screw everything up. I served this sauce warm on vanilla ice cream and damn near died because it was so good. I also served it warm on Ray's warm orange/chocolate soufflé cake, but it wasn't as good because there wasn't much contrast between the sauce and the dessert. I didn't get a chance to serve this cold, so I'm not sure exactly how it'll change. If anyone does, drop me a line and let me know what happens!
This site was last updated 12/20/06 |
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