Thursday, April 16, 2009

Recipe: Michael's "delicious sauce"

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I must be in the mood for condiments this month, because after my last post on salad dressing, now I'm bringing you my husband's versatile and elegant "delicious sauce."

Michael claims that he can't cook well in our kitchen because it's clearly my territory. I'll admit that I'm not the easiest person with whom to share a kitchen: I like things the way I like them. So he hasn't cooked much over the 15-plus years we've been living in the same house. But every time we steam artichokes, he mixes up this lovely spiked mayonnaise.

He's been making this sauce since he was in grade school, when a friend's mom mixed oil and vinegar with store-bought mayonnaise and he brought the idea home. The young Michael made it, fed it to his family, and christened it. "Delicious sauce" has been in his life ever since.

"The nice thing about delicious sauce," said my husband snarkily as I was making notes for this post, "is that it's made entirely from non-perishable ingredients, and thus can be made even when you haven't harvested from your herb garden, attended a farmers market, or otherwise engaged in foodie behavior."

Harumph.

Michael points out that this recipe, like him, is very Hungarian: very few actual measurements. Oh, and it's much better on the second day.

Michael's "delicious sauce"
enough for 3-4 artichokes, and also good on sandwiches
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • a good dollop of olive oil
  • a splash of red wine vinegar ("Not too much!" cautions the creator)
  • salt and pepper
  • a few drops of Tabasco
  • a few shakes of garlic powder
In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise and olive oil until the mixture is smooth. Add the rest, taste, adjust, taste, adjust, etc. It's not a science. It's an art.

1 comment:

Robert said...

Sounds incredible. Will definitely try it on some Italian artichokes this weekend!

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