I’m all about the sauce at the moment. It's thanks to a family friend Dawn, who taught me that homemade ketchup can be good. Tomato sauce is usually a regular item on my shopping list, but it has been struck off since the beginning of the year when I started making my own.
Next weekend a friend of mine is hosting her 30th birthday at a coach house in the country. I have been appointed as one of five chefs catering for the occasion. We will be doing a big breakie on the Saturday morning and then a BBQ that evening, so there will be plenty of good excuses for splashing sauce about.
I’ve got Tommy K covered, original and Bloody Mary style, but what about brown sauce? I know lots of boys (one in particular) who like it splashed all over their breakfast.
I went in search of some inspiration on Google and the search produced a whopping 4,880,000 results. Who knew there was so much to say about brown sauce? I took inspiration for a few different recipes to come up with this, but what makes it Vicky Brown sauce is the addition of apples and plums (the boyfriend likes it fruity) and these particular spices.
The boyfriend was rather startled when I told him dinner was ready and he arrived at the table to a bacon buttie.
“Bacon buttie, that’s an odd thing for dinner...”
Glare.
“... isn’t it?”
“Maybe, but try it. I think you’ll like it”
“Of course, I’ll like it, I just meant...”
Glare.
Gulp.
(Mouthful).
“Mmm, yum! Did you get some of that posh brown sauce I like?”
Mission accomplished.
Ingredients
700g apples, peeled, cored and sliced
500g plums, cored and sliced
1 brown onion, roughly chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
500ml water
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons cornflour
500g muscovado sugar
500ml malt vinegar
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp nutmeg
½ all spice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method
Put the apples, plums, onion, tomatoes, water, and bay leaf in a large heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and simmer until the fruit is soft and tender.
Liquidise the mixture in a food processor and then push through a sieve into a bowl to remove the pith, using a spoon to push all but the most stubborn bits through. (You can skip the sieving if you don’t mind a slightly grainy texture.)
Sift the cornflour into the mixture and whisk it in before returning the mixture to the saucepan. Continue whisking over a medium heat until thickened.
Add the sugar, vinegar, ground ginger, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, all spice, and season with salt and pepper. Leave to simmer over a low heat for approximately 30 minutes or until you have the desired consistency.
Pour into sterilised bottles or jars. Store in the fridge once opened. Keeps for ages... and gets better with age.