Hot Mint And Caper Sauce Recipes

GRILLED BABY ARTICHOKES WITH CAPER-MINT SAUCE

Steps:

• Make sauce:
• Stir together all sauce ingredients with pepper to taste. Trim and cook artichokes: Combine 1 qt cold water and lemon juice in a large bowl. Working with 1 artichoke at a time, bend back outer leaves until they snap off close to base and discard several more layers of leaves in same manner until exposed leaves are pale green at top and pale yellow at base. Trim pointed tips of leaves with kitchen shears, then cut a thin slice from end of stem to expose a fresh cross section. Trim dark green fibrous parts from base and stem of artichoke, being careful not to break off stem. Halve artichoke lengthwise. Remove fuzzy center and any pointed inner leaves. Put in bowl of lemon water.
• Drain artichokes, then cook in a large pot of boiling salted water (1 Tbsp salt for 5 qt water) until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to an ice bath to stop cooking. Drain well.
• Grill artichokes:
• Prepare a grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium-high heat for gas).
• Toss artichokes with oil in a bowl. Oil grill rack, then grill artichokes, cut sides down, covered only if using a gas grill, turning once, until golden brown in spots, 6 to 8 minutes. Serve drizzled with sauce.

CAPER-MINT SAUCE

Steps:

• Pulse capers in a food processor until roughly chopped.
• Add mint, lemon zest and juice, and shallots, and pulse until the mint is roughly chopped.
• Add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream, pulsing until combined but still of a coarse texture.

HOT MINT AND CAPER SAUCE

Steps:

• Hopefully you will have a baking tray with lovely caramelised juices from the aftermath of roasting.
• Heat the roasting tray on the hob and add a tablespoon of plain flour and stir well to soak up all of the lovely juices.
• Roughly chop the mint leaves and the capers and add to the roasting tray.
• If you have roasted garlic, squeeze a few of the garlic cloves into the gravy.
• Add the chicken stock to the tray, stirring well to thicken, but don't cook it for ages.
• Add a final splash of Sherry vinegar to the gravy, stir and serve hot.

CAPER SAUCE

Steps:

• In a heavy 8 to 10-inch skillet, melt the butter over moderate heat. When the foam begins to subside, stir in the flour and mix thoroughly. Pour in the stock and, stirring constantly with a whisk, cook over high heat until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for about 3 minutes to remove any taste of raw flour. Then stir in the capers, vinegar, salt and a few grindings of pepper. Taste for seasoning and serve hot from a small bowl or a sauceboat.

EASY MINT SAUCE

Steps:

• Put the mint, parsley and capers in the small bowl of a food processor and blitz until finely chopped.
• Add the oil, sugar, vinegar and lemon zest and blitz again until smooth. Season to taste and serve.