TIP OF THE DAY: Fruit Sauce For Chicken & Fish

June 14, 2015 at 8:16 am · Filed under Recipes, Sauces-Rubs-Marinades, Tip Of The Day

Rare-cooked salmon with blueberry sauce,
couscous, pattypan squash and zucchini.
Photo courtesy Munchery.

One of the easiest routes to a protein-filled, home-cooked dinner is grilled chicken or fish. We often hear from people that they can grill (or poach, roast or sauté) the protein, but because they’re not “good at cooking,” they don’t know what else to do with it.

Earlier this year we published two articles:

Grilled Chicken Or Fish With Salsa

Grilled Chicken Or Fish With Pico De Gallo

Today, we suggest a fruit sauce, the easiest of which, we think, is a berry sauce. You can use any berry in these recipes, and can use them over rice and other grains instead of on the proteins.

If you use larger berries—blackberries or strawberries—slice them first.

If these recipes are a bit too sweet for you, lessen the sweetness with fruit spread instead of jam, substitute cider or wine vinegar for the balsamic vinegar and eliminate the sugar.

RECIPE: SWEET & HOT BLUEBERRY SAUCE

Ingredients For 2 Servings

2 tablespoons fig or apricot jam

4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons chili sauce (we used sriracha)

2/3 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preparation

1. COMBINE the jam, vinegar, sugar and chili sauce in a small pan.

2. STIR in the blueberries gently. If using frozen berries, first thaw and drain them.

3. HEAT over medium low, stirring occasionally (and gently) until the desired heat is reached. We recommend heating the sauce until just warmed, not hot.

RECIPE: SWEET & SAVORY BLUEBERRY SAUCE

This recipe omits the heat of the first recipe and instead adds vegetables—onions and cherry tomatoes—for more savory notes. While berries and onions may sound incongruous, they are great partners when the onions are caramelized.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

1 tablespoon oil

2 small onions, sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup apple or grape juice

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 cup blueberries

1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped

Preparation

Turn the season’s fresh fruit into fruit sauce. Photo courtesy Burpee.com.

1. HEAT the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt and pepper and cook until the onions are golden, about 10 minutes.

2. ADD the sugar and cook until the onions are caramelized, about 3 minutes. Add the juice, vinegar, blueberries and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Then remove from the heat and serve.

MUNCHERY DINNER DELIVERY SERVICE

We typically don’t write about the mushrooming category of prepared dinner home delivery services. They deliver better-for-you meals instead of conventional takeout and delivery options.

It’s not easy for us to cover them because we have a national readership, and each company services only a few cities, or just one.

But we fell in love with Munchery, and you will, too, after scrolling through these photos of the chef-cooked meals that can be on your table. It’s like having a personal chef who cooks in his/her own kitchen and brings the food to you.

Munchery currently serves Los Angeles, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle.

You can try it out at Munchery.com. We love that we can send a gift card to friends and family who are overworked, new parents or otherwise have no time to cook.

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