Choklit, soss. Choklit soss?

[spudtater]

When the galaxy_girl00 is away, the spudtater will... make silly foods.

1 mug chocolate milk
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili powder

Mix all together, heat in microwave, top with squirty cream. Omnomnom!

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Also have made sauce from scratch both yesterday and today. Not my strong point, but something I really want to improve on. Yesterday's wasn't great — I always forget that sauces need at least a bit (usually a lot) of sugar in them to bring out the flavour. Today's was a huge improvement.

Approximate recipe:

1 onion
~dozen cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
splash milk
knob butter
~dozen frozen pre-cooked meatballs (well, you can't expect me to make everything from scratch)

Chop onion, cover with salt, leave for 15 mins
Heat pan on high heat, add oil, chuck in onions and tomatoes, coat with oil
Turn down to medium heat, leave to cook (stirring occasionally) for 10 mins, or until tomatoes are mushy
Pulp tomatoes. Add sugar, tomato puree, meatballs. Add water if too thick. Cook further 5 mins
Add flour, stir in. Add water if too thick. Add butter and milk. Take off heat, let sit for a couple of minutes. Serve with pasta.

One thing I could use is a method of thickening sauces that doesn't involve flour, which can make things too stodgy and powdery. Am I missing anything obvious? Or am I going to have to be more adventurous with my ingredients?

Edit: have purchased ground arrowroot. Shall try it some time in the future.

Comments

[gominokouhai]

Gah. http://www.kamikazecookery.com/blogs/75

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Ta. Actually went ahead and added white wine vinegar to a sauce yesterday, and it works pretty well. Definitely a trick to remember.

[gominokouhai]

Also, more stuff in the chef's guest post about beurre manié and roux.