A family dish with sauce like at grandma’s

The basics of the family dish

Generous, comforting, easy to share, and without frills, the family dish is all of that at the same time! Able to appeal to all generations, it can be vegetarian, meat, seafood or cheese. Whatever recipe you choose, it must respect the right balance between proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, to provide our body with all the energy it needs. Especially if there are children at the table who are growing and exercising a lot.

To read: 20 slow-cooked winter dishes to scent the whole house

The art of sauce

Sauce can sometimes impress. With many classic sauces like wine sauce, béarnaise, Mornay, Nantua, French cuisine has elevated sauce to a work of art. While some require long hours to obtain the right consistency – in the case of simmered dishes – others require less technique and are easy and quick to make.

The ingredients of pretty sauces

Coconut milk, whipping or vegetable cream, tomato coulis, broth, all these ingredients are an ideal working base for a gourmet sauce, to be prepared in record time. If we have more time, we rely on the béchamel sauce and the roux, as the basis of the sauce for our dish. To spice it up, we trust the headliners: garlic, onion, spices, and aromatic herbs.

The sauce, the right consistency

The sauce is perfect when it is neither too liquid nor too thick – it is not puree – it should be smooth. Often, the sauce is the last thing that is adjusted before serving. Yes, but here it is, how can I make up for my sauce if this is not the case?

My sauce is too liquid, what should I do?

You added too much liquid to your pot and your sauce is too thin. The first thing to do is to remove the solid ingredients (cooked pieces of meat, vegetables, etc.) and leave only the liquid. Then, turn the heat up high so that the water evaporates and your sauce concentrates in taste and loses volume. Be careful, with this technique, you must monitor your pot to obtain the right consistency and not burn your pot.

My sauce is too dense, what should I do?

By adding a little water, broth, or cream, in theory, the sauce should thin out and be more liquid. But diluting with a liquid also means diluting the taste, so you should always taste at the end of preparation to check that the seasoning is still balanced.

Now that sauce no longer holds any secrets for you, we can reveal our 20 favorite family dish recipes with sauce.