A wonderful all-purpose sauce and mayonnaise substitute; use it for grilled meats, steamed vegetables, even chicken salad. For a milder sauce, reduce the garlic to one clove and substitute paprika for the chile. And there are lots of options for the liquid; the flavors of the other ingredients are so strong that it doesn’t matter all that much. Many cooks simply use a bit of olive oil and some water. Others use hazelnuts, pine nuts, or blanched almonds in place of walnuts; all are good. Be sure to see Chicken with Walnut Sauce (page 278).
Recipe information
Yield
makes about 2 cups
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Put the bread in a bowl and saturate it with some of the liquid. Wait a couple of minutes, then put the bread in a food processor with the nuts, garlic, and chile. Process until the walnuts are ground, then, with the machine running, pour in enough liquid to form a creamy sauce.
Step 2
Add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper and serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to a couple of days.
French Walnut Sauce
Step 3
Omit the chile and garlic. With the nuts, grind 2 ounces fresh horseradish, roughly chopped. (See cautions about horseradish, page 607.) Or finish the sauce with prepared horseradish to taste, at least 1 tablespoon.
