Wa-saucy!

OK, OK, so the title was a really bad play on words...

I am a big fan of making sauces of all sorts. It is actually what I love the most about cooking - mixing different ingredients to see what comes out at the end. I match different textures, flavors, and scents, while imagining what the sauce will do to the saucee - the saucee being the object of affection with which the sauce will be consumed. It is truly one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen.

It is a misconception that sauces need to be high in fat to be creamy. I used to buy into the mayonnaise-as-base fundamentals of making creamy sauces. I recently learned that Fat-Free European-style yogurt works better than mayonnaise with 1/3 of the calorie. I basically substitute yogurt for all my mayo-based sauces and dips now.

Here's one my stand-bys. This is great with steamed vegetables or other crudites.

1 tbs wasabi from a tube
1 tsp soba/udon sauce (I have this as a home-made sauce, frozen; however this can be bought in bottles at most grocery stores these days.)
3 tbs yogurt (I go fat-free, and it's plenty creamy)

Mix well.

And that's it! This is great as a dipping sauce, but it can also be used as salad dressing. As salad dressing, though, the wasabi might be ultra-potent, so I'd go a bit easy on the wasabi. This is also great with grilled scallops; it can even work with grilled chicken if you add a touch more salt to it.

It's so easy, I almost feel silly writing it. But I am hoping that this blog can help The Papa Bear gain independence in the kitchen, which means I must write down even the most simplest of recipes...