Diary of a Network Geek

I made caper sauce last night.

So, I tried a little experiment last night. I made caper sauce from an out-of-print cookbook titled “The Book of Light Sauces and Salad Dressings”.
As you can see, it turned out rather, um, well, beige. And, I have to admit, I even added some things to make the sauce more colorful and savory. I even had to recover it from being too thin. Sadly, I couldn’t find my cornstarch to thicken it with, but I did manage the same thing with some arrowroot.

So, here’s the recipe that I started with and how I varied it.
2 tblspoons low-fat margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups low fat milk
2 tblspoons capers
2 tspoons vinegar from capers
salt and pepper

In a saucepan over low heat, melt margarine and stir in flour. Cook approximately 1 minute, stirring. Remove pan from heat and gradually whisk in the milk. Return pan to heat and slowly bring to boil. Keep whisking and continue to cook while sauce thickens. Simmer for approximately three minutes and add capers and vinegar from jar of capers. The two table spoons of capers, by the way, is about half of a four ounce jar.  Cook another minute or two, whisking the whole time. Add salt and pepper.

I served that over tilapia that I’d already broiled with lemon pepper and lime juice with a side of rice.
But, I varied the sauce by thickening it with arrowroot, as I already wrote. Also, I used light butter instead of margarine and skim milk, which may be why I had to thicken it. And, it didn’t smell quite savory enough for me, so I added a dash of garlic salt and several dashes of Old Bay Seasoning. It turned out quite well, considering I’d never done a white sauce before. Next time I do it, I may just add some garam masala or curry at the same time I add the capers. I think that might make a more interesting sauce, possibly for chicken or lamb.

Of course, my dog liked it just fine the way it was when I let her lick my plate.
She’s so spoiled.