Don’s Creole Sauce

Saturday night’s culinary creation centers around my creole sauce, which I worked up years ago after a trip to Aruba where I had a wonderful meal with the local creole sauce with some grouper.

The meal planning actually began with the thought of mussels in a garlic/butter/wine reduction, suggested by a close friend, but the lack of mussels in Colonial Beach area forced a change of direction.

This sauce can be served with any seafood, my standard usually is grilled mahi mahi. But I decided to just see what was available and work from there. That resulted in the obvious need to include one of the area’s most popular seafood, the blue crab. To accompany the crab is a small fillet of blackened, pan seared cobia and a dozen white shrimp.

This would be great on a bed of linguine or roasted veggies, but tonight I went with a sprilized zucchini, sauteed in Kerrygold butter, black pepper and a hint of garlic.

To make the sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 chopped celery stalk

1/4 cup mini peppers (red and yellow)

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 can of fire roasted diced tomatoes (any kind of tomato will do, we always keep a few cans of diced around)

1/4 cup chopped basil leaves (I used a tablespoon of dry so I didn’t have to go out into the garden at night)

1/2 tablespoon chopped oregano

1/2 teaspoon dry thyme

Cayenne to flavor, we used about a teaspoon

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup chopped green onions (I didn’t have any, so I skipped this)

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

Directions

In a saucepan, with a lid, over medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, celery, and peppers. Season with salt and pepper. Saute the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes or until the vegetables start to wilt. Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, and herbs. Continue to saute for 1 minute. Season the vegetables with salt, pepper and cayenne. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and stock. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Stir in the green onions and stir in the butter.

A nice french baguette would be great to sop up the sauce, but I’m still avoiding carbs so I can hit 199 lbs by my birthday in May.

The golden retriever hand towels were a home warming gift from Joe and Cindy DeBiase Yazel.