Welcome to guest blogger Deana Sidney of Lost Past Remembered, a blog dedicated to discovering, replicating and adapting historic recipes. In this saucy series she demystifies one of the cornerstones of classic French cuisine: the mother sauces.
Sauce Romaine
In researching for my Sauce Series, I have tried to cover all the classic mother sauces and their permutations but I also find it interesting to present some bygone relics that have fallen from grace and are forgotten.
I came across a beauty in my wonderful book Le Repertoire De La Cuisine (that I told you about HERE) called Sauce Romaine made with caramel, vinegar, reduced stock and pignoli nuts with raisins. It is a member of the sweet and sour family of sauces with ancient roots. One version was made with demi-glace and another with Espagnole (one of the mother sauces). I believe the inspiration for it may be very old. Raymonia is a medieval dish based on the Arabic Rummaniya with a sauce of pomegranate, ground almonds and sugar –– an ancient agrodolce (an Arabic-influenced Sicilian sweet and sour sauce still popular today that’s like a gastrique). Not much of a stretch to go to the raisins and pine nuts of Sauce Romaine. After a 1000-odd years, this family of sauces is still divine with grilled poultry, game birds or pork or, as luck would have it, a small boar roast from D’Artagnan. It’s also fat free, full of flavor and actually good for you with all that lovely reduced stock.
Wild Boar Roast with Sauce Romaine
1 D’Artagnan small boar roast or a pork roast (about 1 1/2 pounds)
salt and pepper
1 T olive oil
2 carrots, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
Brussel sprouts, sliced (optional)
2 t chopped fresh herbs (sage or thyme would be nice)
Sauce Romaine
Preheat the oven to 375º. Toss the vegetables in some of the oil and put it in the bottom of a small heavy pan. Oil the roast and rub with salt and pepper and herbs. Put the roast on top of the vegetables and roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until the inner temperature is 140º.
It comes with a string covering which you should remove but it will spread. It is better to tie it up so the roast cooks properly (so some bits don’t get overdone).
Tent the meat and rest for 10 minutes. Place the vegetables on the platter and slice the roast. Pour any juices that have collected from the roast into the sauce and stir them in. Spoon the sauce over the roast and serve warm or room temperature.
Sauce Romaine
2 T sugar
1/2 c vinegar
1 c demi-glace from D’Artagnan
2 T Sauce Espagnole (optional)
1/2 c white raisins
1/4 c pignoli nuts
Melt the sugar gently in a heavy pan. When it melts and browns remove from the heat and add the vinegar. Reduce it to a thin syrupy consistency. Add the demi-glace and raisins and reduce somewhat.
The sauce will thicken on its own as it cools – the raisins will also soak up some of the sauce so don’t go nuts reducing it. Serve it warm or at room temperature