Ordered the thyme chicken with zucchini couscous. It comes with a tomato cream sauce. I failed terribly at it! I suppose it’s likely the color is due to not wiping out the pan, but it never reduces or fully becomes a cream sauce. It happened with a red pepper cream sauce a few weeks back, too.
by Fancy_League42
10 Comments
I actually like not wiping out the pan because 1) flavor & 2) lazy. But I don’t remember liking that sauce too much, all others have been fine.
I almost never wipe my pan so the color is always off for me but as long as it tastes good I’m fine with it even if sometimes it’s not “pretty”.
Are you cooking it for the right temp and time? My issue is sometimes I’m under a time constraint and I don’t cook them long enough but other than being slightly runny it’s not really an issue and the sauce usually thickens up when I reheat the second portion the next day or so
I haven’t had too much trouble but I don’t really expect the color to look like the picture I guess. If it tastes good, I’m happy.
I do think though that you’re probably doing good things for the flavor by not wiping out the pan!
No, but my garlic bread looked like it had dirt on it because I somehow managed to mess up garlic butter…. 🤦🏻♀️
I had a similar sauce last week. Mine don’t always match the color because I don’t wipe out the pan. But I think what I see in your sauce is the cream cheese didn’t fully combine. I make sure to leave it on the hot burner even when they say to turn the heat off so my cream cheese melts.
Try using a whisk (use a silicone one if you are using a nonstick pan) to help incorporate the cream cheese, and as someone else said make sure you’re letting the cream cheese heat up enough to melt.
Another trick: corn starch. This is a thickening agent often used for sauces. Just whisk equal parts cornstarch and water together, then add to the sauce and simmer a bit longer. It thickens up nicely without altering the flavor!
The cream cheese is likely the culprit as others have mentioned. We also typically add sour cream to most sauces to lighten them up a bit.
Made the same dish tonight, A few things I do: 1: don’t wipe the pan as others (and you) mentioned 2: use a slightly higher heat. That’s the only way I can get it to reduce. It should be basically boiling (in my opinion) 3: don’t add the cream cheese until you remove from heat. I missed this detail for so long 4: I always add a bit of heavy cream at the end 5: patience is big for these. They don’t reduce fast.
https://preview.redd.it/6sevdqd6uuud1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eeab4d062daa10ada7095c25a636dd39f915322b
HF asks that you add too much water to every sauce, imo. Next, mixing cream cheese this way is rough. Get yourself a flat whisk. And that’s it. The flat whisk is the whole entire secret to becoming a master saucier.