Chef Isabel
Ajada Gallega
Ajada gallega is Galicia's quick garlic and pimentón refrito for boiled fish, octopus, vegetables and cachelos, with the paprika stirred in off the heat so its red oil stays sweet, never bitter.
Recipe Archive
Sauces & Condiments
Sauces and condiments carry a surprising amount of technique. Find dressings, marinades, stocks, gravies, relishes, and finishing sauces with clear purpose.
1005 recipes
Culinary Explorer
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Recipes
Chef Isabel
Mojo de Azafrán de La Gomera
La Gomera's saffron mojo is a golden mortar sauce of garlic, cumin, oil and vinegar. Toast the threads gently before pounding, and their colour and perfume bloom through every spoonful.
Chef Isabel
Mojo Palmero de Almendras
La Palma's almond mojo is a thick red sauce of dried pimienta palmera, garlic, cumin, vinegar, and toasted nuts, pounded until creamy enough to cling to papas arrugadas without losing its bite.
Chef Isabel
Mojo Picón Canario
Canarias makes its red mojo raw and fiery: dried peppers, garlic, cumin, guindilla, vinegar and olive oil pounded in a mortar to a rough sauce that grips every salt-wrinkled potato.
Chef Isabel
Mojo Verde de Cilantro
Mojo verde is the Canary Islands' raw coriander sauce, sharp with garlic, cumin and wine vinegar. Crush it only until coarse and bound, then spoon it over papas arrugadas or grilled fish.
Chef Isabel
Salsa Bilbaína
Salsa bilbaína is the Basque Country's quick answer for white fish: garlic and guindilla turned pale gold in olive oil, then brightened with vinegar off the heat.
Chef Isabel
Salsa Brava Madrileña
Madrid’s brick-red bar sauce gets its body from a pale flour base and its clean heat from sweet and hot pimentón. No tomato, no ketchup, and no mystery once the whisk starts.
Chef Isabel
Salsa Negra Vasca
Basque salsa negra is the glossy ink sauce made for txipirones, built on onion cooked slowly to deep sweetness, then sharpened with wine and given its dark marine depth at the end.
Chef Isabel
Salsa Verde Vasca
Basque salsa verde is the warm parsley sauce of the northern coast, built with garlic, olive oil, flour and fish stock, then moved in circles until pale green, glossy and silky.
Chef Isabel
Salsa Vizcaína
Salsa vizcaína is Bizkaia in a saucepan: choricero pepper pulp and a great weight of onion cooked low and slow into a brick-red sauce for bacalao, meatballs, or tripe, with no tomato.
Chef Isabel
Ajopollo Almeriense
Almería's ajopollo turns fried garlic, almonds, bread and saffron into a golden mortar paste that gives modest fish and potato guisos their body, richness and unmistakable southern depth.
Chef Isabel
Allioli de Codony
Allioli de codony belongs to the Catalan Pyrenees: boiled quince, raw garlic, salt, and olive oil worked into a thick, fragrant sauce for grilled meat, sausages, bread, and the autumn table.
Chef Isabel
Allioli Tradicional
Allioli belongs to Catalonia and Valencia: garlic, salt, and olive oil worked patiently in a mortar until thick and glossy. No egg, no trick, just slow first drops that make the emulsion hold.
Chef Isabel
Majado Castellano-Andaluz
Majado is Castile and Andalucía's mortar finish: garlic, bread and almonds fried separately with saffron, pounded warm, then loosened with broth to give an everyday stew body, fragrance and a deep golden sauce.
Chef Isabel
Olivada Catalana
Catalonia's black olive spread is three ingredients and ten minutes: briny fruit, good oil and a whisper of garlic, crushed coarse enough that the olive still tastes like itself.
Chef Isabel
Picada Catalana
Picada is Catalonia's last word in a stew: almonds, fried bread, garlic and parsley pounded coarse, loosened with cooking liquid, then stirred in to give body and fragrance.
Chef Isabel
Romesco de Tarragona
Romesco belongs to Tarragona: ñora peppers, roasted tomato and garlic, almonds and hazelnuts pounded into a coarse, deep-red sauce whose body comes from nuts, not from blending it smooth.
Chef Isabel
Salmorreta Alicantina
Salmorreta is Alicante's dark, concentrated base for coastal rice: ñora, garlic, ripe tomato and parsley fried patiently until sweet, brick-red and strong enough to season the whole pan.
Chef Isabel
Salsa Mahonesa de Menorca
Mahonesa belongs to Menorca: egg yolk and mild olive oil worked into a pale, glossy sauce, with the first oil added drop by drop so the emulsion holds.
Chef Isabel
Salvitxada Catalana
Catalonia's sauce for a calçotada, with roasted tomato and garlic, sweet ñora, toasted almonds and hazelnuts, then enough olive oil to make it loose, rough-textured and ready for dunking.
Chef Isabel
Sofregit Català
Catalonia's sofregit is onion and tomato cooked patiently in olive oil until dark, sweet, and nearly dry, the quiet foundation beneath arrossos, fideus, legumes, suquets, and slow guisats.
Chef Isabel
Sofrito Catalán (Sofregit de Ceba i Tomàquet)
Catalan sofregit turns onion, garlic and tomato into the dark, jammy floor beneath rice, beans and stews. Keep the heat low, give the onion its time, and every spoonful does its work.
Chef Isabel
Tomate Frito Casero
The plain Castilian version of tomate frito cooks ripe tomatoes slowly with olive oil and garlic until their water leaves and the deep red sauce begins to fry.
Chef Isabel
Aceitunas Aliñadas Andaluzas
Andalucía's green olives are cracked just enough to drink in garlic, cumin, oregano and sherry vinegar, then left two days until the brine turns fragrant and every bite carries the aliño.
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