Sauces with no dairy or tomatoes...?

[hwhite6]

I need some inspiration for sauces/meals that are df (& sf) but also do not contain tomatoes (or kidney beans for that matter!)
Hubby needs a benzoate free diet, as well as the kids being df & sf, so I'm just at a loss right now...

The 'no-no's of benzoate free include: Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, sage, cassia, cocoa, Cod, all dried fruits, all berries, all stoned fruit, papaya, avocado, pumpkin, kidney beans, soya, spinach, tomato (purée & cooked mainly, raw ok apparently) & tea! All artificial preservatives, most fizzy drinks.

So he's allowed plain & boring meat, veg, spuds, pasta & rice... Just the type of meal my boys won't touch with a bargepole :(

So any idea of sauces I can make that we can all eat (please)?

make your own pesto for pasta?
big bunch of basil, nuts of any kind, salt, garlic, olive oil. I add some nutritional yeast to mine in place of cheese and for extra nutrients

in fact, pasta with pesto and raw cherry tomatoes is nice

you can make a reasonable white sauce with almond/oat/soya milk.
curry with coconut milk or dairy-free milk

Pesto?

Curry spices/paste with stock/water

What about a non-dairy creamy sauce?

Gravy - meat juices/fat with some thickener.

What do your boys like to eat? CAn you work some of their favourite stuff into an appropriate format?

Also think about hollandaise/bearnasie/mayonnaise type things perhaps?

Thank you, some great suggestions. If I use 'single spices' I can do curries again, they all like that.
"White" sauces don't really go down well with anyone... Grr!

Annoyingly the fav meal is chilli con carne. That'll need a massive revamp! I need to find a "red" sauce for spag bol too...
Will def try the pesto though, that sounds yummy

i would maybe continue to make regular chilli and spag bol for the boys but do half the mince differently?
i wonder if you could make a kind of chilli that's just flavoured mince but without the tomatoes? add your regular spices and maybe some stock?

for a 'red' sauce- can you start with roasted & pureed red peppers.

Or for mince what about wine/stock boiled down. You could use dried potato as a thickening agent if you needed it.

Piri piri sauce is dead easy - roast 2 red peppers until black so you can remove skins and seeds (or use a jar so this is done for you), put in a blender (stick is fine). Add chilli to taste (I use 2 red no seeds, which is pretty mild), glug of olive oil and red wine vinegar, 2 cloves garlic and whizz up.

Make slits in chicken drumsticks and rub in tsp dried oregano, tsp sweet or hot paprika some salt and lemon juice, bung in fridge for at least an hour (I have done in AM and left all afternoon). Put sauce on chicken and bung in oven until well cooked, baste a couple of times. Lovely with rice and mixed veg.

You can also do a similar sauce for pasta, but with almonds. If you google red pepper pesto there are a few versions.

I was also thinking salsa to liven things up a bit as that's all raw.

Good luck, sounds tricky!

A great recommendation from another thread - sacla aubergine pesto - it's dairy free and I have it most days now.
I'm breastfeeding DD who is I think CMPI and has acid reflux, so I'm DF but also avoiding tomatoes and peppers, and spicy food (which I love). I honestly don't know what sauces to cook...

I'm actually getting excited about cooking again!
(I so need a real life!)
Thank you everyone :)

Hi hwhite6, I found this sauce fantastic for when dd had to stay off tomatoes. It had been posted on mumsnet previously. We made it with butternut squash which may not be any good in your circumstance but it does say you can make it with carrots.I used to make up two batches at once and freeze in usable quantities. Ice cube ones for adding several to individual/childs portion of egg noodles ect, or other larger containers for family portions. We left out soy sauce, miso or tamari and cornflour............

Very Versatile "Nomato" Sauce

If you crave a tasty red sauce, but, like many IC patients, you cannot tolerate tomatoes, this recipe has the potential to make your taste buds very, very happy! We have tried this sauce a number of ways, and have found it to be very versatile. Use on pastas, pizza shells, or as a "mock" salsa. Sprinkle a mild, "IC friendly" cheese (we used feta) on top of whatever dish you decide to create for taste appeal.

Basic Sauce Ingredients:

6 carrots (You can use 6 cups of butternut squash instead of carrots for a sweeter, more orange sauce. Or, try using 1/2 of each.)

1 beet, small

1 onion, quartered (If you are sensitive to onions, reduce the amount used, or try substituting green onions or chives. If you are still bothered by these, leave them out of the recipe, and add onion powder or onion salt at the end of preparation.)

1 celery stalk, sliced

1 bay leaf, whole

1 1/2 cups water

Sautéed Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 small onion, minced

1 teaspoon dried basil or dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons olive oil or sesame oil

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons soy sauce, miso or tamari (If you cannot tolerate soy products, just add a teaspoon of salt.)

2 heaping tablespoons kuzu or cornstarch (We found that our sauce was so thick that we did not have to add any thickeners.)

For variety:

Sauté any of the following - mushrooms, olives, meats, chicken, seafood, veggies - anything you would include in your favorite tomato sauce recipe that your bladder will tolerate. Add to the sautéed ingredients. Let your imagination run wild!

1. Place the Basic Sauce ingredients in a pot and boil, covered, for 30 minutes. Puree in a blender. Add water, if needed, until mixture has tomato sauce texture.

1. Sauté garlic, onions, and herbs for 5 minutes in olive oil. Add parsley, and sauté 10 minutes more.

1. Add Basic Sauce and bring to a boil. Then, cover and simmer 10 minutes to blend favors. Season with salt, or more of your favorite herbs, to taste.

1. Place kuzu or cornstarch in a small container and add water slowly while stirring. Stir until thoroughly dissolved in all the water. Add to sauce while it cooks, stirring until thickened.

"Thatsa nica Sauca!"

When DS couldn't have tomatoes I used to make a red sauce for spag bol and chilli using pureed beetroot (the cooked vacuum packed stuff, not the jarred vinegar kind) and grated carrot. You wouldn't notice the difference in taste.

I also make a sauce by making a roux using dairy free marge and flour and add stock to make it to a sauce. This works well in chicken pie or dishes like chicken supreme.

I also use oatly cream as a sauce for pasta with smoked salmon trimmings or ham and peas.

Thank you everyone. I've been told butternut squash is a likely no, but they use sweet potatoes instead, so it's all go when mr ocado delivers my shopping! I'll just have to cook it up when hubby is on day shift, there's no way on earth he'd openly eat beetroot!
What he doesn't know... :-)

A Thai green curry if you make your own, slightly doctored, paste? Coconut is a great dairy substitute, we make an awesome coconut rice pudding too.

Another thought, it's not a sauce but if you put a lightly poached/fried egg on pan fried veg, meat and potato then the yolk almost becomes a sauce. It is certainly good for dipping!

It's not a sauce but you could still make a nice frittata with a pimped salad (bacon bits, pine nuts, salad dressing for the kids etc). Slowly (ie over 25 mins sauté the onions and 0.5cm slices of new potato in oil until tender then add garlic and after 5mins the egg to bind.

What about old fashioned casseroles with an ale base?

Sausages in cider?

Damn, I'm getting hungry again now!

God this is hard! I have been up all night thinking about this (thank you 16wk dd for kindly keeping me company!)

The only other idea I have is a pea sauce for pasta. Sauté onion or leek, add peas, lots of mint, chicken stock and a bit of non dairy cream then blitz.

Just one more thought, have a look on allrecipes.co.uk You can do an advanced search and look for recipes that don't have all the ingredients you list in. I found it very handy when trying to plan meals for dairy, soy, egg and gluten free meals. It isn't easy making everyone happy!

A watercress sauce for salmon? You would have to substitute the lemon for another acid though.

Thank you veronica, sorry it kept you awake though...

I've done a lovely pork in cider (with apples & sweet potatoes) in the slow cooker today, it's delish! The boys are screaming through the whole 'dinner time' process. Guess they don't like it then! (They're probably over tired, up in the night and for the day before 6am, so yes they're knacked!). I tell ya, daddy had better eat it when he gets in from work, or mummy will not be amused!

check out salsa verde, tahini sauce, and tarator sauce.

Great thread! I am definitely going to use some of these ideas!