Mesón O Pazo (If you fancy steak and sauce)

Apologies for the absence over the last few weeks.

I have had family over for a three week holiday and therefore took the opportunity

to visit some local restaurants that I haven't been to in a while.

One of our favourites and one that we always go to when friends or family are visiting

is a small family run restaurant in Las Galletas (Arona, Tenerife) called Mesòn O Pazo.

There is nothing posh or precious about this little restaurant, there are only a few

tables, no outside eating area and paper tablecloths. The menu is fairly basic, nothing

fancy, however if you want a simple sirloin steak in a tasty sauce at a very reasonable

price and you like your portions large, then this may be the place for you.

The steaks are large and juicy and are typically served either plain or with one of three

sauces, pepper, mushroom or roquefort cheese.

Each of the sauces are home made and as with the steak itself, a large portion is served

with your meal.

All these sauces are thick and creamy and are made using the basic white sauce
method. Black peppercorns, sliced fresh mushrooms or roquefort cheese are then added
as flavouring. This restaurant is always a real hit with our visitors.

Here is a photo of sirloin steak served with pepper sauce and chips, a salad is served on
the side (if you can fit that in!)

Traditional Restaurants Tenerife - 'MOJO'

Having lived in Tenerife for almost 24 years now, I have eaten in many a local restaurant.

In years gone by, most if not all the local traditional restaurants served a basket of crusty

bread with a selection of dips for you to enjoy whilst ordering your meal. These dips

typically included:- Alioli, a garlic mayonnaise dip, Mojo Verde, (pronounced mok-ho) 

a dip made with olive oil, vinegar, garlic and coriander (or cilantro) and Mojo Rojo,

also a dip with an olive oil, vinegar and garlic base but with chilli (chile or chili) added to

give a hot spicy flavour. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer restaurants serve these as a matter

of course but you can generally ask for them to be served as a starter.

There doesn't seem to be any fixed recipe for Mojo Rojo or Mojo Verde as every

restaurant has their own versions but all I must say are delicious.

Some additions to the basic dips that I have come across are avocado included in Mojo

Verde and sweet red pepper added to Mojo Rojo, each of these ingredients gives the

dip more body, more of a creamy consistency.

I am calling these Mojos dips, but they work equally as well as sauces and marinades.

I have used Mojo Rojo for example as a marinade for pork and chicken which has then

been simply grilled. Mojo Rojo is a type of chilli sauce really so it works well over chicken

and pork and is delicious with french fries or chips. Mojo Verde on the other hand is

particularly good over any white grilled fish and tuna.

I personally like a hot chili red Mojo and I do like to add sweet red pepper to it also as I

prefer the creamier texture, the good thing about Mojo sauces is that once you have the

basic ingredients you can tailor the flavour and texture to your personal taste.

Everyone should add Mojo Rojo to their list of chilli recipes whether you use it as a chilli

dip, chilli marinade or chilli sauce recipe.

Please check out the 'Mojos' tab for some basic mojo sauce / dip recipes.

Hello and Welcome.

Hello and welcome to Dips and Sauce Recipes.

Dips and sauces enhance our eating experience and can change an otherwise bland meal into something tasty and enjoyable.

Here you will find recipes for easy dips and easy sauces, from mayonnaise dips and tomato sauces, from hot chilli sauces and easy pasta sauces to recipes for barbecue sauce and much much more.

You won't just find recipes here but also the basic 'know how' so that you can create your own dips and sauces.

I live in Tenerife, a small island which is part of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa which actually belongs to Spain. As such, there is not much choice as far as sourcing ingredients, therefore most of the recipes you will find in this blog use simple ingredients that are easily obtainable from anywhere.

Simple dips and simple sauces can be whipped up in no time using very basic ingredients such as:-

Basic ingredients for creamy dips - Mayonnaise, Cream Cheese, Créme Fraiche, Sour Cream and Yoghurt.

Basic ingredient for vegetable dips - Fresh or tinned tomatoes.

Basic ingredients for creamy sauces - Butter, flour and milk for a roux based sauce, Cream for a rich sauce and Yoghurt.

Basic ingredients for a vegetable sauce - Fresh or tinned tomatoes.

What you add to these basic ingredients is what makes that dip or sauce so tasty. The number of flavours you can create are endless once you know the basics.

Healthy dipping sauces  and healthy sauces can easily be made using low fat versions of the basic ingredients.

Of course you could buy ready made dips or ready made sauces and some are really quite nice, however they can be expensive and even though we look at these as a time saver (quick and easy to add to meat, poultry or fish), it can be almost as quick (and a lot cheaper) to make your own from
ingredients you already have in your kitchen cupboard and fridge.