2 sauce recipes: all-purpose Southwest tomato and brandy cream

If you need a last-minute solution to jazzing up tonight's meal, look no further than these two tasty sauce recipes.

A two-ingredient sauce is a thing of beauty. This one combines prepared salsa and butter for a seamless sauce that guests will think you slaved over. Use this five-minute sauce with beef, pork, poultry or fish.

Prep time 2 min

Cook time 8 min 

Makes 250 ml (1 cup)

• 400 ml (1 3/4 c) jarred salsa
• 75 g (1/3 c) unsalted butter, cut in piecesBring the salsa to a boil in a small pot over medium-high heat. Boil until most of the liquid is gone, stirring occasionally, about five minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until the sauce is smooth. Serve immediately or refrigerate and reheat before serving.

Everyone knows that fresh is best. But you might not know that fresh salsa is available in most supermarkets. Look for it in the refrigerated produce section of your store. It's sold in tubs and beats the jarred stuff by a mile.

Here's another fabulous pan sauce to serve with beef, pork, lamb or venison. Make this the last step in the recipe after pan-frying or roasting the meat. Balsamic vinegar gives it a dark, rich tanginess. The recipe only calls for 15 millilitres (one tablespoon) of balsamic, so use the best-quality one you have.

Prep time 5 min 

Cook time 5 min 

Makes 175 millilitres (3/4 cup)

• 60 ml (4 tbsp) brandy
• 15 g (1 tbsp) chopped fresh thyme or 5 g (1 tsp) dried
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) tomato paste
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) balsamic vinegar
• 125 ml (1/2 c) heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Remove fried meat from the pan. Pour off all but about 15 millilitres (one tablespoon) of fat or oil from the pan, being careful to leave all the browned bits behind.
2. Place the pan over medium heat and add the brandy. Allow it to bubble gently for one to two minutes, stirring and scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the thyme, tomato paste and vinegar, and simmer, stirring, until smooth, about one minute.
3. Stir in the cream and bring to a boil. Add the salt and pepper to taste, and spoon over the meat.

If you prefer, use chopped fresh tarragon, rosemary or parsley instead of the thyme.

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