Spicy mint crème fraiche sauce
This flavorful and spicy mint crème fraiche sauce is made with crème fraiche (or sour cream or yogurt), mint, cilantro, parsley, garlic, hot peppers and lemon juice.
Many of the sauces I make are either experiments or accidents, and they usually end up being used for more than their original purpose. This crème fraiche sauce was supposed to have some herbs in it, I was thinking about cilantro and parsley. Then I felt it would need some spice, so I thought about how much I love aji criollo.
So I added some garlic, serrano peppers and lemon juice, and it was good, but something was still missing. It just happened that I had a bunch of mint that I got at the Farmers’ Market, but I had no plans for the mint (maybe some mojitos or some tea). So I added a little bit of mint, and my sauce got better. Then I added all the mint and the sauce was perfect.
I made this sauce to serve with a leek and potato soup for lunch, I love having a sauce to go with creamy soups. Well, I had a good amount of this sauce leftover, and I made some empanadas stuffed with Swiss chard, beet and goat cheese in the afternoon. I also love to have a dipping sauce for empanadas.
This experimental spicy mint crème fraiche sauce ended up being a perfect match for my experimental empanadas. I’m sure I’ll be making this sauce again and will find yet another use for it. This sauce can also be made with Mexican style crema, you can also sour cream in case you can’t find the crema or crème fraiche, or you can make it with plain yogurt for a healthier and lighter alternative.
Spicy mint crème fraiche sauce
Ingredients
- 8 ounces crème fraiche – can also use sour cream or yogurt
- 1 medium sized bunch of mint about ½ cup coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped parsley leaves
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1-2 Serranos or other hot peppers deveined and seeded
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice about ½ lemon
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in the blender and blend well, but be careful to not over blend or you will get small buttery lumps instead of a smooth sauce.
- The sauce will be very liquid after you blend it, but if you return it to the refrigerator it will thicken.
