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Tomato Sauce (Cupful tomato pulp strained)
1/2 cupful tomato pulp, strained smooth; 1/2 cupful finely chopped capers, gherkins, olives and onion; 1 teaspoonful made mustard; 1 tablespoonful vinegar; 1 teaspoonful sugar; salt to taste; a dash of cayenne. Mix all together, bring to boiling point, stirring briskly while it is heating, and serve very hot; poured over or around the fish.
A sharp, chunky relish-sauce of the tartare family, thinned with tomato and served hot over fried or boiled fish. It takes about ten minutes and needs no thickener.
- Tomato pulpHalf a cup of pulp strained smooth means fresh tomato pressed through a sieve to remove skin and seed. Canned crushed tomato pushed through a fine strainer, or passata, gives the same result; avoid tomato paste, which is far too concentrated.
- Made mustard"Made" mustard is prepared mustard from the jar, not dry powder. A smooth Dijon or a plain yellow both work; if you only have powder, use about half a teaspoon slaked with a little water and left to stand ten minutes.
- Chop fine and measure afterThe half cup of capers, gherkins, olives and onion is measured chopped, so figure roughly two tablespoons of each. Drain the brined items well or the sauce turns watery and aggressively salty.
- Salt lastCapers, gherkins and olives all carry brine. Taste after the sauce has come to heat and before adding any salt at all.
- Bring just to the boilThe instruction to bring to boiling point while stirring briskly is about heating through, not reducing. Held at a simmer the gherkins and onion go soft and the sauce loses its bite.
- YieldAbout a cup; the recipe gives no number of servings. It is meant to be served very hot, so make it while the fish cooks rather than reheating it.
Hot piquant sauces built on chopped pickles, capers and mustard were a familiar nineteenth-century accompaniment to plain boiled or fried fish. This one sits between a tartare sauce, which is cold and bound with egg, and a Continental sauce piquante, which is built on a reduction of vinegar and shallot; here the tomato pulp supplies the body.