All my sauce bases have one thing in common: good-quality chicken stock. I find beef or lamb stock to be a waste of time unless I’m braising a cut of beef or lamb. Even then I’ll use chicken stock as my base for the braise.

My rule at home is I always use a good-quality bought chicken stock for meat braises. 

I make all my bases from a home-made chicken broth using chicken wings. I make this up in advance and freeze in 250ml portions using recycled take-away containers that are labelled and dated. 

Master Chicken Broth 

2 kilograms chicken wings

2 litres of water

1 garlic head (cut in half)

Simmer for two hours over a low heat. Remove the chicken wings, and reduce the broth by one-third. Cool and then store accordingly. 

Shannon's Top 12 Go-To Sauces

1. Chicken Gravy 

250ml chicken stock, reduced by half

250ml fortified sherry or similar

20g French butter

Once your chicken is roasted and rested in the pan, remove and place the tray back on the stove. Take 250ml of a fortified wine, sherry or old white or red wine, and add to the hot tray. Deglaze all the caramelised sediment off the bottom of the tray. Reduce the liquid by half, constantly scraping and stirring with a wooden spoon. Place the pre-made chicken stock in a pan and reduce. Add the reduced liquor from the roasting tray, season well with salt and reduce until it’s a nice sauce consistency. Whisk in French butter. Taste and serve over the chicken. 

2. Mustard Sauce

250ml chicken stock, reduced by half

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped

1/2 lemon, juiced 

1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

Reduce one portion of chicken stock by half, season well, then add one spoon of Dijon mustard, two sprigs of rosemary leaves, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Finish with a spoon of finely chopped parsley. 

3. Brown Butter and Vinegar Sauce 

150g French butter, chopped

5ml of sherry vinegar 

250ml chicken stock, reduced by three-quarters

In a medium pan, brown the butter until golden and nutty in flavour and aroma. Carefully drain off the butter oil from the sediment. Discard the sediment. Take the vinegar and reduce in the same saucepan by half. Add the reduced chicken stock, season with salt, remove from the heat and add the brown butter. Don’t boil or whisk. Allow the sauce to look similar to warm dressing. 

4. Spinach and Tarragon Sauce

250ml chicken stock 

1 cup baby spinach, washed

1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves

1 bunch tarragon, picked 

50g French butter, chopped

1/2 lemon, juiced 

Bring the stock to the boil, quickly add the spinach, parsley and tarragon. Boil for 30 seconds to a minute. Season well with salt. 

Blend in a NutriBullet until beautiful and green and smooth. Add the butter with some lemon juice. Blend again for 4-5 pulses and serve.

This is perfect with steamed fish or chicken. You don’t need to strain it if you have cooked out the spinach and herbs. 

5. Warm Vinaigrette (Sauce Vierge)

100ml extra virgin olive oil

Pinch of ground coriander (optional) 

1/2 lime, juiced 

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 orange, juiced 

4 basil leaves, torn.

Warm the olive oil, cumin and juices. Season with salt and pepper, add basil and spoon over delicate proteins or vegetables. Great for steamed fish or scallops. 

6. Shellfish Vinaigrette 

1 tbsp olive oil 

500g of prawn heads, smashed up in a food processor (pulsed 3-4 times) 

2 tsbps tomato paste 

2 cups water 

1 clove garlic, crushed 

1 eschallot, finely chopped 

2 sprigs rosemary leaves, finely chopped 

1 tbsp of sherry vinegar 

50ml extra virgin olive oil 

Make a quick stock from the prawn heads that have been broken up in a hot saucepan and sautéed with the olive oil for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato paste or purée for 30 seconds, stirring well. Add the water and boil rapidly on high. Cook out for 10 minutes and strain.

Discard the prawn shells, add the stock back to the saucepan and reduce for 2-3 minutes on high heat. Remove and add the garlic, shallots, rosemary, vinegar and olive oil. Season and taste.

Serve warm or room temperate on robust seafood like lobster or steamed prawns, or even roasted fish filets with some steamed fennel. 

7. Jazzed-up Tomato Ketchup (Sauce Bois Boudran) 

My favourite quick go-to steak or chicken sauce. So easy. Just combine all the ingredients with a spoon in a bowl, allow to infuse for 10 minutes and serve. It keeps really well in the fridge using a reusable jar and tight lid. 

150ml Heinz tomato ketchup 

2 tsp Dijon mustard 

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar 

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 eschallot, finely chopped 

4 sprigs fresh Tarragon, picked and finely chopped 

Tabasco, to taste 

Cracked black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

8. Quick-fire Mustard Hollandaise 

100g mashed potato

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 egg

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp sherry vinegar 

Sea salt flakes, to taste

1/3 cup grapeseed oil

Combine all ingredients except the oil in a stainless steel jug or cylindrical vessel. Gradually add the oil whilst mixing with a stick blender until you have reached the consistency of mayonnaise. Set aside and keep warm.

Place into an ISI Cream Whipper and charge with 2 bulbs. Shake well. 

In boiling salted water, cook the white asparagus for 3 minutes, then drain well. Season with sea salt.

I love to serve asparagus with this sauce alongside a great roast meat. Simply release the mustard sauce into a warm serving dish and toss the well-drained asparagus through the sauce and place in the middle of each plate. This sauce can be made without a cream whip gun but it won’t be as light. Simply whisk the egg yolks in a bain-marie until light and fluffy, then add all the ingredients and keep warm before serving. But I do highly recommend buying an ISI Whipper. I use mine all the time. 

9. Nuoc-Cham

100ml fish sauce 

20g caster sugar 

1 clove garlic crushed 

1 teaspoon crushed red chili 

Great derivative of the Vietnamese cooking. Luke Nguyen may kill me here! Place all the ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously for 2-3 mins. Rest in fridge until needed. Great over steamed chicken or fish and vegetables. 

I also love to dress up simple slaw with this. I do a variation where I add 50ml of extra virgin olive oil to the recipe to give it a better viscosity.

10. Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

100g hot-smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped 

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 brown onion, peeled and finely chopped 

70ml balsamic vinegar 

100ml extra virgin olive oil 

In a warm pot, sauté the bacon (ensure that it is chopped to the same size as the chopped onion) for 4-5 minutes in its own fat, then add the onion and sauté for one minute. Add the garlic and then the vinegar, then reduce the vinegar for one minute, before removing from the heat. Stir in the extra virgin olive oil and serve over steak or any meat or a robust fish like swordfish. As a variation, I love to add chopped mushrooms as well. 

11. Broth as a Sauce 

This may be controversial but I sometimes add one tablespoon of pre-purchased red curry paste as well. So easy and so good. 

10g of dashi powder 

2 cloves of garlic micro-planed 

20g ginger micro-planed 

500ml chicken stock

30 ml fish sauce 

Squeeze of lime 

Salt 

Combine all ingredients and then poach a fillet of fish or reheat some left-over meat and some noodles or pasta. Serve with some cut broccoli or green leaves. Again, so easy. 

12. Fish Bone Gravy

400g chopped up fish bones 

30ml extra virgin olive oil 

30g french butter 

500ml fish or shell fish stock 

1 lemon

Chopped parsley or chopped tarragon 

May need some vinegar to taste 

Over a medium heat add the chopped fish bones and add olive oil, butter and now brown the bones, season with salt and a little pepper ( I prefer white pepper) see my video in the glossary 

Once beautiful and golden, deglaze with a splash of white wine or verjus, reduce by 2/3 on high heat. Add the stock and reduce further until you are satisfied with the correct consistency. Season with a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Strain, keep warm and serve with steamed and roasted fish. 

Another great tip is if cooking Clamms take a hot pan and add a spoon of extra virgin olive oil, when smoking add the washed Clamms, one clove of crushed garlic and a splash of white or sherry or even beer place the lid quickly on and steam for 2-3 mins then add the finished fish sauce. It’s delicious serve with some cooked pasta 

Another variation add minced ginger and spring onions.