Start by stewing your more substantial **and expendable** fruits & nuts, (including old grapes, cranberries, apricots, figues, prunes, etc,) in a little clarified butter and grapeseed oil. At this point, you can add a splash of wine or liquor, in such a way that it sizzles. Add about 1/3 the volume of natural raw sugar, and a little molasses, and stir constantly until the crystals dissolve into a fairly consistent syrup. You can then add more (read, ‘finer’) qualtiy spirits, such as Tripple Sec, Kirsch, Remy, etc. That liquor or wine which you added initilly, deeply permeates the fruit, while establishing a secondary flavor. That liquor which you added Last, establishes the top-note, and may be virtually undetectable in the end if the cooking progresses much beyond that.

Needless to say, cooking part of the sauce in this way creates a darker, (more earthen) colour, but you now have a base-flavor (read, fruit ‘stock’) against which you can build a really lively and interesting array of sauces. If you screw up, you just repeat parts of the system day after day, and the best thing about cooking in this way is that you can instantly appease anyone who wanders into the kitchen, (often literally frightening them away from the stove,) with a spoonful of something so wonderful they can’t possibly imagine what it may have to do with the forthcoming meals… ???

Yesterday, I made an Mango coulis, with an apricot-banana undertone & a lot of organic lemon zest. While not very sweet, (due to the Triple Sec & lemon,) it was soooo perfect over a slice of Pineapple-upside down cake, with Buttered Pecan Ice-cream, that I was nearly tempted to write the recipe out.

Try scooping the ice cream into balls and dipping it in the coulis, and rolling them in chopped nuts & refreezing them for later.