Magic Sauce
Magic Sauce
From 101 Cookbooks
Oh magic sauce, how do I use thee? Let me count the ways. Roasted chicken. Baked potato. Scrambled eggs. Dipping oil. Roasted squash. Frittata. And the list goes on.
We initially whipped up a batch of this oil to rub down chicken thighs that we roasted, shredded and used in our fettuccine Alfredo. We had a lot left over so we popped it in the fridge for “later use.” We put a lot stuff in the fridge for “later use,” which is typically just a synonym for “throwing out in 7 days.” But not magic sauce. I pulled it out every day that week until I was scraping the bottom of the jar with bread scraps. The recipe says it will last 3 weeks in the fridge, but I guess if I want to test that out I’ll have to make a triple batch next time.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 2 medium cloves of garlic, smashed into a paste
- 1 well-crumbled bay leaf (hotly debated on a number of websites, but yes, you can eat dried bay leaf – we didn’t die anyway)
- 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon grain sea salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Preparation
- Gently warm the olive oil over medium-low heat in a skillet or pan, until it is just hot, but not so hot that stuff sizzles when you drop it in. Remove from heat.
- While the oil is warming, lightly pound the rosemary, thyme, and oregano in a mortar and pestle. We don’t have one, so we busted out the meat pounder mallet then and just smushed them around a bit on the cutting board with that.
- Stir the paprika, garlic, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, and salt into the oil.
- Add the bruised herbs and lemon juice.
- Use now, or store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. If it thickens when cold, just set it in the sun or on top of a warm oven for a few minutes when you want to use it.
Makes about 1/2 cup.

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