Plum in spaghetti sauce? Shhh, is secret chef-Kansas City Star

White Pepper tart fruit? Black beans in your brownies? Plum in pasta sauce?

Yes-but would never know.Cooks using these tricks aren't trying to fool diners; you are simply trying to wow them and sometimes the path to the culinary wow contains secret or two.

Secret ingredients are tested trick as Maureen Pothier, presiding over the program art culinary Johnson & Wales University in Providence, r.i.one already enabled for any of several reasons, but usually a taste, or add complexity reduction of fat and moisture.

Witness the popularity of cakes with ingredients such as mayonnaise or sauerkraut.

Some tips are passed down (Pothier learned to add cocoa to the Lamb with a mentor), and some are invented.

"How to grow in their kitchen champions career, they start experimenting with lots of different things and sometimes these things end up not too obvious," says Pothier. " As you go, get more legal certainty and of what works and doesn't. "

Consider tomato sauce She served at home and in restaurants in Providence owned the ship with her husband for 18 years, Bluepoint Oyster Bar Restaurant.Pothier was taking way counteract acidity tomato sauce when she remembered, if it were that prominently featured prunes. That sauce was sweet and she has unexpectedly sweet.But took lessons.

"Knowing that it is going to throw the sugar in my food, I looked for alternatives," she said."Plum got tossed in one day and it worked."

Pothier also adds a dash or two of white pepper in the cream filling for crumbs clementines. white Pepper, she said, adds another dimension to the fruit and its flavor is slightly more complicated.

Two Warnings: A little secret component usually goes a long way and be careful of allergies.

"You don't want to use peanuts as secret, because they are simply too many nut allergies there," says Pothier. "Or shellfish. "Be bold But be careful.

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Sauce tomato surprise

This Spicy sauce with prunes is adapted from a recipe by Maureen Pothier Johnson & Wales University cooked pasta. Serve over your choice.

Makes 8 servings

olive oil with 3 tablespoons

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 can whole tomatoes Plum (28-ounce)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

chopped plum 8 to 10,

1 bay leaf

Spoon 1/4 to 1/2 crushed red pepper flakes

Tablespoons Chopped fresh Basil 1 1/2 or 1 teaspoon dried

2 tablespoons Chopped fresh Parsley

1 Teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

Heat olive oil in a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat; Add onion; Cook, stirring often, until softened, 4 minutes, add garlic; Cook, stirring by 1 minute.Add tomatoes, tomato paste, dried plums, red pepper and bay leaf.Heat to boiling; reduce heat to simmer.Cook, stirring frequently, 1 hour.

Add Basil and parsley; simmer 2 minutes.Remove bay leaf.Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Per serving: calories 139,

33 percent of calories from fat, 5 grams of fat, saturated fat 1 gram, 1 mg cholesterol, 22 grams of carbohydrate, protein, 3 grams, milligrams of sodium, 685 5 grams of fiber.

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Clementines cream tart

Makes 8 servings

Pastry cream:

3 whole eggs, plus 1 yolk

1/2 cup of sugar

White Pepper 1/4 teaspoon

1/4 teaspoon salt

All-purpose Flour 1/2 cup sifted

1 tablespoon sifted

cornstarch

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier

Tart:

2 clementines, peeled, produced

3 tablespoons orange liqueur

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 cooked crust tart 9 to 10 inches

Combining whole eggs, egg yolk, sugar, white pepper and salt in a bowl mix. Combine cornstarch sifted flour and separate lavatory. Sift flour mixture over a mixture of three eggs; gently Fold. Repeat for mixing all flour to egg mixture.

In the meantime, heat milk to simmer in heavy pot, approximately 5 minutes slowly add the hot milk to the mixture of eggs, stirring gently heat the mixture into the egg mixture into saucepan. Return; Cook, stirring, over medium heat until the mixture to the boil and Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring., 3 minutes; remove from heat. Whisk in butter for inclusion. Mix orange liqueur. Place plastic wrap directly on top of cream; cool completely in the refrigerator, approximately 1 hour.

Clementine segments Tarte place, orange liqueur and white pepper casserole. Heat over high heat to boiling. removed the Pan from the heat, cool in the pan to room temperature, about 15 minutes, pour the liquid clementines by strainer cream pastry, reserving clementines. place the pastry cream tart shells. Decoratively spread clementines above the upper.

Per serving: calories, 351

46 calories from fat percentage, 18 g fat, saturated fat, 11 grams 149 milligrams cholesterol, 39 grams of carbohydrate, protein 8 grams, 207 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of fiber.

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TO RECIPES SEE D4