Roasted Carrot Coconut Sauce

This is a really quick and easy sauce recipe I came up with on the fly. It is not based on any classic mother sauces, but just a light, simple contemporary sauce. It is a good accompaniment to light meats - such as fish or roasted chicken, as well as a nice sauce for vegetables. It is also good on bread and biscuits. For a sauce I was worried about working out and thought was quite simple, it certainly earned some rave reviews!

Roasted Carrot Coconut Sauce
1 large carrot, peeled
1 can (398mL) coconut milk
1 large navel orange, juiced
2 Tablespoons minced chives
salt and pepper, to taste

Roast the carrot in the oven until tender. Mash until smooth.
Meanwhile, reduce the coconut milk in a small saucepan by one half. 
Whisk together the carrot purée and coconut milk. 
Whisk in the orange juice, a little at a time, until of desired consistency and strength of orange flavor. Whisk in the chives, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes about one cup of sauce.

Next time I make this sauce, I will double the recipe - one batch just isn't enough! My procedure isn't very detailed because I just made up this recipe as I went along. The oven temperature for roasting the carrot isn't important - you can do it in advance if you have something else in the oven to conserve energy - just throw the carrot in with it. If you want the sauce to have a really smooth texture, use a blender to purée the carrot or purée all of the sauce at the end. I went for a chunkier consistency and just mashed the carrot with a fork. The amount of orange juice you add and the amount you reduced the coconut milk depends on how thick you would like the sauce and how concentrated you would like the flavors.