During the first stage of the cooking process, I had really high hopes. The tequila and lime reducing made my whole apartment smell like toasty Margarita. Mmm.
Things started to go a little wrong when I added the cream. It curdled instantly. Not terribly, but enough that I thought I might have to toss the whole attempt. I was worried that I would have to switch to my backup recipe No Bake Margarita Cheesecake (is it just me, or does this sound like a glorified jello shot?) Thankfully, this effect went away as the cream reduced, and once I added the butter the sauce was nice and creamy. Phew.
But that still left me with one major problem. Way too limey. A little white pepper and a lot of salt helped (no salt called for in this recipe? That wasn't going to work.), but it was still all about the lime.
I completely skipped the corn starch step because once I had reduced the sauce by 1/2 it was definitely thick enough for pasta.
The recipe suggested adding chicken or seafood, so I decided to sautée portabello mushrooms to go on top.
After the pasta overkill incident of Pasta Sauce Not From A Jar, I played it safe and only made enough pasta for the night and dished the sauce out on top.
The tomatoes and green onions helped balance the lime, and the portabella mushroom was a huge improvement. And I added a lot of Parmesan cheese on top. But, sigh, still too much lime.
I still felt like it had potential. I think this sauce could be really good 1) with about half as much lime juice, 2) with fresh lime juice--I regret wussing out and going with RealLime, 3) on fish (and even then maybe with less lime).
Clearly I am better at drinking alcohol than cooking with it.
Update: The next night I tried making it with way less lime (only about 1/8 cup because that was what I had) and it turned out MUCH better. Yay!
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