Caper sauce is a sauce made from the salted or pickled caper bud or caper obtained from the caper plant. The term caper sauce is used to refer sauces prepared using caper as a base ingredient or one of the flavoring ingredients. This sauce is typical to Mediterranean and Middle East cuisines and it is served with fish, roast vegetables, meats and pasta. The sauce originally does not contain mayonnaise, but the American version of the sauce contains mayonnaise, sour cream, white vinegar, Dijon mustard and capers along with some salt to taste.

Classic Caper Sauce Recipes

• Lemon caper sauce – This is one of the popular types of caper sauces prepared using ingredients like lemon juice, capers, lemon zest, butter, and garlic. Garlic is sautéed in butter and cooked with remaining ingredients. The sauce is served after garnishing with parsley. The sauce is usually drizzled over broiled or grilled chicken breasts, tuna steaks or salmon fillets. The salty flavor of this sauce also pairs well with pastas and some selected fishes. This sauce can be prepared easily and refrigerated.  Sometimes ingredient like dill is added for an extra flavor.

• Caper Cream Sauce – Capers are also used in some rare variations of cream sauce. This kind of sauce is usually used for dressing fishes and roasted meats.  Mustard caper sauce is a popular variant of creamy sauce which is prepared using mustard and caper as base ingredients. Butter and lemon juice are the other ingredients used in the preparation of sauce. Butter, lemon juice and mustard are sautéed together and cooked with caper. This sauce is generally served - over cooked broccoli.

• Puttanesca – This is a very popular Italian pasta sauce which is prepared with tomatoes and capers. This sauce is prepared using pasta, olive oil, garlic cloves, chopped tomatoes, anchovy fillets, tomato paste, capers, Greek olives, and crushed red pepper. Pasta is cooked al dente in salty water and kept aside. Garlic cloves are sautéed in oil until brown and cooked with rest of ingredients. Pasta is tossed with sauce before serving.

• Caper Tomato Sauce – This sauce is typical to the Provence region of South Eastern France. It is prepared using tomatoes which are roasted for bringing out their sweet and intense flavor. This sauce is usually teamed with pastas and is flavored with herbs. Extra virgin olive oil, onion, garlic cloves, capers, tomatoes, salt, sugar, thyme leaves, basil leaves, are required to make this sauce. The sauce preparation begins by sautéing onion in olive oil and other ingredients are added to it in gradual manner and cooked. The seasonings of the sauce are adjusted as per the taste preferences. The sauce is served hot or cold with baked halibut. This recipe was published in Recipes for Health: The Seafood Conundrum, 2009 issue.