/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I'm trying to make/invent some simple sauces to use with veggies, but more often than not they turn out rather lacking, and I'm not sure how to improve that. The only time it works is when I use stock, but that defines the taste so much it leaves little room to play with.

For example, just now I made a sauce starting out with a blonde roux, vegetable juice (mix of tomatoes, carrots, selery, and more), soy sauce, garlic & onion powder and salt and pepper. It smells very good and a first bite has a pretty good & strong taste, but the taste evaporates almost instantly in my mouth. As if I took a bite of air. I tried adding curry powder and more salt, but it didn't change the problem that the taste didn't last.

Any tips? Simple recipes to start with maybe?