There are some foodstuffs I can't imagine being without. I can't conceive of a dish without some type of allium - whether it's onions, shallots, leeks or garlic. As soon as I slice, dice or grate these little beauties and set them to sauté in a pan of butter or oil I know that dinner's begun. And the scent... mmmmm... that's what cooking's all about.I'm also partial to a wee sprinkle of salt - the pink flakes from Murray River are currently sitting in an antique glass pickle jar next to my stove, and I can't imagine enlivening a dish without crushing the flakes between my fingertips and allowing their bittersweet tang to coerce any recalcitrant flavours from a meal. Similarly with peppercorns - a find grind is the punctuation point that concludes my preparations.
Lately I've been using nuts, just a few, in salads and on veg - I love their yielding crunch. Whether raw, dry roasted or baked with herbs and spices, nuts add vitamins, minerals and that certain something to a dish.
When it comes to citrus I just can't get enough. Grating zest or finely slicing slivers, squeezing the juice - that bittersweet tang works well with any meat - or veg for that matter.
I get itchy and twitchy if I don't have the essentials on hand - lots of 'em. Flours, vinegars, oils, mustards, sugars, syrups, spices, herbs... No wonder I have more shelving space in my pantry than in my entire kitchen... Ah variety, you spice up my life.
Everytime we have moved, the kitchen and it's amount of storage space or potential storage space (can I put up shelves, is there room for a rack, etc) has been the deal breaker. You know, not what the bathroom is like, or if it has air conditioning and allows pets, nope. It's the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteMy mother thinks salt is the devil and basically won't salt anything. I've tried explaining to her that the levels of sodium in a dish have little to do with a sprinkling of salt in a home cooked meal versus prepackaged/teakeout/fast food. She always cringes that I salt things while cooking, but I rarely ever have to afterwards.
I'm a citrus freak too. Do you toast your nuts before putting them in salads? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Generally, I like them better toasted though.
In salads it depends on the nut and how fresh it is. I buy and use them regularly, and store them in the fridge, so I often just tumble them over the salad before serving. Pine nuts however, must always be toasted!
ReplyDeletePS - am loving that sunhat!