what's your secret ingredient?
July 13th, 2009
mine is pine nuts! toast on a hot skillet for a couple of minutes and add to anything. it's like supernatural or something.
July 13th, 2009
#2
Ground coriander - a tiny pinch of this is a very good chum of soups, stews, sauces and some varieties of cake.
July 13th, 2009
#3
light cream cheese. a super easy and (relatively) low fat way to make things creamy. i've abandoned the bechamel and now use it to make creamed spinach, for example, even instead of cream or milk in mashed potatoes, or an alfredo-style pasta sauce.
July 13th, 2009
#4
Chipotles in adobo! Put a few spoonfuls in with black beans and some variety of stock, lob it in the blender and you have a delicious black bean soup. Also good for basting over boring ol' chicken breasts, tofu, pork or any other meat. I haven't tried it with king prawns but I'm pretty sure it'd be fantastic.
July 13th, 2009
#5
hey cmp did you see this article about sriracha a couple of months ago? - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/20united.html
July 16th, 2009
#6
Smoked Paprika, easy to overdo but it can provide a nice balance to other spices. (Slip some into an adobo, my new favourite thing to do, and you can get a nice smoky flavour in the oven).
Not so secret, but Sriracha (rooster sauce) works for me...
btw, pine nuts and brussels sprouts sauteed with blue cheese crumbles thrown on at the end = deelish...