My favourite ingredients
Posted by kathryn in Easier eating
A very happy new year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the year ahead.
Over the last week I’ve been working on the Summer edition of An Honest Kitchen. The vast majority of recipe work was completed well before Christmas and now I’m down to the notes and details. Working out which recipes can be kept, either in the fridge or freezer. Can another recipe be made with goats’ milk yoghurt, instead of cows’ milk? Are the method instructions as simple as they can be? I’ve also been testing vegetarian alternatives to some of the meat and fish recipes.
My other major task has been compiling the glossary. While doing this it struck me how frequently I use some ingredients. In each issue of An Honest Kitchen we try to present a range of meals, to suit different tastes. We also focus on the fruit and vegetables which are in season. However, there are still a handful of ingredients which appear in every issue.
This doesn’t mean the food all looks and tastes the same. Instead these are ingredients I find immensely useful. They do more in a dish than you’d expect from one single foodstuff. They make the cooking easier, by cutting out extra chopping time or complex cookery.
These useful ingredients fall into three main categories:
1. Flavour boosters
These ingredients provide instant flavour to a meal. A few teaspoons or tablespoons are enough to give you a dinner which tastes really, really good. Full of rich and complex flavour, without any long-winded or tricky cooking being necessary. Which makes it easier and quicker to cook something delicious.
2. Easy vegetables
One of the common reasons people give for not eating the basic five serves of vegetables a day, is all the chopping and prep work they require. I’ve found there are a handful of vegetables which can be quickly and easily added to many dishes. They require minimal preparation and minimal cooking – an excellent way to boost your daily intake of vegetables.
3. Nutrition boosters
There are also a number of ingredients I use regularly because they boost the nutritional goodness of the meal I’m cooking. They are simple and easy to use, requiring no prep work. However they are nutritionally dense – adding antioxidants, fibre, minerals and vitamins to my food. Therefore if dinner is looking nutritionally empty I’ll add one or more of these, to boost it up.
I’ll be writing about all these ingredients over the next few weeks. This week I’m concentrating on my three favourite Flavour Boosters. I’ll talk about why I like them, how I use them and I’ll be including recipes.
Which ingredients do you use most frequently?
12 January, 2010
Comments
I’m looking forward to the details in this upcoming series. I’m probably not alone in needing a boost or even a few to maintain my energy during a busy work-day & keep cooking a joy rather than chore. (Hmmm…are you going to share the secret flavour in your home-made ice block?).
A couple of ingredients I use regularly are legumes (chickpeas currently outnumber the other varieties in my pantry) & at this time of year, cabbage for coleslaw (I vary the other ingredients & dressings for variety).
I think I use tomatoes most frequently. It’s a rare day that goes by without tomato in at least one meal. More so in summer and now even more so that we have cherry tomatoes in our garden!
1. Tomatoes
2. Eggs
3. Lettuce
4. Pepper in everything!
I have to say that the foods i use the most are:
1. oats
2. bananas
3. tomatoes
4. lately babybel light cheese :)
5. Almond Breeze
6. Fat free low sodium chicken broth
Garlic.
And, come winter and early spring, cooking can be a bit of a slog without ’em.
I once went car camping with a friend who seemed to be able to cook gourmet meals every night. Every time we asked her what was for dinner she’d say “I’m going to start with an onion, softened in a little olive oil”. It’s now my favourite way to start a meal too.
Kathryn, I tried one of your recipes from An Honest Kitchen last night – the gingery beef with spinach, except I made it with paneer as you suggested, as my partner and I don’t eat meat – and it was utterly divine! And so simple! I think I’ll be adding red wine vinegar to my list of favourite flavour boosters, because it really did add so much to the taste! Thanks for such a great recipe, and I can’t wait to hear more about your favourite ingredients :)
garlic! and onion. i feel lost without them in savoury meals. and olive oil. (i just made soup and i forgot the garlic… took me hours to figure out what was wrong.)
Hmmm, onion, eggs, olive oil, flat rice noodles.
It’s really interesting to read what your most used ingredients are. Some, like garlic, tomatoes, onion, eggs, I also use a lot. While others I’m not sure I’ve ever used.
Suzanne – I’m intrigued, what is “almond breeze”?
Arwen, not only is starting your cooking with onions in olive oil a good idea, but your friend’s description is so beautifully evocative. It implies a care and attention, which is definitely not often seen in camping meals.
And Skinny Latte – thank you so much for the feedback on the Gingery paneer with spinach. Isn’t it good! It’s one of those recipes where the vegetarian version is in no way second-best to the meat-y original.
I’m really looking forward to this series Kathryn – it all sounds deliciously foodie!
I have a fairly similar approach to meal planning as you, so flavour boosters like spices and nutrition boosters like a poached egg on top for protein or a handful of beans. The other ‘groups’ I tend to think in terms of are texture boosters (seeds, dried fruit, rocket, these types of things) and fresheners (usually lemons or parsley)
garlic and/or ginger is always a basis for anything i cook.
lemons are definitely my permanent ingredient. i use it in my red pasta sauce, for salad dressings, in curries (juice and rind)
i use yoghurt in a lot of things; add to stews and curries at the end if i want a more rounded flavour. most recently i’ve been using as a salad dressing with a little lemon and or chilli.
over the summer i’ve been toasting mustard seeds or cumin seeds to sprinkle on top of salads or fish which has been grilled with evoo.
another newish item in my pantry is pickled ginger which i use similar to preserved lemon; i add it in the cooking (for a stir-fry) or add it at the end for added texture and bite. it’s great for salads too.
Sophie – fresheners are definitely a category I can relate to. I often find a bit of fresh herb, lemon juice or even a good vinegar sparks up a dish no end.
Deborah – there was a time I used to have sushi train for lunch purely for the picked ginger. I’d eat huge piles of the stuff, but then I do love ginger in any form. Really interesting to read your list of regular ingredients – especially the toasted seeds. Do you pre-toast or make them as you need?
i’m with you on the sushi train front. i think its another excuse to eat more ginger! i toast the seeds as i like to make sure the oils which come through with toasting are fresh as possible. cumin seeds are lovely toasted atop tomatoes drizzled with yoghurt and fresh mint. and the mustard seeds are are lovely with grated carrot and finely chopped green chilli. i find these types of salads easy to incorporate into our week-day dinners during summer.
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