Like most people, my cupboard is full of flavors. Dried herbs and spices like basil, thyme and cinnamon, yummy flavors like cocoa and cinnamon, and spice mixes like steak, curry and Greek spices, all work together to create magic with the right ingredients and a little TLC.
Some of my favorite flavors, though, are hiding in my freezer. While I do have dried, powdered ginger in my pantry, my favorite way of using ginger is fresh ginger root, frozen and grated into all sorts of dishes.
Fresh ginger root freezes really well, and keeps it's gorgeous, pungent scent and flavor when grated frozen into soups, sauces and dishes, especially noodles. In fact, ginger root is easier to grate when frozen, and it keeps forever. Okay, maybe not forever, but cetainly for a really long time. Grated ginger seriously jazzes up simple dishes like chicken soup - with broth, noodles, some chopped green onions and a bit of grated ginger, chicken noodle soup becomes instant adult food!
Lemongrass is another intensely wonderful flavor that deserves a place in every kitchen. I bought some for a recipe last week, used a fraction of one of the stalks and froze the rest. Like ginger root, lemongrass can be grated frozen into many different dishes and soups. Anything that you can imagine adding lemon flavor to will be a perfect match for lemongrass. Again, chicken soup loves lemongrass. Add grated frozen lemongrass to plain rice or noodles, soups, cream sauces (it will add the lemon flavor without the chemical cuddling that lemon juice brings to a milk sauce), even tea.
There are many oils that serve as flavorings, such as walnut and peanut oil. Sesame oil is, hands down, my favorite.
A bit of sesame oil and soya sauce brings the Orient to noodles, as well as rice. Stir fried meat and veggies are wonderful with a dash of sesame oil. It's nutty and rich, and is lovely as a replacement for butter when drizzled onto vegetables like broccoli, cabbage or bok choy.
I think the important thing is to experiment with these flavors. While they may seem a bit expensive, remember that the amount that you will buy from the market will last for a long time in the freezer or pantry. These are flavor additions, and usually only a small amount is needed. Start with a little bit, taste-test a lot and then add more if you want to. What about lemongrass in scrambled eggs? Ginger and lemongrass grated into your teapot with a few green tea bags? Lemongrass in shortbread cookies, or vanilla cakes, or in a salad? Or sesame oil drizzed onto a steak or broiled chicken breast? Really, these are flavors that could be played with indefinitely.
So, what are your favorite flavors? How do you use them to make ordinary foods taste extraordinary?
I want to know!
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