Marinade for Roasted Vegetables

Because I like to cook with whatever is in the house, I have formulas for some things rather than recipes. A recipe implies that you should have certain ingredients to make the food taste right or to make it work. Most of the time, that isn't the case. Most things have a ratio that will allow you to substitute a whole array of ingredients. In addition to using up what you have around, formula cookery results in some novelty and discovery. 

We like to roast vegetables rather than steam or boil them because the flavor is concentrated and intensified in the roasting. With some of the water content gone and a bit of caramelization, new flavors emerge. The best example of this is how many people like roasted Brussells sprouts, but do not care for them cooked with any other method.

The sauces can be drizzled over the vegetables in whatever quantity you like. I like to drizzle a little when I first put them in the oven and then again about 15 or 20 minutes before I remove them from the oven.

Formula for Marinade

Tang - wine vinegar, rice vinegar, cider vinegar, lemon or lime juice - about 1/4 cup

Sweetness - honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, jelly - especially pomegranate - about 1/3 cup

Fat - butter, avocado oil, olive oil, ghee, or some combination of those - about 1/2 cup

Liquid - broth, wine, fruit juice, water, beer - about 1/3 cup

Flavoring/Umami - soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chili pepper flakes or powder, caraway seed powder, dill weed, mustard, coriander, fennel, ginger, garlic, etc. How much of these flavorings you use is totally unique to who's doing the eating. But all of these are generally measured with spoons rather than cups.

There is no reason not to use the same formula for meat marinade, as well.

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

Jaryd Clifford

Tempura and Ponzu

This stuff is so delicious, and not terribly complicated. It is good without any ponzu sauce, but the sauce is so simple to make, you will definitely want to try it.

I cubed the tofu and set it on a clean towel to drain away excess moisture.

The tempura mix consists of equal parts: cornstarch, nutritional yeast and wheat flour and a teaspoon of salt. (Try rice or potato flour if you don't want gluten.) Use about 1/3 cup of each. 

Toss the cubes in the dry mix and gently lower into hot oil. Used about a quarter inch of coconut oil in a frying pan at medium heat.

 

Fry for 4 or 5 minutes; then flip (carefully) to crisp the other side. Stir a little to make sure all the pieces are coated with oil. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain on some paper toweling.

The ponzu sauce consists of:

Soy sauce - about a half cup

The juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime

A tablespoon of vinegar

And a couple of teaspoons of honey

Drizzle a little over your crispy tofu for a real treat.

Good for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon McLaughlin

Flavor Cubes

 Gardens are producing already, so I am posting this in a hurry because I think it is a time saving idea and an efficient way to handle quantities of produce.

Use peppers, tomatoes, herbs, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and some olive oil to make a sofrito. I like a little heat in nearly everything I cook, so I use jalapenos and poblanos, but you can also use bell peppers and ortega chilies in your sofrito.

Cook the mixture until everything is soft. Spoon it into a Pyrex mixing bowl, and let it cool  slightly. Use an immersion blender to make a paste, and spoon the paste into ice cube trays.

When the flavor paste is solid, remove from the trays and wrap in wax paper. I found this nice unbleached wax paper at Sprouts.

After your pieces are wrapped, pop them into a zipper bag and store them in the freezer.

Use them to flavor rice, soups, stews, stir fry dishes, salad dressing, or any other place where you need a flavor burst.

Rice nearly always needs a little something to make it interesting, and popping one or two of these into the water when you are boiling it will do the trick quite nicely.

The total time for creating these flavor cubes is pretty modest. When the gardens are gone, you will have some pleasant reminders of your summer harvest.

Tomato Based Sauces

We use tomato sauce for a number of dishes: pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, eggplant Parmesan, ravioli, and a wide variety of meats and soups.

In busy times, we usually get it from a jar. The stuff in the jar is all right, but it is possible to cook up something more interesting and more delicious if we use some of our spare minutes to do a slow version of a tomato based sauce at home. One of the great things about creating your own sauce is that you can experiment and another is that you can use up whatever is around. Tomato sauce can be too tomato-y; If you make your own, you can include some balancing flavors and get a sauce that has a little more depth and complexity.

You can use the oven, the stove top or a slow cooker to roast the ingredients. Pieces do not have to be very small since you will be blending the sauce after cooking.

Tomatoes - These can be cooked, fresh, or canned. They could theoretically be dried, but those are generally too expensive for this kind of quantity. Two or three cups will be about right.

Other Vegetables - Bell pepper, squash, carrots, potatoes, celery, parsnips, turnips
You can use an equal amount of other vegetable pieces as you do tomato, but exact quantities are not at all crucial.

Flavor and flavor enhancers - Garlic, onion, leeks, fish sauce, anchovy paste, nutritional yeast, wine, vodka, bay leaves (remove before blending)

Sweeteners - Honey, jams, jellies, sugar, maple syrup
A couple of tablespoons

Spices - Oregano, basil, thyme, celery powder, coriander

Fats and oils - olive oil, sour cream, mascarpone, creme fraische

1. Put the tomatoes, vegetables, and flavor enhancers into a large kettle, cover, put in the oven or on the stove on a medium low heat. Cook these things for 2 or 3 hours.

 2. When all of the vegetables are soft, remove the bay leaves, cool for 30 minutes or more, and mix with a hand blender.

3.Add oils, spices, and sweeteners and stir. Taste, adjust and stir until you like the result.

Other options:

If you make a big batch, you can always pour some into a zippered plastic bag and freeze for later use.

Or you can add some broth or milk, a little cooked rice or corn and make a delicious tomato soup.

Do not spend the last half of your life trying to recapture the first half. Instead, stretch and grow and do bold things, question what you've been taught and generally alarm people with your broadmindedness.

Philip Gulley (adapted)

Orange Flavor

Orange Flavor

Dried orange zest can add flavor to a savory dish or a sweet one. It can be used as an addition to seasonings for fish or chicken or in breads or muffins along with cinnamon or cardamom.

Choose an orange with a nice thick peel and cut the peeling into small pieces. Place the pieces on a baking sheet and let them dry. If you have high humidity, you may need to put them in a warm oven for a few hours. 

Once they are dry, grind them in a coffee grinder and store them in an air tight container. You can do this with lemons and limes, as well. The flavor is slightly more intense than fresh zest, so you won't need very much,

Every single choice is a chance to move toward the life you want.   Unknown

An Infusion of Color

Whether you want to infuse vinegar for a salad dressing or vodka for a cocktail, gorgeous color and delicate flavor can be had very simply. This infusion was done with some chopped cranberries. Pour the vinegar or the liquor over the berries in a glass jar and let it sit overnight in your refrigerator. Strain the liquid and discard the berries. 

The flavor is mild and cranberries are a little tart, so sweetness has to be added with another juice. This drink is made with cranberry infused vodka poured over ice and sweet grapefruit juice. Just a couple of tablespoons add plenty of flavor and color.

Cheers!

The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.   Harry Truman

Spiced, Dried Kale

 Spiced, Dried Kale

No matter how you regard kale, it is easy to grow. And if you or your friends grow it, you might run out of ways to use it. Drying it with a little olive oil and a few spices gives you a way to use great bunches of it in all kinds of places that it would not ordinarily fit. And because of the high nutrient value of kale, it makes a great food additive.

To dry the kale, coat a baking sheet with olive oil, and load it up with kale that has the center stalk removed. Sprinkle on a little salt, chili powder and/or curry powder, and set it in the oven at 200 degrees. It may take a couple of hours to dry. A heaping tray will dehydrate down to the place where it can fit into a pint jar. When it is crispy and crumbles easily, remove it, cool it, and store it in a glass jar.

Now you can use the dried kale just like an herb. 

Sprinkle it in eggs. 

Mix it into casserole dishes and add it to salad dressing. 

Or crush it very fine and use a bit in marinade. 

It also makes a terrific spice for coleslaw. 

Combine it with a soft cheese for a tasty hors d'oeuvre. 

Use your imagination. It has a pleasantly bitter flavor so it adds some umami to your favorite foods.

I used quite a bit of dried kale in this green goddess dressing and it improved the flavor immensely. Any dressing that tends to be a little bland, such as ranch or buttermilk will perk up with a tablespoon of spiced, dried kale.

I have been known to put just about everything into bread, and dried kale works here, too. Some pressed garlic and dried kale makes a mouthwatering bread.

Citrus Molasses

Citrus Molasses

Molasses is typically made by cooking down or boiling sugar cane or sugar beets until you have a thick syrup. In the Middle East, molasses is made with pomegranates, grapes, and dates. So basically, it is a thick, sugary syrup.

I found myself a few weeks ago with more citrus than I could reasonably use. When you live in California, sometimes there is a profusion of citrus. I had made orange juice ice cubes and frozen some lemon juice chips as well; and the table was still piled high with grapefruit, tangelos and other assorted​ citrus.

I began juicing and decided to make a citrus blend and cook it down into a syrup. As it cooled down and became thicker, I added a bit of sugar and a bit of maple syrup. I added the sweeteners sparingly because I wanted the syrup to retain some tang. I started with about 3 1/2 quarts of juice and cooked it down to about a third of that amount.  I added a cup of sugar and a 1/2 cup of maple syrup.

The result is a tangy sweet and sour sauce that I have used to:

1. Drizzle over stir fry vegetables Mix with olive oil and tahini and drizzle over roasted vegetables

2. Mix a spoonful in drinks as a flavorful sweetener

3. Create a marinade for fish using equal parts of tahini, olive oil and citrus molasses.

4. As an ingredient in salad dressing

I keep it in the refrigerator and have shared some with friends. I have not yet used it in any dessert recipes, but I am quite certain that it could be drizzled over ice cream or cheese cake for a delightful burst of flavor.

Any fruit or fruit juice could be used to make a molasses. This simple flavorful syrup can retain quite a bit of pulp so you are using most of the fruit.

The drink pictured below was made with about 1 1/2 cups of fresh squeezed orange and lime juice, 1/3 cup of citrus molasses, and 3 cups water. It is light, aromatic and delicious, and it mixed well with champagne!

Where there is great love, there are always miracles. Willa Cather

Make Your Own

The main reason to Make Your Own is that you will know what you are eating. If you can't pronounce it, you probably don't want to ingest it. These are just a few ideas of things we routinely buy in disposable containers that we can make at home easily.

 
White Sauce or Bechamel

A white sauce is a simple thing to make, but after decades of recipes which read, “Use a can of mushroom soup,” or “Use a jar of Alfredo sauce,” this may have become a lost art. But look how simple it is to make a quality white sauce!

The great thing about making your own is that you can decide what goes into it and you can alter the flavors to suit your particular dish.

½ cup butter

4 tablespoons flour*

2 cups milk**

Seasonings

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour as soon as it is melted. Stir continuously and bring the butter flour mix to a boil. Add the milk and continue to stir and cook until it gets to the thickness you need.

2. For the standard white sauce, salt, pepper and a spoonful of vegetable or chicken bouillon powder will give it a good flavor. You can also add any herbs or spices that fit with your use for the sauce. A few good ones are: parsley, basil, caraway powder, curry powder, thyme, and coriander.

3. To make a cheese sauce, add grated Parmesan and/or Romano cheese.

4. If you want a garlic flavored sauce, add a couple of cloves of mashed, roasted garlic.

*You can use nearly any kind of alternate flour if you don’t want the wheat flour. A tiny bit of cornstarch mixed with water, chick pea flour, or rice flour will work as thickening agents.

**Almond milk, coconut milk or any combination of the two will work as well.
In addition to milk, you can use chicken stock or broth and white wine in your sauce.  The combination of stock, milk and wine will change the flavor. Go ahead and experiment. The total volume of liquid should be around two cups, but white sauce is virtually foolproof and it's hard to go wrong. Once you know the basic formula, you can have some fun. Heat some oil and flour until bubbly; add some liquid and flavoring, and stir. Simple!

White sauce has only a few ingredients and is easy to make. Now, go look on the label of the mushroom soup!

Beer  Sauce!

I make nearly all of my own sauces. The ingredient list on a can or a jar puts me off buying them. Last week, I wanted to make a chicken and vegetable lasagna. I had everything I needed, but when I got to the white sauce, I realized that I didn't have any broth or white wine or milk of any kind. Hmm.

So I grabbed a can of beer. It's not white wine, but I was willing to give it a whirl. I spiced it just the way I would have if I had used broth or white wine, and it turned out great. Scroll up for basic white sauce directions. Just thought you'd like to know!

 
Curry Powder

There are no shortage of curry blend recipes on the Internet, but many of us are still tempted to purchase the tiny container in the grocery store labeled, "Curry Powder." This is an unnecessary expense and an inferior way to get the curry you want. The most common ingredients in curry are turmeric, cumin, fennel, ginger, coriander and chili powder. If you cook very much, you will most likely have these spices on hand and may as well make your own curry. If you are a fan of ginger, you can go heavy on the ginger; likewise with any of the other ingredients.

Supermarkets are a poor place to buy spices. The little containers are kind of cute and handy, but international markets are much better places to get spices. They often come in cellophane packets, but you will want to store them in a reusable glass container when you get them home. The price difference is astounding.

Salad Dressing

Salad dressing is one of those things that we buy in the supermarket almost without thinking for years and years. Once you realize how simple it is to create a tasty, high quality dressing in just five minutes, you will not want to keep on purchasing plastic bottles of dressing made with cheap, industrial oils. When you make your own, you will use olive oil or avocado oil or other high quality, cold pressed oils. 

The basic recipe for salad dressing is: 3 parts olive oil, 1 part vinegar, 1 part mustard. 

Blend this with an immersion blender for 1 minute and you have a fantastic dressing.

Variations on this basic recipe are endless and depend on what you have in your pantry or refrigerator. Other common ingredients are:  honey, a spoonful of jam or jelly, yogurt, herbs such as basil, dill or parsley, tahini, and citrus juice. You can feel free to experiment with salad dressing, because if it goes awry, just add some more olive oil and dilute your misstep!

Barbecue Sauce

 I do not care for the chemical taste of commercial barbecue sauce, so I prefer to make my own. I have a formula for barbecue sauce, but experimentation is the satisfying part of making your own. Ninety percent of the recipe should depend upon whatever is in your refrigerator, pantry or freezer.

The ingredients for a delicious barbecue sauce are not all that specific. The recipe can work with a wide range of ingredients.  You will need - 

1. Some fruitiness: Tomato paste, apricot, peach or mango sauce or any combination of these

2. Some spiciness: Chili powder, curry powder, pepper flakes, sautéed chilies, hot mustard

3. Some smokiness: Any salt or spice mix that has smoke flavoring. These can get overpowering very quickly, so this is one ingredient to add carefully. There is a commercial preparation called Liquid Smoke. It works well, but be careful not to overdo it. Think drops rather than spoonfuls.

4. Some sweetness: Brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, or whatever you have on hand

5. Some umami: Roasted garlic, sautéed onions or fennel or shallots or leeks, anchovy paste or fish sauce

You can also use wine, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, salt, and butter in your sauce. 

Specific ingredients are not as important as the combination of these five flavor categories. Based on these categories, you can use whatever you have in your kitchen to create a fabulous sauce for your barbecued ribs (or chicken, steak, or fish). 

Once you make your own sauce, you will realize that it is truly easy to do and tastes much better than the commercial kind.

Broth

Not only is broth a pretty expensive item to purchase, but it is probably not the quality product that you can get by making your own. Whenever you cook a good quality meat, i.e. organic chicken, grass fed beef roast, local, pasture raised meat of any kind, save those bones! 

Put bones, scraps, and scraping from the roasting, braising or frying pan into a large soup kettle, add 3 plus quarts of water and simmer on low for as many hours as you can. Add spices, herbs, vegetable scraps, salt and pepper. When the bones are cooked clean, pour the broth through a metal sieve. Transfer the clear broth to a container that can go into the freezer if you are not going to use it right away. Use the broth to make soup, to cook legumes or to make risotto. Homemade broth adds tremendous flavor to whatever you are cooking and it also a far superior product to the factory produced, supermarket kind.

Syrup

If you eat pancakes, waffles, crepes, or French toast, you will want a flavorful syrup. Maple syrup is a great option, but fruit syrups are also good to have with your top of the line breakfasts. You can use canned, fresh, or frozen fruit to make a delicious fruit syrup. Peel and core the fruit you are going to use and puree it in a blender. Pour the puree into a saucepan and cook until it reduces to a thick sauce. You can add sugar, honey, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, mace, vanilla, almond extract or whatever seems like it would enhance the flavor. Allow enough time to cool the syrup slightly before serving. It will have a better consistency if it isn't boiling hot when served. A fruit syrup will last a week or two in the refrigerator. 

You can also cook the fruit first along with sweetener and spices, let it cool a little, and then puree it. You may want to return it to the saucepan after the puree for a few minutes to get a more syrupy texture.

 

Almond or Oat Flour

A coffee grinder is a great friend  for creating flour from ingredients other than wheat.If you have almonds - whole or slivered - you can grind them to make almond flour. Old fashioned oats can be ground to make an oat flour. Whole flax seeds are also easily ground. The whole seeds store a little better than ground flax, so it is better to buy them whole and grind them as you need them. 

Spice Blends 

The spice blend with which we are most familiar is curry powder. Although there is an actual curry plant, most curry powders are made with a blend of turmeric, ginger, cumin, fennel, chili powder and coriander. There are a few other commonly used spices used in curry, as well. 

You can also make a Chili Powder blend for adding spice to dishes that you want to brighten up just a bit. Adding straight chili powder can take the dish from bland to fiery hot, and that might be too much for some diners to handle. Combining chili powder with a little salt, some onion powder, a bit of cumin and maybe coriander or caraway powder will give you a blend that is textured and just spicy enough. As with the curry powder, you can switch these ingredients up a bit with no down side.

Sage Blend or Poultry Seasoning 

We usually buy this already mixed in a little can, but it's more fun to experiment with your own spices and herbs. If you grow your own herbs, dry them on a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven until they are crackly. pick out the stems, and crush them with your hands. A combination of sage, rosemary, chives and thyme and oregano with a small amount of mint will give you an all purpose blend that you can use for much more than poultry. Sausage, lamb, pork roast, beef chuck roast, and roasted chicken can be liberally sprinkled and rubbed with this blend. It's also a great addition to meatloaf.

A Happy Holiday Liqueur

Whatever you are doing in the way of holiday preparation, it is more fun if you pour a little of this in your coffee!

You will need:
1/3 cup instant coffee granules
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup vodka
2 teaspoons vanilla


Mix the first 5 ingredients in a saucepan and simmer just long enough to dissolve the sugar and make a smooth syrup.

Remove from heat and add the vodka and the vanilla. Stir and then use a funnel to pour the elixer into a pretty decanter.

If you like your coffee liqueur and your chocolate liqueur separate, you can very obviously make two different liqueurs by using only one of those ingredients in each recipe. Either way, a little of this flavoring in your coffee will cheer you up during those dark December days.