And I don't really follow recipes either. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I can't seem to do it. You'd think I would be a recipe follower. I'm the only person I know that always reads the instruction manual for anything I ever buy. I like to know what things are supposed to do but the truth is I can't bring myself to follow a recipe very often. My secret, if you can call it that, is to decide on something I'd like to make, and then read every recipe I can find take the parts I like and get rid of the rest. I don't read any food blogs on a regular basis, but I search around for specific recipes and that search can take me to lots and lots of different sites. That's how I've always worked and it's been good to me so far.
It also helps that I'm compulsive when it comes to spices. One of the regular stands I visit at the market is the spice guy. He sells spices for $1.50 a packet. The I've seen the same ones for sale at the super market for $10 each. I had so many spices in bags in the cupboard that I had to go out and buy little jars. Then I had so many jars I needed a rack, and finding no off the shelf spice rack to suit my needs I did what any red-blooded American with a roll of duct-tape and an empty cardboard box would do; I built my own. Behold, the Duct-tape spice rack:
Twenty four little jars at $2 each, and an $11 roll of tape makes a pretty snazzy rack doesn't it? And since I had all that I had to get myself a mortar and pestle to grind them up. And in the interest of full disclosure, there is another shelf above this one with more stuff that doesn't exactly fit in those little jars. I've got at least five different kinds of chili alone. (they all add something different!) And yellow mustard seeds are different from black mustard seeds. Oh and lets not forget about herbs! The bottom drawer of the fridge is full of fresh herbs and if it looks like I won't use them before they go bad I stick them in the oven on super low heat and dry them for later. I'm tellin ya it's a problem.
So I guess the answer, Kate, is yes I can just whip something like that up from scratch, but only because I've done a lot of prep. Oh and a happy accident helps too. When I was cooking the Vindaloo, Melissa offered up a chunk of fresh pumpkin and it was just the thing to put the dish over the top.
Posts
In order to create a fun and delicious spins on familiar foods, you need to do an experiment and familiarize some ingredients to create a one of a kind masterpiece. But lets all face the fact that we cannot do this in just one day of experiment and leaving the kitchen on a great mess. Spice rack can make your kitchen place more organize and stylish.
ReplyDelete