Flavor Boosting Tips

When you don't have a lot of ingredients to begin with, it's important that you make the ingredients you do have work for you. The following are a few tips to help you boost the flavor of any dish you're making.

Homemade Veggie Stock

Soup stocks are fairly simple creatures that can be made with any number of ingredients on hand. While beef and chicken stocks use bones, vegetable stock can be made with just about any vegetable scraps you have.

Save those onion skins and end pieces, the peeled skins of carrots and cucumbers, the tips of asparagus, celery, zucchini, radishes; the pieces of smashed garlic left in the garlic press, the mushroom stems, etc. All of these, instead of making their way to your trash or compost bin, can first be used to make a wonderful vegetable stock.

How to Make the Perfect Soft Boiled Egg

Soft boiled eggs are the simplest thing in the world to cook—unless you get easily distracted (like me), then they may prove to be rather illusive.

There are four simple rules:

One Ingredient Ice Cream

This recipe was popular a few months back, making the social network circuit. It's simple, easy to make, and good (if you like bananas). And, of course, the only ingredient is bananas.

Preparation:
Peel and slice however many bananas you like.  Place the slices on a tray and put into the freezer for 1-2 hours.

Remove from the freezer and place banana slices in a blender or food processor.  Blend until ice cream begins to form, scraping down the sides as you go.  There's just enough fat in bananas to give them the creamy smooth texture of ice cream.

Serve cold or freeze.

You can experiment with this recipe by adding in different ingredients (Honey, Peanut butter, cocoa, etc).

Banana Fritters

As I have a bunch of overripe bananas, I thought I'd stir up some banana recipes. Of course, the obvious is Banana Bread, but I thought I'd go for the more exotic or fun recipes.  This one, called Kuih kodok or godok pisang, is basically a banana fritter, and is easy to make with few ingredients.

Ingredients:

8-9 ripe bananas
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
oil for frying

Preparations:

1. In a medium bowl, mash bananas (you can use a fork, or a bean or potato masher).
2. Add Flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well to form a thick batter.
3. In a large skillet or wok, heat about 2 inches of oil over medium heat.
4. When oil is hot, lay a spoonful of batter in skillet.  Fry a few at a time, so the oil temperature doesn't drop. When golden brown, remove fritters (a slotted spoon works nicely for this), and set aside on a wire wrack to cool (and drain). You may want to put paper towels below the wire wrack to catch any dripping oil.
5. Serve warm.

Papaya Smoothie

Papayas aren't the normal pantry fare, but in the summer months you'll often find them on sale at the grocery store. Other than slicing them up and eating them, what else can you do with Papayas? Well, you can make smoothies, of course.

Ingredients:

(Recipe from Martha Stewart)

2 1/2 cups papaya

1 cup ice cubes

2/3 cup yogurt

1 Tbs finely chopped fresh ginger (optional)

1 Tbs honey

1/2 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

Preparation:

Peel papaya, cut, and remove seeds. Save seeds and set aside.

Place ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Either serve cold, or store in the freezer for later.

Papaya seeds are edible and taste like something between a caper berry and a peppercorn. You can dry them and use them in place of either ingredient. (or, if you live in a tropical area, you can plant the seeds and grow your own papaya plants).

Make Your Own Oyster Crackers

Ingredients:

Oil for brushing the dough
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp cold butter, cut into bits
2/3 cup iced cold water
1/2 tsp salt or sea salt plus more for sprinkling

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add butter, and work with your hands until a crumbly dough forms. Slowly add 1/2 cup ice water and mix with a fork. Continue adding water 1 Tbs. at a time mixing until the dough forms a ball.

Divide dough in half. If dough is sticky, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10-20 minutes. With a rolling pin, roll dough out to 1/8 - 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into squares (or whatever shape you desire). Place on baking sheet, brush with oil, and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

Store in an air tight container. Makes about 32 one inch square crackers, or 60-70 smaller crackers (depending on how you cut 'em).


***

Cost Breakdown:

• 1 3/4 cups Flour = 20¢ - 28¢
• Oil = less than 2¢
• 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder = 5¢
• Butter = 75¢
• Salt = 5¢ 

Price per batch = $1.07 - $1.15
Price at the grocery store = $2.30-$4.20 

Store brand ingredients: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Soybean Oil With Thbq For Freshness, Salt, Yeast, Malted Barley Flour, Sodium Sulfite, Enzymes (Protease), Baking Soda. Allergy Warning: Contains Wheat And Soy. May Contain Traces Of Milk And Eggs.

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Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

This is a great recipe to use when mushrooms are on sale at the grocery store. You can also, saute the mushrooms in a little butter and freeze them for use later. Store them in freezer bags in 1/2 cup batches.

Ingredients:

1-2 cups mushrooms, sliced
2+ Tbs. butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups milk
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Preparations:

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium to medium-high heat. Add sliced mushrooms and saute until mushrooms are tender and have given off half of their moisture. Brown "frond" may appear at the bottom of the pan, this is highly condensed mushroom flavor, which will release from the bottom of the pan when you add liquid.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour and 1 1/2 cups of the milk until smooth. Slowly add the milk and flour mixture to the mushrooms, scraping the "frond" from the bottom of the pan. Stir (or whisk) constantly. Continue slowly adding the remainder of the milk, stirring constantly.  Your soup will begin bubble and thicken. If it becomes too thick, you can thin it with a little more milk or water.

Remove from heat and salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with homemade oyster crackers or use as a base for a casserole.

To store: allow to cool and place in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Cost breakdown:

• 1 cup of mushrooms  = 75¢ (on sale) - $1.25 (when not on sale)
• 2 Tbsp. butter = 25¢
• 1/2 cup flour = 5¢
• 4 cups milk =  75¢ - $1.00 
• spices = nominal
• TOTAL = $1.80 - $2.55 for 3 cans, or  60¢ - 85¢/can

Store brand ingredients: Water, Mushrooms, Wheat Flour, Skim Milk, Contains 2% Or Less Of: Soybean Oil, Whey Protein Concentrate, Salt, Buttermilk Solids, Monosodium Glutamate, Cream, Sea Salt, Modified Cornstarch, Potassium Chloride, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Maltodextrin, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Natural Flavor (Contains Milk). Allergy Warning: Contains Milk, Wheat And Soy. 

Lentils with Brown Rice

Ingredients:

3 cups Vegetable or Chicken broth
3/4 cups lentils
1/2 cup brown rice
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1/4 tsp. garlic powder)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning (or a mix of oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, and marjoram)
1/4 tsp. cumin (optional)
1/8 tsp. cayenne powder (optional)

Shredded cheddar, crumbled feta cheese, or sour cream to top (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a small skillet, saute onions and garlic, until onions are translucent. 

In a medium to large casserole dish, mix all ingredients, including the onions and garlic. Cover the dish. If you don't have a lid, cover with aluminum foil. Place in preheated oven and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice and lentils.

Remove from oven, serve in individual bowls. Top with your choice of cheese or sour cream.

Makes 4-6 servings.