Eat The Rainbow

Everything I make is fresh , I can’t resist fresh vegetables! They are a thing of beauty. My family did not cook eggplant, but I find myself buying them because they are beautiful. The glossy purple skin, the smoothness of them, the cute little green cap. I buy all kinds of things I’ve not grown up with, just because I can’t wait to work with them. Sometimes it’s a win win, sometimes not.

I have to say, eggplant is challenging, but I do love it! I’ve embraced Napa cabbage, every green choy I can find, and fresh ginger, (which I hate to peel) and a myriad of Asian vegetables. My world opened up studying Indian, Peruvian and African cuisines. I love Filipino Fusion at the moment!

Nothing I make is exactly like the last time I made it. There’s such a variation in vegetables. I’m not a computer, I cook by smell and taste. The only consistent thing is, that I pick, wash, sort and chop the vegetables with my own hands, because I care about what I do and how I do it. There’s an art to it, a meditative ritual that I find relaxing and refreshing. When my hands are busy my mind gets crazy creative. The grind becomes my safety net.

Welcome to my world.

I just want to make good food to feed the body and soul.
Let’s face it, cooked meat is grey.
I live my world in living color.
Look at these beautiful creations in all their glorious hues.

Creating Flavor

Luckily, today we are exposed to so many tastes and flavors, and so many spices and herbs are available by mail order that we can play with food like never before.

The base, the mirepoix, the sofrito is the key to global flavors. I did a deep dive for fun, and the result was a graphic shortcut to building interesting dishes with regional flavors.

Knowing the base ingredients unique to a culture, catapults you into a world of flavors.

Match these sofritos to their nation/country of origin, or should I say region. Wars change borders, but the people and food are not defined my borders. Look at Spain, there are distinct differences between north and south. Different cultures. It’s just such a fun way to study the world.

The last sofrito, onion and paprika is the base of most of my dishes. But the French mirepoix of celery, onion and carrots, is also integrated as is bayleaf and parsley. 

Some of my favorite stocks and seasonings.

Indispensable for adding rich color and umami flavor is Vegemite or Marmite. A very highly concentrated yeast product.

The way I learned to create flavor, was the method of building the base of a dish. T here are no shortcuts, however, once you master these simple steps, it becomes second nature and everything you make is delicious, fast and easy.

My flavor building method

Invariably, my first step to building incredible flavor is the onion. One of the most diverse and in my eyes, beloved allium on the planet. 

Chop the onions, coarsely or finely depending on the dish, then sweat them down in oil 
( I use avocado, sunflower or canola). Cook until translucent and soft. 

For simple Hungarian dishes, at this point, take the onions off heat, cool and add paprika powder until melted into the oil and softened.

Continue building the dish with other ingredients.

For other cuisines, or more complex dishes, sweating down other vegetables before adding the paprika, and then cooking them in the concentrated paprika mixture, before adding liquids, gives you a much richer flavor.