Part of my goal to become competant in the kitchen is to understand herbs and spices. I don't mean that I don't know what they are. They're plant parts that are ground up or dried or just cut up and added to food in tiny quantities for flavor or color. I know how to measure out a teaspoon or whatever and then dump it in.
No, I want to understand each one, and by that, I mean I want to know its flavor friends. We've talked about those before, with the particular pairing of watermelon and salt. Admittedly, salt is a popular fellow, with lots and lots of flavor friends. That's why it gets to sit on the table in a special shaker so that people can opt to make their food even more friendly with salt. Other spices and herbs (sperbs?) are not quite so universally complementary. So even if I've got a good feel for how a sperb looks and smells and tastes, I still don't feel like I have a firm grasp of their place in the world. And I won't, no matter how many times I stick my nose in a jar or add a teaspoonful to a recipe, until I find a flavor friend.
And then! It's like it all comes together for me in my mind. I no longer have a memory of the individual taste, I know what it tastes like up against its special food partner. Each time this has happened to me, it was a serious Eureka moment. A connection in my mind is made: no longer is that sperb just hanging out by itself. Now it's connected in my memory with other tastes and smells. Once that happens, I can even start improvising with that sperb. I look forward to these moments, the moment when I can finally stop grasping around in the dark for what to do with the stupid sperb and start using it with confidence.
The following dish gave me an understanding of thyme. It's not a fancy or complicated thing: really, it's just a tuna casserole invented by someone with a summer garden. But it's tasty, simple, and a little out of the box, and it taught me that thyme and tuna are flavor friends.
I'll just link to it here, because I don't change a thing when I make it, except maybe add extra zucchini. Also, I have substituted plain, nonfat yoghurt for the sour cream and mozzerella for the Monterey Jack with good results.
Hearty Tuna Casserole
Make it sometime and be sure to tell everyone that this is a casserole which gives one a greater understanding of thyme itself.
1 comment:
I wonder if you could make that with vegan tuna. and mayo. and cheese. also my new apt doesn't have an oven. I'll bet you're wondering right now how we manage to be friends.
Post a Comment