little gem
spring onion
Mejoul dates
green olives
sesame oil
lemon juice
mirin
rice wine vinegar
radicchio
smoked tofu
nigella seeds
black sesame seed
Japanese sushi seed mix
seaweed flakes
dried parsley
red pepper
all finely chopped or shredded –
go easy on the sesame oil –
and balance it well –
use your eye and your own taste to get this right –
Enjoy
A very simple recipe which is delicious as a glaze and with a little more liquid a great sauce
Here is how you do it.
3 large cloves of garlic
1 tbsp white miso
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup water
and later
1 cup water for the sauce
Put all of the ingredients in the blender and blitz till smooth, the glaze is ready to use. Use a brush to brush on your items on the grill, Hibachi or BBQ turning over to brush the other side with glaze as it cooks.
To make the sauce, add the cup of water and mix well in a small saucepan.
Allow to just boil, then turn down the heat and stirring well allow it to simmer for just a moment or two. This takes the raw flavour of the garlic out and you get a lovely smooth sauce.
The sauce can be used over any BBQ or grilled food and goes well with roast vegetables.
Recipe
Extra virgin Greek olive oil 1/4 cup
Mirin 4 tbsp
Braggs cloudy apple cider vinegar 1/8 cup
Fine table salt to taste
Fine ground white pepper to taste
White granulated sugar 1/4 tsp
Dijon mustard 1/2 tsp
put in a jar with a lid and shake well till thick and emulsified.
This vinaigrette it is delicious, and not too sour.
Vinaigrette is all about the balance, the exact measure of oil, sweet, sour and salt, with a hint of spiciness.
I find the taste is quite different depending on the exact elements us use, should it be a Greek extra virgin olive oil or do I go for the Spanish which has quite a different flavour?
The mustard, well, just how many kinds of mustard are there?
Some are delicious in vinaigrette and some are only edible on hot dogs.
They can be rough ground or smooth, sweet or very salty, each make is completely different and adds a totally different flavour profile to the vinaigrette.
As for vinegars, there is possibly even more variation, white wine vinegar, Japanese rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar. Each with its own unique flavour, so experiment, decide which one to use to get the exact flavour you are looking for.
Sugar, each variety has its own unique flavour, white granulated in this case which has very little flavour, but just adds sweetness. There is deep dark muscovado, or demerara and also jaggery. All these have their own uses, and flavour recipes differently. Sweetners of all kinds have a unique effect on every dish you add them to.
Even salts have subtle flavours from table salt to black Hawaiian or pink himalayan to fleur de sel, and there are more.
I use them all in different recipes and in different ways.
Therefore I think it is important that we are clear in recipes which kind we use, which ones make the exact flavour profile we are looking for.
Each variation in the ingredients gives a variation to the flavour profile of the finished vinaigrette, sauce or dish.
So there are two recipes today
The basic recipe is
oil
vinegar
mustard
salt
pepper
sugar
This gives you the basic ingredients, and the one for todays sweet vinaigrette above, which gives you the exact recipe.
Good luck with experimenting and getting the balance right.
Every time you make a vinaigrette you can try a different mustard, a different oil a different vinegar and so on, and each time get a different vinaigrette.
That is the art of cooking, to experiment with a known recipe, technique or principle and find out what you like best or what goes best with the rest of your dish.
Dare to be different, you can even play with the proportions.
Do you want more mustard? Less salt or more sugar or oil?
What if you use honey or add celery salt instead?
Try it.
This recipe is great with all kinds of fresh salads, we ate it with little gem lettuce cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes, with a sprinkling of finely chopped spring onion.
Let me know how you get on
I love shopping.
Specially shopping for food.
Today I ran around happily in three different supermarkets and the greengrocers looking at all the delicious wares on display.
Scouring the shelves for exotic fruit and heirloom vegetables, I also find unusual grains and nuts. For a moment I thought the supermarket was all out of tofu! That would have been a disaster!
I feel like a hunter gatherer, foraging for all that is good and healthy, fresh and interesting. Recipes shunt through my head in quick succession as I pick up prickly pears and orange blossom honey. Minneola oranges are carefully bagged up. I find beetroot so fresh the green stalks are still crisp and leafy, such freshness I simply could not resist. Passionfruit and limes fall into my basket along with little gem lettuces to turn over on the BBQ. Glorious aubergines, a rich, dark purple, are absolutely at their best now and so versatile.
I sort carefully through the Spanish garlic and fill a bag with shallots. My mouth starts to water. I can hear it frying gently in the pan.
I leave the supermarket clutching my swag closely to me. Smug at the huge haul and sporting a wide grin on my face. I know I have gone a bit mad, I have so much I can barely lift it all. I make a quick getaway to the next shop.
Saving the best for last I head for the greengrocers, it is my favourite shop. Here I spy out fresh coconut and black grapes. Thai basil, fresh ginger, turmeric, lemon grass, and a pineapple. The smoothies are going to be so delicious I just know I’ll make one the minute I get home.
Happy shopping everyone.
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