I finally got around to making this Blog dedicated to my random culinary creations while here at college! I've intended to do this for awhile; its a great way to keep records of everything you've tried doing so you can do it again later. But as you know, I've been putting this off. Thanks to those who finally pushed this project into actualization.
So without any further ado, lets talk about food!
Last week I was working with a friend to cook a group dinner. There was this salad that needed to be made and we had cucumbers, almonds, yellow peppers, and tomatoes in addition to your basic greens. There was also this bag of cilantro that was hiding some lemons we had earlier. All of these seemed promising enough for an amazing salad! (OK, so there were a lot of things that I wanted to add that hadn't fit in the budget, but hey, this is more than enough to work with)
So I needed to make some sort of salad dressing that would pull all of these flavors into one whole without being bland or boring.
One of the things I like to do for ideas is a quick Google search of your list of ingredients just to see what traditional foods might already combine what you've got to work with. Most of the time you will find something that catches your eye that can be adapted to your situation. However, this failed to produce any amazing idea.
I had although been reading about using edible essential oils in food. I had wanted to try this for a long time, with the vanilla extract we had lying around. Its not really the same, but since its just an alcohol emulsion of the essential extracts instead of an oil suspension of the same, I figured it wouldn't matter. For a list of edible essential oils, try here: http://www.columbusessentials.com/articles.aspx?artid=6
My salad dressing developed as follows:
First, I cut my lemon in half and extracted all of its juice. Lemon is light and fresh without the sharp or deeper flavors found in vinegars. Next, I added salt and sugar so that the full range of taste would be engaged. Next I added about a tablespoon of the extract. Then I added crushed almonds and a tablespoon of garlic. Then, it needed just a bit of water and olive oil until the mixture was the consistency of your standard Italian dressing.
The result was a fresh, healthy tasting dressing that combined the dark taste of vanilla and the cutting warmth of garlic in a lemony dressing that proved to be a big success.
Has anyone else tried anything with extracts or essential oils outside of desserts?
Vanilla garlic salad dressing:
ReplyDelete1 fresh lemon or lemon juice
1 tsp Salt
3-4 tsp Sugar (brown if you have it)
crushed almonds (other nuts will work great too)
1/2 cup water
1/8-1/4 cup olive oil
1 cloves garlic (crushed and roasted in the olive oil) or 1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbs vanilla extract
(This is the dark, real kind; I don't think the clear, fake stuff will do this justice and it might also be too strong)
Tip:Because not all lemons or garlics or vanilla extracts are created equal, get some greens and taste as you go, adjusting any of these quantities until it just tastes right.
Other ideas for essential oil cooking:
ReplyDeleteJasmine curry
Bergamot mushroom bisque
German Chamomile semi-sweet chocolate cake
Smoked pork chops in a Patchouli demiglaze
Maku!!!! THANKS for starting this blog. I will be sure to post anything amazing I come across. P.S. C. K. Child is my screen name. Lisachan desu yo!
ReplyDeleteI use essential oils a lot actually, but usually not in foods. One of my favorites to use in food is peppermint. However, if it is the pure oil, it can be very intense and you will usually only need one drop for the flavor you want. I also like using oregano extract, which can be expensive, but it gives great flavor – especially if you don't want the actual plant in the food.
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