Tricia gives us her favorite tip to make food “pop”.
Sometimes the simplest things make all the difference. This is certainly the case when it comes to jazzing up a dish that is having a hard time deciding what it tastes like. Vegetables, grains, and legumes all have their own distinct flavors, but sometimes they can have a hard time taking a stand in a dish. While I do appreciate the subtleties that many vegetables offer to cooked foods, sometimes it’s nice for them to be able to take more of a starring role.
I like to play with food. Experimenting with a variety of different vegetables I find at the farmer’s market or my local organic grocery store is a challenge I like to take on weekly. However, some of these vegetables can take on a flavor profile that my palate is not accustomed too (thus the fun in experimenting!). Therefore, it’s necessary to enhance and/or intertwine these new veggies with whatever it is I am cooking them with.
Enter citrus. Citrus, and most acids, will work wonders for making flavors pop with a sunny brightness you may not have even known those vegetables could produce. This is especially true when cooking all Asian style foods, Mexican, Moroccan, Mediterranean, Brazilian, Cuban, and basically anything that isn’t extremely westernized (Northern European, American, etc…).
Next time you make black bean burritos, a Thai-inspired stir fry, or even Fajitas at home, break out the fresh lime and don’t be afraid to use more than a teaspoon. Use the whole thing! If you are making a Mediterranean based dish with couscous, red peppers, garbanzo beans, parsley, tahini, feta and kalamata olives, use the juice of half (or a whole) lemon to give it a flavorful luminosity you won’t forget. Just make sure you keep lots of lemons and limes around so you don’t get stuck without your zesty secret kitchen weapon.
