Melba sauce is often associated with this fancy desert called Peach Melba, but in my neck of the woods (Upstate, NY), it’s associated with the far more common mozzarella stick. This is about a combination of sweet, salty, and gooey that creates the most amazing flavor burst. …
I’ve posted a number of tomato sauce recipes here on the blog before (See here, here, and here), however, I think this recipe is one of the basic recipes that every new cook should learn to make and perfect. Keep in mind that there is not really any right or wrong way to make tomato sauce. Every family has their own “traditional” recipe with its own unique flavors but the recipe in this post is meant to be a base outline of a from-scratch tomato sauce….
Learning how to make basic salad dressing is a staple in cooking skills. It teaches you how to balance and enhance flavors. From here it is easy to see how flavors blend together in sauces and more complex dishes.
I put together a simple infographic that explains my basic formula for developing different salad dressing. With this formula you can come up with just about every salad you can think of.
Good quality oil is the base for just about every salad dressing, however the oil you use is completely dependent on the type of dressing you are making and your preferences. Olive oils, grape seed, avocado, sesame, or flavored oils are all great options.
Next add an acid, typically vinegar, but also lemon and lime juices work as well. This again is dependent on the type of dressing and personal preference.
Finally add your flavor enhancers, which can be as simple as a few herbs.
This is a great basic vinaigrette dressing that is simple and easy enough for anyone to make, however that doesn’t have to be the end if you are looking for something a little more fun.
You can continue to add things for sweetness such as sugar, honey, jam or fruit. If you are hoping for a creamy dressing the addition of buttermilk, sour cream, cheeses, and mayonnaise are all great options.
Additionally adding things like sriracha, peanut or almond butters, fish sauce and the like are also options that will add a lot of diversity to your salads.
Below are some of my favorite dressing recipes, ones that we use in our home every day.
Lemon Shallot Vinaigrette – olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, garlic
Honey Mustard – olive oil, natural honey, Dijon mustard, salt
Peanut sauce – sesame oil, peanut butter, garlic powder, ground ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, lime juice
Greek – Olive oil, Red wine vinegar, oregano, lemon juice, feta cheese
Butter milk Ranch – buttermilk, mayonnaise, parsley, chives, dill, salt, pepper, garlic
Maple Cider – olive oil, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, salt, walnuts
Violets are one of the first things to pop out of the ground in spring, along with tulips and daffodils of course, but the great things about violets are that they are edible. Both the flowers and the leaves can be eaten, and are a great addition to salads, cocktails and to decorate cakes, I mean look how pretty they are!
These little babies have been used for centuries for their medicinal properties. Its recorded to have been used as far back as Ancient Greece to prevent headaches and dizziness. I found out that violets actually contain salicylic acid, which the natural “raw” material for aspirin. So it stands up to scientific analysis against these claims.
I had always known that these pretty little flowers were edible but other than salads, and maybe a decorations for sweets, I had no idea what to actually do with them. I mean tossing the leaves and flowers in a salad is easy enough but can get boring pretty fast and honestly I don’t bake all that often. This year however I put in a little effort (thank you internet) and came up with this delightful syrup recipe.
The sweet syrup is a great thing to have around because it can liven up a cup of tea, a simple cupcake recipe or even a cocktail. Because its a simple syrup it can be used to sweeten just about anything (use it like maple syrup or honey), so long as you don’t mind the floral touch or bright purple color it adds.
To test it out I made a pretty pink cocktail mixing rum, lemon juice and the syrup. We don’t follow exact cocktail recipes in this house, but it came out pretty darn good anyway. I also tried it in my chamomile & mint tea when I had a headache last night and it was a really lovely addition.
Using it as a cocktail got me to thinking about turning it into a wine next. I think a pretty purple wine would be awesome, so that might be on next year’s list of projects.
It should be that time of year when our thoughts are swarming with spring gardens and summer pools, but unfortunately for us in the northeast the weather (namely the polar vortex) has had other plans.
Now I’m usually a lover of the snow, I mean any excuse to curl up with a book and a cup of tea is a good thing in my view, but snow and freezing temps this time of year mean that my garlic, and early spring flowers are taking a beating. I’m not pleased about it. Not to mention the hiking plans that ended when it started to hail.
Moving on from disappointing weather I decided to spend most of the weekend crafting and baking all sorts of treats (many of which you will see coming up on Plum Deluxe soon enough). I was craving something that reminded me of spring or summer so I dug through my canned goods and came up with this pesto/dip recipe. It’s a little thicker that a typical pesto but that’s one of the things I like about it. It’s a perfect spread for toast or sandwiches, but also a great dip on crackers, chips or veggies. Versatile recipes man they are the thing.
I actually made this for the first time back near new years, where served as a dip it was a hit. It was also a pretty big winner on this sandwich (pictured below). This time around it went on toast with some melted Swiss cheese because that’s what was in the house. I’m thinking an experiment with puff pastry is in order next.
