Delicious Tomato Sauce

Simple, yet flavoursome. The key is to extract the flavours by careful frying to caramelize the ingredients.

Tomato Sauce
1 kg fresh tomatoes, peeled, chopped
or
1 x 425 g tinned tomatoes in juice
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 garlic, finely chopped
3 T olive oil
1/2 t basil
1/4 t thyme
salt, pepper to taste



1. Using 1 T olive oil, fry the onion on gentle heat until light golden brown. Add more oil as needed. Allow around 30 minutes. Add garlic towards the end so as not to burn.

2. Remove the onion and garlic. Add remaining oil. Pour in the tomatoes and fry at high temperature until reduced. Lower temperature and fry until orange oil starts to separate and the mixture is thick. Return the onion and garlic.

3. Season with salt and pepper. Add herbs. Remove from heat.

Use the tomato sauce as a base for pasta sauce like marinara, and with chilli mussels.

Fettuccine Marinara
For 2 serves
300 g seafood (fish, prawn, mussel, squid)
2 t olive oil
1-2 c stock or water
1 batch tomato sauce as above
200 g fettuccine (dried)

1. Heat the olive oil in pan until smoking. Toss in the seafood and cook for 2 minutes until the flesh starts turning white. Remove.
2. Deglaze pan with stock or water.
3. Add tomato sauce. Cook until thickened.
4. In a separate pot boil the fettuccine for 10 minutes until cooked. Drain.
5. Add the seafood to the tomato sauce. Remove from heat and serve immediately over the fettuccine.

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Spices - Fresh Bay Salt

Fresh bay salt seems an unusual seasoning. In its raw state, the bay leaf smells over powering. However, the aroma mellows on cooking. This spice is fantastic for grilled or roasted pork.

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's cookbook, "Jamie's Kitchen".

1 t fennel seeds
10 bay leaves
2 T salt

Pulverize in a spice mill or use a mortar and pestle. Use fresh or keep in a jar in the pantry. Apply as a rub on meat like pork.

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Spices - Tandoori Paste

Indian grilled meats are typically seasoned with a red tandoori spice paste and cooked in a hot tandoor oven. The main flavour in a ready-made tandoori paste is cardamom, and the red colour comes from mild Kashmiri chilli and paprika. Since cardamom produces a very strong aroma, only a small amount is used. Hence it is sometimes not listed as an ingredient. Instead, garam masala is often used as most blends carry cardamom as well as small amounts of the warm spices like cloves and cinnamon to enhance the depth of flavour.

Main ingredients:
2 T lemon juice
1 T crushed garlic
1 T crushed ginger
1/2 t ground cardamom seeds (4 cardamom pods, husk removed)
2 t Kashmiri chilli powder (mild)
2 t paprika

Additional ingredients or 1 T garam masala
1 t ground pepper
1 t cumin seeds
1 t coriander seeds
2 cloves
1 cm cinnamon quill
1 t dried mint
pinch of saffron, optional

Mill the dry spices and make into paste with the ginger, garlic and lemon juice. Store in the refrigerator. To use, add 2 tablespoon of spice paste to 2 tablespoon of yoghurt for every 300 g of meat. Marinate the meat in the fridge overnight. Cook in a very hot oven (maximum power on domestic oven) for 10 minutes.

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Spices - Thai Coriander and Pepper

A basic Thai flavour to use on its own or make into a green curry paste.
From Charmaine Solomon's Thai Cookbook

1 T chopped garlic
2 t salt
2 T whole black peppercorns, milled
2 c chopped whole coriander with roots
2 T lemon juice

Blend everything. Store in an airtight jar in the fridge.

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Spices - Southern Fried Chicken

The Colonel's secret 11 herbs and spices for Kentucky Fried Chicken may never be known to everyone. Here's a version which tastes very similar:

2 T paprika
1 t chilli
2 t sage
1 t basil
1 t oregano
1 t marjoram
1 t rosemary
1 t thyme
1 t pepper
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
2 t salt, optional

To use in seasoned flour for coating before frying, add the herbs and spices to 1 cup of flour. If the chicken is brined before cooking, omit the salt from the recipe.

Brine for Chicken
For a 5% solution
50 g salt
20 g sugar
1 L water

Dissolve salt and sugar in the water. Soak chicken pieces for 1-2 hours or overnight for a whole chicken. Rinse well and dry. Apply spice rub.

Check out this post on quick brining.

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Spices that Look Like Ginger

... these ginger-looking spices are found in Southeast Asian curries.

Turmeric = yellow ginger



Galangal = blue ginger

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