Every cook has their basic ingredients. You know, the 10 essential things you NEED if you are going to cook! Let’s assume that salt and pepper are already in the vicinity.
What else do you need? What I need are:
-
Onions
- Garlic
- Celery
- Carrots
- Olive Oil
- Basil
- Marjoram
- Honey
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
Many of my entrees and soup start with the first five – onions, garlic celery, carrots and olive oil. Sautéing them up every time I want to cook is a time waster and a nuisance! So I use the traditional French approach and keep mirepoix in my fridge. For those of you who have a little trouble with weird French pronunciation — it is pronounced meer-pwah.
About once a week I pull out the food processor and make a good size batch. There are as many ways to make mirepoix as there are French and Cajun cooks. Remember, making it is an very inexact science. It is a matter of taste and what you have available. Honestly, it is a trial and error process.
To help you I have written down my recipe as a guideline. There is really only one rule — HAVE FUN!!
MIREPOIX – Flavor Magic
1. Lightly Cover frying pan bottom with olive oil and heat
2. While oil is heating chop the following in the food processor
- Celery (6 stalks or about 1 cup)
- Carrots (2 or 3 or about 1 cup)
- Onion– equal to celery and carrots (2 or 3 or about two cups)
- 4 or five fresh basil leaves or 1T of dried Basil
3. When oil is very hot add:
- Contents of the food processor from above
- Garlic to taste*
4. Stir well and cook on high for about 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally.
*A note about garlic: I would not even attempt to give you a measurement on the garlic! Especially since it would be hard for me to define “too much”. We love the stuff and buy it at Costco or Sams Club in 48oz jars. It makes no sense to me to spend time peeling, crushing, dicing etc! I won’t even tell you how long (actually short) 48 oz lasts us; you’d be appalled!
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Thank goodness for friends! One of mine, pointed out that a great number of my recipes start out with sautéing onions, garlic and other veggies. And she wanted to know how I square sautéing with a low-fat diet.
