
The first two places I turn to for some amped up flavor are oils and vinegars. Flavored condiments are easier to come by these days, but they're often pricey. Give some infusions a try yourself - the delicious flavors will be almost as sweet as the bragging rights.
The Basics:

Cold-Infused Lemon Oil
4 cups Virgin Olive Oil
4 Lemons
Peel each lemon carefully, removing as little pith as possible with the skin. Discard the lemons (or save them for some lemonade!). Add the lemon skins to the oil, seal the container, refrigerate, and allow the flavor to infuse for 3 days. It really is that simple!
Hot-Infused Garlic Oil
4 cups Virgin Olive Oil
8 whole peeled Garlic Cloves
Add ingredients to a saucepan and heat very very slowly until the garlic just barely starts to bubble around the edges. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Now you have aromatic oil AND delicious roasted garlic. Amazing.
PLEASE NOTE: Garlic can harbor C. botulinum - so be sure to consume your garlic oil within 10 days, or freeze it and use it at a later date.
Cold-Infused Strawberry-Basil Vinegar
1 1/2 cups Strawberries, stemmed
1/2 cup Basil Leaves
4 cups White Balsamic Vinegar - at least 5% acidity, to keep fruit from spoiling
1/4 cup Sugar
After one week, strain out the fruit and reserve the vinegar in a saucepan. Add sugar and simmer the vinegar for 3 minutes, but do NOT let it boil. If any foam comes to the top, skim it off with a spoon.
Let the vinegar cool to room temperature, bottle and enjoy!
Hot-Infused Tarragon Shallot Vinegar
2 shallots sliced thinly
2 sprigs of tarragon
1 tsp. black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2cups Champagne vinegar
Simply add your herbs to a clean and dry container, heat the vinegar to nearly boiling (190degrees if you have a thermometer), pour on top of the herbs, seal and let cool to room temperature. Place in the fridge and watch lovingly as flavors intermingle for 2-3 weeks. When you're satisfied with the flavor, strain out the aromatics, pour the vinegar into a shiny new container, and add a few decorative aromatics to the bottle for presentation.
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