memfree, 2 years ago

Use herbs and spices. Use different spices. I get tired of recipes that use the same 4 flavors over and over, so I look for recipes that use something else. Under-used spices I love: cardamon, rue, sumac. Under-used spices that I can only fit in certain recipes: caraway, mace, fennel seeds.

Get spice mixes for pre-balanced flavors, like Herbs de Provence, Garam masala or Harrissa paste (you can make this yourself, but you should try a few versions to figure out what you’re shooting for).

Maybe these are al old hat to you, but here are some standard examples:

• add tarragon to tuna/chicken salad
• add cardamon and nutmeg to cooked oatmeal and omit cinnamon
• sprinkle sumac on your scrambled/deviled eggs
• put some rue in your stew or pot pies