Caramelized Onions.

These caramelized onions can be used to turn everything they adorn into gastronomic wonder. They are low calories flavor bombs to replace high-fat mayonnaise and spread for burgers, sandwiches, omelettes, or grilled meat.

Ingredients:

• 2 red onions, diced or sliced
• 1 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of salt
• black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat up olive oil or butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and 1/4 tsp of salt. Cook and stir every few minutes until all onions turn from translucent to light brown. This will take about 20 to 30 minutes. 
3. Add the vinegar and black pepper. Stir to mix evenly. Cook another 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Serve on sandwiches or meat. Keep the rest in containers or jars with tight lid. Refrigerate for up to 10 days.

Notes:

• Make a bigger batch to save the time. They can be kept in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
• Cook slowly on medium-low heat will give you the best results and flavor. If you are pressed for time,  you can raise the heat to medium and cook for shorter time. 

Pickled Onions.

The sweet and sour vinegar based solution can take off the harsh and raw edge of onions and replace it with a lovely spicy bite. Use it in burgers, sandwiches, tacos, wraps, you name it.

Ingredients:

• One clean jar with tight lid
• 2 red onions
• 2/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 bay leaves
• pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Slice onions thinly and break up into thin rings.
2. Combine the water, vinegar, sugar, salt bay leaves and red pepper flakes. Heat up until it begins to simmer. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
3. Place the onions in a sealable jar and pour the brine over the onions.
4. The onions can be used immediately after 20 minutes of soaking. 
5. Keep them covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Note:

• Can use shallots and make pickled shallots.

Roasted Garlic.

If you have never considered garlic as another condiment, you should try this.

While raw garlic can be assertive, harsh and pungent, overcooked garlic can be acrid, bitter and off-putting. Roasted garlic slowly mellows its flavor and brings out the sweetness in garlic with a creamy texture. It becomes an inviting savory candy that can be used to spread on bread, fold into salad dressings and many side dishes, such as mashed potatoes.

You will need heads of garlic and olive oil.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F.
2. Separate the garlic cloves and peel them. Place them in the center of a baking tin foil and drizzle with olive oil. Fold the foil and wrap up to make a pouch that encloses the garlic.
3. Place the tin foil pouch on a baking dish and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the garlic is soft and creamy like warm butter.
4. Transfer to a jar or container with air-tight lid and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
5. Use it on bread with Parmesan cheese. Use it to punch up dressings or sauces.

Pepperonata - Italian Fried Peppers!

This spicy, tangy and sweet bell pepper trifecta is beloved by Italians because it adds pop to pretty much anything it touches, including but not limited to pastas, salads, sandwiches and soups. It is wonderful with grilled chicken and roasted meat.

Use one each of red, yellow, and orange peppers but don't use green peppers as the dish is meant to showcase the natural sweetness in its red, yellow and orange counterparts.

Ingredients (yield 3 cups): 

• 3 bell peppers from each of red, yellow and orange ideally, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 2 sprigs of oregano or basil, optional

Directions:

1. Heat up the oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook 1 to 2 min to infuse the oil. Add the sliced bell peppers and toss.  Cook until they are softened and slightly blistered.
2. Add pepper flakes, oregano or basil, vinegar and cook for a minute. season with salt and pepper. 
3. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Notes:

• Add sliced onion and diced tomatoes, fresh or canned, if you like.
• In order to blister and toast the bell peppers, the pan and oil has to be screaming hot. This is a high heat saute cooking method.

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce!

Teri-yaki (照り焼き) is a Japanese cooking process of grilling (yaki, 焼き) and glazing the meat with a soy based sauce to make it shiny and glistening (teri, 照り) .

The basic Japanese teriyaki sauce ratio is 2:1:1 -- 2 parts of soy sauce, 1 part of mirin and 1 part of sake -- when used in cooking process as a glaze or a flavoring sauce. When making it as a dipping sauce, use equal part (1-1-1) of soy sauce, mirin, sake; then add and adjust the sugar to your taste.

Remember, any sauce you are making, don't over-flavor it so it can stay general-purposed and useful in many preparations. You can always adjust and add more but you can not take out what is already in there.

The store-bought American version of teriyaki sauce is leaning toward the sweet end of the spectrum, if that is what you are familiar with. I suggest you use the basic proportions and adjust the sugar level. Don't over sweeten it. If you have one of those bottles, try adding more soy sauce and sake to it next time.

Ingredients:
Basic for cooking: 

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of mirin or replaced with 2 tablespoons of rice wine and 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tablespoons of sake or rice wine
• 2 to 3 teaspoons of brown sugar, adjust to your taste

Basic for dipping sauce:

• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of mirin or replaced with 2 tablespoons of rice wine and 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tablespoons of sake or rice wine
• 2 to 3 teaspoons of brown sugar, adjust to your taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch 
• 1 tablespoon water to mix with cornstarch

To punch it up:

• 1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger or 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp freshly minced garlic or 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• Replace sugar with maple syrup or honey
• Optional, add a touch of pineapple juice or vinegar

Directions:

1. To cook with it: Mix up and add it to stew browned fish or meat or brush on skewed meat.
2. To make dipping sauce: Mix up and bring to boil. Turn heat low and simmer until it thickens.

Notes:

• If you don't have mirin, for each 1 tablespoon of mirin, replace it with 1 tablespoon of sake or cooking wine and 1/2 teaspoons of sugar.
• To make it even better, you can use maple syrup or honey to replace sugar.
• Store-bought sauces use refined sugar while using honey or brown sugar will make the sauce taste rounder, balanced with a molasses note.

Homemade Butter! No Kidding!

You wonder who would bother to make their own butter. Well, it tastes better if you ask me. Also it is annoying to buy the whole block if all you need is just a little to go with your homemade white muffin or homemade whole-grain muffin. Or maybe you want to see if I am kidding you.

By the way, if you make your own Crème fraiche, you will have that heavy cream sitting around. Here is another way to use it besides whipping it up with sugar.

Ingredients:

• Very cold heavy cream (about 36-40% butterfat)
• A small, clean and sterilized jar

Directions:

1. Pour the cold heavy cream into the sterilized jar to about half way full.
2. Shake it like a mad man for 20 minutes. This can be done very quickly in a food processor as well.
3. The milk fat will solidify into a lump and separate from the whey.
4. Drain out the whey and keep the butter frozen or refrigerated. 

Notes:

• It is much easier and faster to do this in a food processor but, hey, this special recipe is for our uncluttered, simple life members.
• By the way, you can do this trick to impress someone, I hope.
• You can add herbs and spices into the heavy cream and shake out a flavored butter. 
• You can keep the leftover whey for baking recipes that call for buttermilk.

Homemade Crème Fraiche!

Ingredients: 

• 1 cups heavy whipping cream (at least 36-40% milk fat.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cultured buttermilk (real buttermilk with a live culture in it.)

Directions:

1. Clean a jar thoroughly and sterilize it in boiling water for 10 min. Let it dry completely before using. 
2. Pour the heavy cream into the clean jar and add the buttermilk.
3. Mix together and cover with cheesecloth (I use twine to tie it up), a coffee filter or something breathable.
4. Leave it at a warm spot (about 70°F - 75°F) for 24 hours until thickened.
5. Keep refrigerated for 24 hours before using. It lasts about a week or two.

Notes:

• You can slightly warm the cream up first before mixing in the buttermilk to speed up the process. Basically the warmer it is, the faster the reaction is. 
• Unlike sour cream, the cream won't curdle and break when cooked.
• It's tart and tangy with a deeper flavor and a nutty note, better than sour cream.