Condiment

Spinach Pesto

October 14, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

I was craving penne pasta the other night but I wanted to do something different than a tomato or cream sauce. I decided to go with a pesto sauce and I was not disappointed with the results! This pesto recipe has a light creaminess with just a hint of mint and walnuts. I threw in a little crumbled feta for extra creaminess. It was great on pasta and I would imagine it would be tasty on panini sandwiches as well. Since I don’t have a food processor I used a standard blender which worked fine.

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Roasted Sesame and Ginger Coleslaw

September 1, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

A great addition to the Korean BBQ Pork Sandwich was this sesame and ginger coleslaw. A standard pulled pork recipe just has to have a side of coleslaw either in or outside the bun! Coleslaw can get really heavy if you add too much mayo and sour cream, so I only add a little to give it just a mild creaminess while staying light. Since the pork was flavored with Korean sauces, I flavored the coleslaw with similar ingredients. The coleslaw turned out really nicely and provided a good balance against the spicy pulled pork.

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Korean BBQ Sauce

August 18, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This all purpose BBQ sauce is great for sandwiches, marinades, and grilling. It has a nice balance between spicy, tangy and sweet with some added nutty flavor from the roasted sesame seeds.

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Chile Verde Tamales de Pollo

July 15, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Tamales are a Mexican food made of masa (corn flour) and stuffed with any number of fillings. Tamales are an old food, meaning that it was probably eaten by Aztecs and Mayans as early as 8000 BC. Making them is a pretty involved process and it requires some time to get everything prepared and cooked–about 3-4 hours. I had a lot of fun making these, and when I was forming the dough into the corn husk I could picture someone from a different time and background doing this very same activity (which was pretty cool). The tamales turned out really well. The dough had a nice fluffy texture and the filling had a spicy, savory flavor. The filling was a tex-mex style shredded chicken and sweet corn. I seasoned the dough with cumin, paprika, and cinnamon. The chile verde was tasty and pretty simple to make too. I topped the tamales with a little monterey jack cheese and sour cream.

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Chile Verde

July 14, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Chile Verde is a sweet, spicy salsa that is made most commonly with tomatillos and a number of different green chiles. This salsa goes well with chicken, pork and fish, and can be used as a topping for burritos, tacos, tamales, etc. The tomatillos provide a great sweet and sour flavor that I like a lot. Depending on how smooth you wish to puree the sauce, you could create a thicker version that would be great as a salsa dip as well.

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Roasted Corn and Red Pepper Salsa

July 9, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This corn salsa is perfect for the summer sweet corn season. I made this to go with some Chile Verde Chicken Tamales and the pairing went together well. The salsa was mostly sweet with just the right amount of heat. It would go nicely on burritos and tacos too.

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Blackberry Blueberry Jam

July 1, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

It’s blackberry season and of course the perfect time to make blackberry jam. Blackberries and blueberries make a great pair since their colors are so robust and the flavor of the berries is so good! The jam was less thick than other jams, which allows for a little more versatility. It’s great mixed in with yogurt or as an ice cream topping, but still works fine on toast.

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Cranberry Raspberry Jam

June 14, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Making new kinds of jam is pretty easy since there are so many combinations that go well together. I am a big fan of cranberry sauce and I thought it would add a little tartness to raspberry jam. The jam turned out really well! It was not very thick so I could use it for other things besides as a spread on toast. Since it’s more like a sauce than a jam, I’ve been adding this to plain yogurt and really enjoying the results. This definitely has been one of my favorite jams so far.

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Strawberry Lime Jam

May 31, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Jams are fun and easy to make, so I just keep trying new kinds! Jams require an acid component, like lemon juice, so I decided to go with lime juice for something a bit different. The lime zest also amped up the lime flavor of the jam which I liked quite a bit. Oddly enough, it reminds me of strawberry pez. You would think this would be strange on toast but it actually works quite well!

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Raspberry Almond Jam

May 22, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Making jam has been pretty fun and has yielded some great results. The spiced blueberry and mango cardamom jams have been great, and I wanted to try a raspberry jam too. The almond extract was a nice addition to the jam that I had never tried before. The extract has a cherry-vanilla flavor that goes very well with the raspberries. Another option is to add about 2 teaspoons of amaretto liqueur for a stronger almond flavored jam.

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