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07.03.2000

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the Lazy Shopper's kitchen essentials |  1 2 3 4
continued from page 3

The lazy shopper’s magic bag of accent ingredients
Accent ingredients are those miraculously potent little flavorings that add instant appeal to almost any dish. Have fun adding these ingredients to recipes in which they wouldn't traditionally be used -- dried shiitake mushrooms, for instance, are typically used only in Asian dishes, but also work fabulously when tossed into pasta sauces (they're sort of the poor man's dried porcini). Because these accent ingredients are so flavor-packed, they often come with a hefty price tag … but the good news is that a little will go a long way, and for the most part, these ingredients will last for a very long time. 
Accent essentials: pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, dried shiitake mushrooms, capers, real parmigiano reggiano (stored in fridge, of course), dijon mustard

o o o o o

Armed with the proper knowledge and a storehouse of long-lived ingredients, the lazy shopper can still be a good cook. Shop sensibly, and you can get away with shopping very infrequently. Of course, you should feel free to experiment, and even (gasp!) occasionally deviate from the dictates of the cookbook recipes … add some sun-dried tomatoes to your mom’s traditional tomato sauce, throw some capers into your salad, make risotto using short-grained Asian rice instead of Arborio. Get creative, and you’ll soon be cooking dishes so tasty you won’t have any cause at all to feel guilty for being a lazy shopper.

Recipes for the lazy shopper:
spaghetti puttanesca
risotto with onions and carrots

check out these related articles:
stock your shelves 
12 kitchen timesavers 
 

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