Jennifer
Mange tout.
What a pleasure it is to try a new food, whether it be an unusual ingredient, or an unfamiliar cuisine. These foreign flavors may become familiar, but never seem to lose that exotic allure. Combinations that may sound odd but are more delicious than you could imagine. People are quick to list the foods they don’t care for, but I don’t wish to exclude any ingredient. There was a time radishes may have been on my list. I had grown some as companion plants in my garden, and had more than I knew what to do with. I was making something from a Moroccan cookbook and ran across a salad made of radish, orange & cinnamon. This simple salad, dressed with fragrant orange blossom water, was so delicious that I can no longer say that I don’t care for radishes. Maybe a radish taken out of context isn’t my favorite food, but cooking is all about context. It’s the combination of flavor, texture and aroma that makes a meal unforgettable. My hope is you’ll approach cooking & eating as you might a mystery story. Don’t be too quick to judge the cast of characters in any given recipe. Wait and see how it all turns out.
-December 2009 from the Humble Kitchen of Jennifer Marcoux
