Spiced Shrimp

On February 18, 2021February 18, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Freezing, Ingredient, Using4 Comments

By changing the tang, two similarly spiced dishes taste completely different yet complement each other beautifully. Get spiced shrimp recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Like last week’s spiced potatoes, shrimp play well with so many flavors—including Indian spices. You could simply turn that potato recipe into a shrimp dish, cooking the sauce first and adding the shrimp at the end. But if you want to serve shrimp and potatoes together, it’s more fun to vary the flavors.

I like to do that by changing the tang. Last week’s potato dish picks up tang from pickle brine, tomatoes, and as an optional bonus, tamarind. This week’s shrimp dish grabs it from yogurt. I get more flavor from homemade yogurt, but store-bought also works. With that flavor shift, you can rely on the same spice base. A little onion, garlic, and ginger just enhances the base.

In the end, two similarly spiced dishes taste completely different yet complement each other beautifully. The same concepts can be applied to many other spiced shrimp dishes, letting you use your pantry power to put sunshine on your table even when you’re snowed in.
Learn to make Indian-Inspired Shrimp in Yogurt and other variations

Spiced Potatoes

On February 11, 2021February 11, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Dry storage, Ingredient, Using1 Comment

Potatoes readily absorb anything you add to them, making them perfect vehicles for all sorts of spices. Get potato recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
We grow and eat lots of potatoes, especially ones we’ve stored for winter: waxy reds and bright purples ideal for salads, starchier white varieties I use in gnocchi, and yellow potatoes that go into soups, curries, mashers—really, almost anything. Each variety tastes subtly different, but all readily absorb any flavor you add to them, making them perfect vehicles for all sorts of spices.

I often bring potatoes when teaching Twice as Tasty Indian Spices workshops, but we keep the workshop recipes simple so that the participants’ newly created spice blends can shine. At home, I sometimes reach for a homemade masala but just as often grab separate ground or whole spices. Because I’m generally rich in pickle brine, that often lands in my potato dishes for a sweet-and-sour effect. Keep reading after the recipe for more flavoring ideas.
Learn to make Indian-Inspired Sweet-and-Sour Potatoes and other variations

Pantry Power

On February 4, 2021February 4, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Topic, Using7 Comments

Savor flavors from around the world right from your cupboards. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
February is always the test of my pantry’s power. How well did I plan for winter? Did I can enough jams, salsas, and sauces? Did I properly cure my potatoes, onions, and garlic so that they’re still edible? Did I freeze enough pesto, berries, and corn? Did I dry enough basil, oregano, and rosemary?

With some effort and some luck, all of the answers are yes and we’re eating well all month long and far into spring. When the stored and preserved harvest doesn’t taste quite as good as fresh off the vine, I make up the difference and then some from other shelves in my pantry: the ones with spices and condiments. With a bit of this and a dab of that, it’s possible to savor flavors from around the world right from your cupboards.
Read more about finding your pantry’s power

Pickling Tools & Hacks

On November 5, 2020January 11, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Cookbook, Fermenting, Refrigerating, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

I’ve been hearing all week from people receiving their copies of The Complete Guide to Pickling. Now that it’s in your hands, I hope you’re excited to start making some tasty pickles. But where to begin, and what do you need?

In writing this book, I not only expanded my pickling repertoire but also tested a range of tools designed to make pickling easy and foolproof. I only had space to briefly describe some of those tools in the book, so this month I want to share some of my favorites and why you may want to add them to your pickling toolbox.

But let me be clear: you can make most of the pickles in The Complete Guide to Pickling using tools that are already in your kitchen or that you can pick up easily and cheaply. That’s how I first started pickling on my own, and I still reach for many of these tool hacks today. I recommend starting this way—you’ll quickly learn what should be at the top of your list for a tool upgrade.
Read more about pickling tools and hacks