Mayonnaise
Create these custom sauces by using mayonnaise as your base and adding the following ingredient combinations. Serve your favorite as a dip for chips or oven fries; smooth it over crab cakes and salmon; toss it with salads as a decadent dressing or spread it on a sandwich for a special treat.
- For a French aioli, add minced parsley, minced garlic and lemon juice.
- For a Mexican-inspired dipping sauce, add minced cilantro, minced garlic and grated lime rind.
- For a quick Tartar sauce, add chopped dill, minced garlic, and lemon juice.
- For a Thai dipping sauce, add minced cilantro, minced mint, minced basil and lime zest.
- For a dijonaise dipping sauce, add 1/4 cup basil and 1/4 cup Dijon mustard to 1 cup mayonnaise. Serve with french fries.
- For a chipotle dipping sauce, see this recipe.
Oils
Make flavored oils by infusing them with herbs from the garden or your local grocery. You can use these on veggies, pastas, salads, grilled meats and sandwiches. Here are a few recipes:
Butter
Add flavors to your butters and use for grilled steaks, fish, or crusty breads.
Simple Syrup
Add flavors to this easy sugar and water syrup for use in fast and fresh cocktails. Simply combine equal parts water and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Allow fresh herbs to steep until syrup has cooled; then, strain, jar, and refrigerate for use at a later time
- Lavender simple syrup is great in lavender lemonade. Or for a twist on the old classic, try lavender mint juleps.
- Mint simple syrup can be used in mojitos and mint juleps for extra mint freshness.
- Try basil simple syrup in basil, as opposed to mint, mojitos.
- Add a sprig of rosemary and a cinnamon stick to simple syrup to create a flavor booster for coffee and hot chocolate during the holidays.
