Every Saturday morning at 7:30, WCCO's Laura Oakes is talking to her sister-in-law Kari, who is going to help you create delicious meals using all of those staple ingredients you already have around the house on "Kari's Cupboard."
This week, we dive fully into soup season, with a lentil tomato soup:
Wherever you are in your relationship with food and cooking, there are a few things that usually pay off. One is just to pay attention to what you like - when you have something at a restaurant that you like, ask about the ingredients and think about how you might bring some of that into what you fix at home.
Same for what you don’t like - I like almost everything, but not white pepper or tarragon, and it took me forever to figure out why I got the ick when I tried certain things.
Another easy win is to expand your pantry staples a bit to include a few more herbs and spices to boost the flavor profile of very simple recipes.
Next, figure out what you really have time and energy to do, and have a way to kind of elevate that if you have time.
I just came across a New York Times cooking recipe that I thought I’d share, with credit, that’s a great springboard to augmenting the simplest of ingredients.
Here's the ingredient list - literally five things plus salt:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ⅓ cups heavy cream
- 2 medium shallots, finely chopped
- 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes
- 1 (15-ounce) can lentils, rinsed
- Salt
