You find a new recipe - it calls for an ingredient you normally don't think of. Take Kaffir Lime Leaves for example. Lovely, limey, fragrant leaves popular in Thai cooking. I wanted to make Tom Yum Soup sometime in the past so I bought them dried (couldn't find fresh) from a chinese market. A few went in the soup - the soup was delish, the rest went in an air tight container in my pantry. And sat there. And sat there. And sat there. Poor, poor lime leaves.
OH NOES! thought I, what do I do with these lovely fragrant leaves? I had to make use of their lovely green goodness somehow. So... I added them to stews and soups, salad dressings and marinades and then...
Eureka!
An Epiphany!!!
I made lime leaf powder.
Most people have coffee and or spice grinders these days. You take the lime leaves, pop em in your grinder and (to use a Jamie Oliver term) waz 'em up. Pop em in a spice jar and now you have lime leaf powder to add to anything that you want - herb crusting for lamb, a bit of citrus zing in your burgers, sprinkled on top of fish or mixed in with ground chicken; how about some lovely limey goodness in your angel food cake? Bob's yer uncle, Fanny's yer aunt and the skies the limit! Go nuts.
