Don't Take This with a Grain of Salt...

Spice it up instead! I recently learned a new and inspiring way to bring unique colors and flavors to your dishes using three simple things:

• French grey salt
• a flavorful spice or ingredient
  
• a coffee bean grinder

Thanks to a talk by Eric Gower, the Breakaway Cook, I learned to easily create a flavorful and colorful salt to use on things like vegetables, meat and more- in a manner of seconds. Eric showed us how to blend French grey sea salt with different ingredients to create new flavorful salts. He simply blended the salt with the seasoning in the coffee grinder in three different combinations:

French grey salt + smoked paprika for a brilliant orange color and smoky flavor

French grey salt + lavender for a light grey/ lavender color and aromatic flavor

French grey salt + matcha green tea for a brilliant green color and unique flavor

All of these combinations were sampled on corn on the cob with a bit of olive oil. I have also tried lavender salt on marconi almonds- which is delightful. It was so simple and so easy and the possibilities are endless for new flavors and colors. I really hadn't thought of doing this before and now, it seems so very easy.

Eric's "breakaway" philosophy is to use global ingredients in non-traditional yet simple ways. His encouragement for simple experimentation was inspiring! He has a very interesting cookbook with many easy recipes and ideas to introduce you to Breakaway cooking.