Spice "families"

Certain spices just go well together. I think of them as families. When I think Italian, I think garlic, basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary.....Greek I think garlic, oregano, lemon....France, particularly southern France, I think thyme, tarragon, basil, parsley..... Spain I think of garlic, saffron, and more garlic!

Traveling to other parts of the world: Indian cuisine makes me think garlic and ginger, cumin, cardamom, coriander, and curry. Chinese makes me think of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sherry. In middle Eastern cuisines, you'll find interesting combinations of savory spices mixed with spices that we might more traditionally think of as sweet--cumin and cinnamon and garlic, for example.

Keeping these "families" in mind can help you decide what to do with leftovers. This evening I made a quick "red" pasta sauce that I'm putting over ricotta-stuffed shells and baking. The sauce has sauteed onion and garlic, sauteed tomato paste, red wine, two cans of diced tomatoes, and Italian seasoning. (Note--no meat). I also had about a cup of sauce leftover from a beef stew. The meat was gone, but the remaining sauce I knew would blend right into my red sauce and give it a bit more depth. The original stew had beef, onions, carrots, beef stock, red wine, bay leaf, thyme, and a touch of tomato paste. Knowing that all of those herbs are found in Mediterranean cuisines, and that both had tomato, I was confident that it would work and it does. Although it still technically has no meat, it has more character and tastes like it could have been simmering for hours instead of less than 30 minutes. (It helps that the original stew did indeed simmer for hours!)

Will I ever repeat this particular sauce exactly? Probably not exactly, but I have that smug satisfaction I always get when I've hidden a leftover into something "new" and my family will never be the wiser! Sometimes it's the little things...