Do-Re-Mi(repoix)

To quote Maria von Trapp, "Let's start at the very beginning: a very good place to start."

I mentioned to some friends the other day that most French cooking begins with "mirepoix" (meer-uh-pwah) which is simply the French way of saying "onions, carrots, and celery."

This morning I got my regular weekly email from Whole Foods and they mentioned it too! The article is somewhat complicated (so feel free to skip it or read it later).

The basic idea is that using a combination of three simple ingredients can give any dish a good start on basic flavor. And it's not just the French who think so -- lots of other cultures do this. For example, Cajun cuisine uses onions, bell peppers, and celery and calls it "the trinity." Spanish cuisine uses onions, garlic, and herbs (such as oregano or parsley) and calls it "sofregit." (I have no idea how to pronounce that.) And thank you, Wikipedia, for some other examples.

I happen to be allergic to celery, so I omit that. If you have an allergy, or simply don't like a food or it's flavor, then for heaven's sake, don't use it!

I've just been thinking that you might enjoy trying this as something new with your next dish...say....Beans and Rice! :)

Here's how:

1. See the previous post on Beans and Rice.

2. While you're cutting up your onion, cut up carrots and celery too. (You're going for equal parts of each of the three, cut up the same size -- OR just whatever you have, and however you happen to slice/chop them!)

3. When you begin to cook the onion -- in step three -- toss in the carrots and celery.

Voila! You have cooked with mirepoix! And the best part: easy, tasty goodness.