Restaurant Secrets - Saving a Dish Using Spices - as part of the food and kitchen series by GeoBeats.

Sometimes you have the end of the night and you have some extra diners coming in, and some of your resources have been depleted. So you need to come up with something that is going to be delicious that you can send out to your diners and make them really, really happy. Same thing probably happens at home. You look in your fridge, and you do not have enough ingredients to make something that is really tasty. So what we would usually do to add some extra dimensions in flavor would be to cut up some fresh herbs like mint, parsley, tarragon, basil, which always lightens up a dish and really adds a great flavor. Or you could add some spices if you are cooking a steak or chicken, or if you are making a soup, such as cayenne, paprika, ancho pepper, cumin which is really delicious. So make sure you always have those on hand just in case you open up your fridge and there is not enough vegetables or other ingredients to use, and you want to make something simple but very delicious.

Let us say for example you cooked pasta the night before and you want to reheat it, but your family does not necessarily want to eat the same thing. Reheat that pasta, chop in some fresh basil or some fresh parsley, add some Parmesan cheese and it will taste like a whole new thing and really make people happy, and yet you have been able to use the same thing twice, lowered your cost, and saved a ton of time.