Oregano and Other Fresh Ingredients

You don’t have to be a wonderful cook to have great smells emanating from your kitchen.

Sure, masterful techniques are always a plus when it comes to making scrumptious dishes, but sometimes, your time is better spent in other ways, such as slowly browsing the aisles, making wise choices. Because cooking a great meal is like building a solid house: If you neglect the foundation, the result will be unexceptional.

The foundation of any dish is, of course, its ingredients. It’s tempting to buy two packs of cherry tomatoes for $1, but there’s a reason why produce costs you less than a pack of gum: Like with cars, its value depreciates over time. Thinking beyond your wallet can save you from the temptation of buying old ingredients and making mediocre food.

Fresh ingredients are easy to find: You can spot them at your local grocer or maybe your favorite gourmet shop.

Or, if you’re lucky and your mother comes visiting from abroad, bringing you all kinds of goodies, there might be a secret ingredient in the bag. OK, I confess: Today, I’m not here to talk about how to find fresh ingredients but to share an important lesson I learned about fresh ingredients. Last month, my mother came to visit me from Greece. The trip went well, but one of the highlights was what she left behind: Fresh handpicked oregano. I forgot about it for a few weeks, and it stayed safely tucked away in its glass bottle in the back of my cabinet. And then, one hungry night this week, as I scrambled to make dinner out of whatever was floating around in the fridge — which was not much, thanks to a busy workweek — I remembered the oregano.

So I chopped up and tossed all my findings together in a plate — tomatoes, onions, corn, carrots, feta, two tablespoons of ready made marinara — and to top it all off, a sprinkling of oregano. I placed the concoction in the microwave for a minute, and soon the kitchen began to smell as if there was a delicious Italian casserole in the oven. I still remember the oregano’s intoxicating aroma greeting me as I opened the microwave door.

Needless to say, the food was gone within five minutes. The meal tasted perfect and was made in minutes. And thanks to the oregano, just a simple spice, adding so much to the simple creation, my appetite was satisfied and I felt accomplished.

That’s the thing about fresh ingredients: No matter what the recipe, freshness tricks the senses — along with the self-esteem — into thinking that with just a bit of experience, we’ve perfected the skill of cooking. Of course, later when I came back to my senses, I realized that there’s much, much more to learn. Yet at the same time, I knew that I have one culinary principle down, and only an unknown number to go.

Because this realization, I believe, is truly a turning point in cooking careers: Fresh ingredients are always worth the money.

So here’s to salary raises.