Lime Sublime

I just wanted to do a little shout-out to the lime.

Lime is an under-appreciated fruit and flavor. It is my opinion that a little lime juice can give your food the kick that it needs.

The first time I realized this was when I went to a local Thai restaurant and ordered some fried rice. It came with a lime wedge which I squeezed over my rice. Without the lime, it was pretty good. But with the lime, it was positively heavenly! Somehow, adding the lime just unified all the flavors in the dish. I can't explain it. All I know is that every time I go to that restaurant I order that same dish, and am never disappointed.

I also add lime juice to my delicious and easy-to-make pozole: a whole chicken, cut into pieces and grilled (or at least browned in the frying pan), a gigantic can of hominy, a gigantic can of whole tomatoes, chicken broth, 1 lb. of sweet corn kernels, one pound of cut carrots, bay leaves, rosemary, and lime juice. Without the lime juice, it's just not as good.

Last weekend, I was making some blueberry sauce* for the waffles Vinny and I were making (see, EcoGeoFemme, we're branching out!), and I couldn't find the lemon juice, so I substituted lime juice instead. Boy, did that make the blueberry sauce even better! I made some more yesterday (once again for mother-son waffles -- he's really into the red and green lights indicating the status of your waffle, plus the squares in the waffle iron) and used lime juice on purpose, just because I liked the extra zing it gave.

Anyhow, I just wanted to sing the praises of lime and encourage everybody to try it out if you have not yet.


* From The Joy of Cooking (of course!): Combine in a saucepan over medium heat 1 pint fresh blueberries, 1/3 c sugar, 3T lemon juice, and stir constantly. After it cooks down add a solution of 1T water + 1.5t corn starch and boil for 1 minute.