Blanching vegetables

By Sandy Hu
A new video for Video Friday

As the weather warms up and farmers’ markets and supermarket produce counters are filled to overflowing, it’s time to celebrate the bounty with crudité platters and delicious dips.

Some vegetables, such as radishes and sugar snap peas, taste great just served raw. But hardier vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower florets, green beans, asparagus and even carrots taste better when they’re blanched. A quick dip in boiling water takes the raw edge off and makes these vegetables taste sweeter.

Blanched vegetables can also be used for cooking. I like to blanch green beans , then sauté them in olive oil. By blanching first, the beans cook more evenly, since they have had a head start through the blanching process, and cooking goes faster.

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Slicing Meat for Stir-Fries

By Zoe McLaughlin
A new video for Video Friday

These few simple steps will facilitate slicing thin pieces of meat for any stir-fry dish and result in tender bites. This technique works best with flank, skirt and blade steaks, as well as pork tenderloin and thick fish steaks, such as halibut or salmon.

First, place the protein in the freezer for a minimum of 15 minutes but not more than 30 minutes. Allowing the meat or fish to sit in the freezer firms up the flesh and makes it much easier to slice thinly.

While the meat or fish is in the freezer, hone your knife of choice. It is very important to have a sharp blade in order to get a clean, thin slice.

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Pita Pizza – Another Quick, Weekday Meal

By David Hu
A new video for Video Friday

I’ve noticed a pattern with my cooking over the years. I usually start off the week all gung ho about cooking. On Monday I’m experimenting with a new recipe, or making an old favorite with 20 ingredients, multiple steps and four hours of cook time. Yay! So exciting and full of energy!

But after a few days, my enthusiasm wanes and I can’t even remember what possessed me to make those complicated dishes earlier in the week.

Wednesday is hump day and by then, my cooking ambition has evaporated. That’s when I turn to my storehouse of quick and easy weekday meals. My requirements to get into this rotation are simple: tastes good, needs few ingredients and requires short prep and cook times.

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Roasted Grapes – Appetizer or Dessert

By Sandy Hu
A new video for Video Friday

It’s always a good idea to have a repertoire of simple, tried-and-true recipes that you can whip up in a hurry when company’s coming. Here’s a super-easy one to add: Roasted Grapes, a recipe by Lori Powell, our “One or Two Bites” blogger.

Lori, who blogs on Special Fork about cooking for one or two people, devised this recipe as a way to use up an abundance of grapes. But it’s also a versatile choice for company meals when you’re too busy to cook.

While she serves two or three with this recipe, it will stretch for four. Or you can simply multiply the recipe, as needed.

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How to Grate Citrus Peel

By Sandy Hu
A new video for Video Friday

Grated citrus peel, also known as zest, adds an appealingly sharp citrus bite to dishes. Many recipes call for both the juice and zest.

In this video, Jen uses two tools, a rasp (often called a Microplane, which is a brand name) and a zester to show you how to grate the peel. The rasp gives a finer grated peel. Rasps have different sizes of grating teeth, from fine to coarse, so pick the size that suits your needs best. The zester gives thicker curlicues of grated peel.

Your recipe and your own taste preference will determine which tool is better for you. Whichever tool you use, grate just the colored part of the peel; do not grate the white part, called with pith, which is bitter.

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