Tips and Tricks

Tortillas and Pitas: 

When dinner is tacos, burritos, or hummus with pita or you just want to make a batch of quesadillas, whatever the reason, the best way to heat up your wrapper is to put it straight over the flame on the burner. But make sure you are always at the stove when heating the bready product so it doesn’t burn. I always flip it with my hand, but you might want to try it with metal tongs to start out.  

 

Garlic:

A great way to get a good mince with your garlic is to put whatever salt you are planning on having in the dish, on the cutting board along with your salt. Cutting the garlic with salt helps to get it a finer consistency.

 

 

Peeling Tomatoes:

When you’re making a tomato sauce or bisque you really don’t want the skins giving the dish an extra texture, but the fresh tomato is definitely good in these dishes, instead of skipping the fresh tomatoes, or struggling to peel them try this! Cut out the core of the tomato and cut x’s into the other end. Put all of the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water. Prepare an ice-bath in a bowl big enough to accommodate all of the tomatoes. When the skins on the tomatoes begin to become loose in the boiling water, take out the tomatoes and put them in the ice-bath, this will loosen the tomato skin making the skin just slide off of them. Now you have the perfect tomatoes for any cooking purpose.

 

Softened Butter:

Do you ever pull butter out of the freezer just as you are about to make a dish, then realize you need it softened?  If you put the frozen ( or refrigerated) butter, package and all, in a bowl of warm water then the butter will soften within 10 minutes.